19th year umpiring and was always taught to never touch players equipment, period.Ok. I’m 45 years old and this was back when I was 19 to 21 years old and umpiring at West Hills Little League here in Southern California. Pretty competitive league and I was a decent ballplayer recovering from reconstructive shoulder surgery. Kicking a bat out of the way from a kid barreling into the plate just seemed sensible. Maybe Covid garbage has changed things???
Jim Wolfe actually umpired some games there and taught us a thing or two. Just before he started umpiring in the show.