It’s amazing how petty coaches/parents get on this issue. Players never care at neutral sites, they go where they’re told.
Five years coaching and 15 umpiring FP taught me the following:
Nearly all Home and Visitor signs at public parks are useless. That designation is often arbitrarily assigned.
In FP nearly all tournaments and rec leagues designate which dugout to use. In tournaments it’ll say “Team listed in top bracket occupies 1B (or 3B) dugout unless already occupied by a team playing back-to-back games.” This is true whether home is determined by coin flip or seeding.
A smart rec league will designate which dugout is for the home team. It’s up to the coach to know that - many just don’t pay attention. In HS/College the home team gets to select the home dugout.
Dugout preferences in fastpitch differs from baseball because the head coach is often in the 3B coaches box when batting vs baseball where the manager remains in the dugout if he has enough coaches. By taking the 3B dugout, the smaller FP field allows the coach to speak with his/her players in the dugout when on offense.
When I’ve asked coaches about it, I usually get 1 of 3 answers: 1) Ability to talk to players from 3B box; 2) which dugout has more shade/is nicer; 3) What baseball team did they grow up watching.
I got interested in this because of an argument I had early in my coaching days with an opposing coach. I was home, but he wanted me to move to the 1B dugout (3B was in the shade). I said home team is always on 3B side. He said it’s always on 1B side. When I asked why he said he grew up a Yankees fan and claimed “all MLB teams” are on 1B side. I laughed and said I grew up a Dodgers/Angels fan and they occupied the 3B dugout and I wasn’t moving. Dude was bitter the rest of the game. Next year the rec league designated 3B as the home dugout just to stop the arguments.
Five years coaching and 15 umpiring FP taught me the following:
Nearly all Home and Visitor signs at public parks are useless. That designation is often arbitrarily assigned.
In FP nearly all tournaments and rec leagues designate which dugout to use. In tournaments it’ll say “Team listed in top bracket occupies 1B (or 3B) dugout unless already occupied by a team playing back-to-back games.” This is true whether home is determined by coin flip or seeding.
A smart rec league will designate which dugout is for the home team. It’s up to the coach to know that - many just don’t pay attention. In HS/College the home team gets to select the home dugout.
Dugout preferences in fastpitch differs from baseball because the head coach is often in the 3B coaches box when batting vs baseball where the manager remains in the dugout if he has enough coaches. By taking the 3B dugout, the smaller FP field allows the coach to speak with his/her players in the dugout when on offense.
When I’ve asked coaches about it, I usually get 1 of 3 answers: 1) Ability to talk to players from 3B box; 2) which dugout has more shade/is nicer; 3) What baseball team did they grow up watching.
I got interested in this because of an argument I had early in my coaching days with an opposing coach. I was home, but he wanted me to move to the 1B dugout (3B was in the shade). I said home team is always on 3B side. He said it’s always on 1B side. When I asked why he said he grew up a Yankees fan and claimed “all MLB teams” are on 1B side. I laughed and said I grew up a Dodgers/Angels fan and they occupied the 3B dugout and I wasn’t moving. Dude was bitter the rest of the game. Next year the rec league designated 3B as the home dugout just to stop the arguments.
