- Jun 18, 2023
- 386
- 63
All rules are technically logical nonsense.
I do have a quick inspection of every ball that comes back foul before I put it in my side bag and will also look at any that looks weird or I think has hit something that could change the ball. Also defaced by the ball being in play is very different to intentionally setting out to change what it a perfectly legal ball.
yes obviously, and a lot of rules are bad (softball, sports, otherwise) and should be questioned and changed. (Also this is not precisely laid out in the rulebook as it stands, precedent and case situations are not rules, they are interpretations of the judgement that could change at literally any moment. see: obstruction)
They're not really "changing" the ball. If this was a meaningful change, there would be rules about introducing new balls equally for each team. (like rules around when lights can be turned on) The home team has to use a fresh ball, but if they get three grounders the away team gets the ball that's rolled in the dirt a few times.
You are introducing and enforcing a penalty for something that's completely irrelevant to gameplay. I don't need the slippery slope arguments, if the ball has _Actually_ been defaced in a manner that is obsessive, unsafe, altering the dimensions of the ball, etc that's one thing, but it's a little dirt. It's almost definitely happening only because the pitcher just prefers the feel of the ball that way, the same way they pick out a glove, or batting grip, or clothes. Maybe they've convinced themselves the grip is better, but that's just superstition. They just like the feel of it, and it's NOT defaced by definition.
You do know that the word deface does have a definition, right? It means to spoil or damage the surface. In the context it is used in the rule that is exactly what it means, the player is spoiling or damaging the surface of the ball.
dirt is clearly not spoiling or damaging the surface of a baseball. That's obvious. Same way sticking a piece of gum to a sidewalk might be defacing it, but walking across it with muddy cleats is not.
Obviously this isn't always the case, but penalties are usually proportional to the perceived error/advantage. If you impede a runner, they get the base. If you throw the ball into the stands, the runners get roughly the bases they probably would've gotten if there were no stands. run out of the base path to avoid a tag? you're out, you would've been tagged. Hit it over the fence? that's probably about 4 bases.
Hit a pitch that the pitcher rolled in the dirt... unfair advantage, you win the pitch? no, that's dumb.