Quick Pitch

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by BretMan

Here we are with the season barely getting underway, or still a month away in colder climes, and this is already the third question I've seen about pitchers pausing with their hands separated and "presenting" the ball.

And so it goes...

As far as I know (since it was before my time) there used to be some description of how the pitcher "presented" the ball before pitching. No, I don't know exactly what a pitcher had to do to meet that requirement, but my understanding is that it was eliminated about 30 years ago and replaced with the "pitching preliminaries" we see today.

The only softball rule book I'm aware of that still says anything about "presenting the ball" is USSSA, and that's just for slow pitch.

Every year, I say that I think it used to be a rule in Little League, where many rule myths come from, but I never get around to checking.