Black of the Plate - Strike?

[AtlUmpSteve]

By definition, the black part is NOT part of the strike zone, it exists solely to provide a color contrast to better see the edges of the plate. On many fields, the dirt on the sides cover that tapered area.

Also a proven fact that you can test at your convenience, it isn't physically possible for a sphere with the dimensions of a softball to touch the black part of the plate without also touching the white part. Try it, you cannot place the ball in that position due to natural curvature of the sphere. By rule, a ball, cannot be a strike.