Home Team

[MadBandit22]

Question for the masses here:
What happened to etiquette that the home team gets the 1st base line dugout?
It seems like now the 1st team to the field gets to choose their dugout.
The home team should always be on the 1st base line and the visitor along the 3rd base line. Did I miss a memo at some point saying that it was a free for all?

 

[So Cal Seth]

I thought the standard was always home team was in the 3B dugout?

 

[justanotherguy]

My daughter and I coached a 12u rec baseball team this season. We've traveled to a few other towns for games. "Home" and "Guest" have been above every dugout, with absolutely no adherence to this rule. I think the maintenance guys just grab the plates and tack them up randomly.

 

[bmakj]

at our local rec field, home team always takes 3B line, mostly because before they replaced cinder blocks with chain link for dugouts, 1B was an oven (dugout faced east, so got brunt of afternoon sun, 99 evening games). when we play an in town team (generally only 2-4 teams in a division), home team normally takes 3rd as well, because it is closer to shed (for when coaches used to have to prep fields, not PW does it).

when rec team travels to other towns, we normally wait to see what host team does. last night they took 3B line (closer to parking lots and concessions). time before they took 1B. I think it normally comes down to factors home team knows about (sun direction, which ones get muddier if it rains, , proximity to parking lot, etc.).

now that I think about it, until our town got rid of cinder block and wooden benches and roof framing, visitors probably thought we gave them 1B dugout with carpenter bees (main reason for replacing with chain link, corrugated roof, and aluminum benches), truth was both dugouts were infested. makes it easier to get rid of seeds on floor too!

 

[uncdrew]

Yeah, I'm a believer that home team gets the first base dugout. For those who might not know, that's done because many players get out at first base and the jog back to the dugout is shorter.

However, at our 10U travel tournaments, the home/away team is decided by a coin toss 2 and then the game starts. Girls and coaches have already put their gear in the dugout and warmed up. Makes little sense to switch dugouts at this point.

 

[Sweet Lou]

I guess it all depends which team you grew up rooting for.
First base side
Atlanta Braves
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Seattle Mariners
St. Louis Cardinals
San Diego Padres
Tampa Bay Rays
Texas Rangers
Washington Nationals
Third base side
Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Los Angeles Dodgers
Miami Marlins
Oakland Athletics
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Francisco Giants
Toronto Blue Jays

 

[bmakj]

Yeah, I'm a believer that home team gets the first base dugout. For those who might not know, that's done because many players get out at first base and the jog back to the dugout is shorter.

However, at our 10U travel tournaments, the home/away team is decided by a coin toss 2 and then the game starts. Girls and coaches have already put their gear in the dugout and warmed up. Makes little sense to switch dugouts at this point.

and for bracket play, home is normally based on seed, but if lower seed is already in home dugout, never seen anybody make them clear out (although I remember once as top seed we had to move over one field for championship game because host team (not certain of their seed, but obviously lower), had won the other semi. hate stupid petty crap like that.

 

[Gags]

Sweet Lou - I was thinking the same thing. Growing up...well, actually, up until a few weeks ago, when I saw a similar list somewhere on the inter-nets, I had thought "Home Team gets 1B" to be one of those enshrined baseball rules. I had seen a few HS fields with "Home" tacked to the 3B dugout, but always thought "how'd they manage to screw that one up?".

It may just come down to logistics. The Cubs probably had more room on that side of their city block @ Wrigley, maybe the same with Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland (before moving to their new stadiums).

Our rec league designated 1B as the home dugout, but only b/c home team is supposed to line the fields, and the 1B dugout has the machine and the bin holding the chalk.

 

[MadBandit22]

I thought the standard was always home team was in the 3B dugout?

Your kidding right? Watch any MLB games lately? Home team is along 1st base line.

 

[Cougars]

Maybe it's a trickle down of both Chicago teams having 3B as their dugout, but pretty much every one of my kids games I can think of (rec leagues, TB league games, high school) all have home dugout on 3B side. The TB tournaments seem to be first come, first serve.