Pitching Rubber Ideas

[javasource]

As Razor said... the 3-spike plates are handy. They are junk when you use the spikes... but as a portable rubber - they work well - especially on gym floors... Cause we east-coasters are in a polar vortex... with temps this last week hitting wonderful highs of 30 below zero... K... enough of my whining... here's a link to them, they are $12:

http://www.softball.com/index.jsp#c...uctId=84&_suid=138930805202708521566102886777

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

Soft Touch Synthetic Turf Pitching Rubber.

 

[T.J.]

Buy one of the temp plates with the 3 spikes.
Throw the spikes away....then...

1. Try to make the plate heavy...very heavy where it will sink into the turf and wont move when pushing off of it. The best way to do this is to attach steel plates to the bottom of the plate. Or buy a second plate....then glue this plate to the bottom of the first. Then drill a good number of holes into the bottom of the bottom plate and into the top plate (just a little)...or drill holes through the sides of the bottom plate. Then fill the holes with lead.

2. Second idea is to buy the aluminum style ramp traction grips. The type that are nailed to wooded ramps you would use to drive an ATV or lawn tractor up into a pick-up truck. If you attach one of these to the bottom of the plate it should help the plate stay in place.

 

[T.J.]

Buy one of the temp plates with the 3 spikes.
Throw the spikes away....then...

1. Try to make the plate heavy...very heavy where it will sink into the turf and wont move when pushing off of it. The best way to do this is to attach steel plates to the bottom of the plate. Or buy a second plate....then glue this plate to the bottom of the first. Then drill a good number of holes into the bottom of the bottom plate and into the top plate (just a little)...or drill holes through the sides of the bottom plate. Then fill the holes with lead.

2. Second idea is to buy the aluminum style ramp traction grips. The type that are nailed to wooded ramps you would use to drive an ATV or lawn tractor up into a pick-up truck. If you attach one of these to the bottom of the plate it should help the plate stay in place.

 

[FrozenRope]

Maybe you could glue a piece from a boot scraper mat or something on the bottom of a nail-down rubber? Sometimes they have similar patterns.

-W

See!!! I knew someone would come up with a great idea. There's a beat up spike cleaner in the utility room at our local LL. I've tripped over it 100 times. It's got a bunch of little hard rubber spikes or "bristles" that would sink perfectly into the pebbles of the turf and likely be very stable. Ding Ding Ding ... Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!! Thanks for the idea Star!

 

[starsnuffer]

Awesome that sounds perfect, glad we could all help out!

-W

 

[FrozenRope]

brrr its 74 here....wait....its always 74 here....

Would never give up the seasons of the northeast. Sure...there's times in late Feb that I wish I could Fast Forward to May....but without the desolate winter... the onset of spring time warmth would be "just another day". Some of us need to experience misery to appreciate bliss!

 

[FrozenRope]

We used the 3 spike rubber pitching plates ( they are terrible by the way) without the spikes attached, then added non slip strips like you would add to stairs to keep from slipping. Works like a charm on turf. Doesn't give at all.

If the spike cleaner idea fails...this is #2...with GG's suggestion of nonslip matting as the last ditch effort. TJ... I don't have immediate access to any molten lead...lol unless of course I raid my fishing box(which by the way I haven't seen since DD started the Softball thing) and melt a bunch of sinkers.

 

[T.J.]

Would never give up the seasons of the northeast. Sure...there's times in late Feb that I wish I could Fast Forward to May....but without the desolate winter... the onset of spring time warmth would be "just another day". Some of us need to experience misery to appreciate bliss!

Nothing like cutting & splitting wood throughout the year so you can heat your home with a wood stove in the winter while it snows outside....and yes my Christmas lights stay on the house and get turned on whenever it snows.

 

[T.J.]

. TJ... I don't have immediate access to any molten lead...lol unless of course I raid my fishing box(which by the way I haven't seen since DD started the Softball thing) and melt a bunch of sinkers.

Sweet Mary Jane I was thinking the same thing when I was typing that piece.