What is legal to use for better grip?
Second skin?
- Thread starter Shawn
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Nothing, you can use rosin or an approved drying agent but the hand must be wiped clean before it is placed on the ball. The same with touching the dirt on the infield, you can do it but then you must wipe your hand clean.
Gorilla grip cloths are allowed. It’s a tacky mesh cloth that some pitchers utilize to enhance grip. Kelly Lynch from U Washington made a post of what’s in her pitchers bag and it included Gorilla Grip which she indicated was legal in NCAA rules
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I'm pretty sure you only need to wipe your hand if you lick your fingers. Rosin, drying agent, and dirt you can go straight to the ball.
Nope.
10.13.1 Under the supervision and within view of the umpire, a resin (a drying
agent) may be used on the pitcher’s hand/fingers. Any substance (including
resin, dirt or saliva) applied to the pitcher’s hands and fingers must be wiped
off if it would transfer to the ball
I was going off high school rules. You got to love rules that aren't black and white. You could argue that whatever you are using doesn't transfer to the ball.
Most Definitely Second Skin!!! Love this song by Widespread Panic. Panic's light show is always mesmerizing. They are doing a 6 night run in Austin next month. I can only go to the 2 mid week shows because of conflicts with softball.
Enjoy this Second Skin from NYE in Nashville.
Enjoy this Second Skin from NYE in Nashville.
- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,388
- 113
Long post, sorry:
Most of you guys that watch a lot of games on TV probably notice the towel in the pitcher's back pocket, this is called Gorilla Gold. GG is the only grip enhancer legal in all of the alphabet soups: PGF, USSSA, USA, NSA, etc. Those with a rulebook printed within the last 3 years should see that. I'm pretty sure, but I'm too lazy to look now, the Gorilla Gold website boldly says that it's legal in all associations. GG is not rosin, it's actually sticky, like a tact cloth. Unlike other grip enhancers: pine tar, firm grip, etc. Gorilla gold does not discolor the ball. Using other foreign substances will discolor the ball and turn it black.
If you have a kid who's a pitcher, make the $5.99 investment in Gorilla Gold from Amazon, Dick's sports, Scheel's, or any other retailer. It has a zip lock that will keep it sticky for a very long time. The one I have in my bag used for lessons, that I use to show students and parents, is still sticky and it's about 12 years old. If you put it away and seal the bag after each use, it will last a long time. But at $5.99, it's cheap enough to buy several.
Each kid that uses it will need some time to adjust, they have to figure out how much "stick" they want on their hand. Some like it only on finger tips, some like the whole hand. But, personally, I cannot imagine pitching without it. A kid has to get used to the initial feeling and get used to it. If they try it once and claim they dislike it, it means they haven't given it enough of a chance. This product is a difference maker for pitchers. Once they use it several times and start to understand and feel the way it will help, they will never want to pitch without it either. Not everyone will love it instantly but, that's only because they don't completely grasp how much this will help. Gorilla Gold is the 2nd best thing to happen to pitchers in the last 25 years, the first was allowing pitchers to start with 1 foot on the rubber.
Keep in mind, rosin removes moisture like sweat. GG adds stick to the hand giving the ability to spin pitches sooooooo much better than without. Using these 2 things together is ideal.
Also, there's 2 kinds of rosin: rock rosin and powder rosin. Rock rosin comes in a bag that looks somewhat like a sock. Powder rosin comes in a small square bag. Rock rosin is yellowish, powder is white. Rock rosin not only removes sweat but it also becomes sticky, which is why that has been illegal for pitchers. Powder rosin does not add stick, it just removes moisture. Because it would become sticky, rock rosin has traditionally been illegal for pitchers. Now that GG is legal, I don't know why they would still make rock rosin illegal. That rule seems antiquated now.
What I used to do, I mean... I knew a guy who used to cut open the bag of powder rosin, dump it out, pour rock rosin into the powder rosin bag, then sew it back up. Umpires never check rosin to insure that it's actually powder rosin, when they see the powder rosin bag they just assume it's actually powder rosin in there. So, I was... I mean, that guy I knew was pretty clever.
I never heard of using 2nd skin as a grip enhancer.
If you take my STRONG advise to get Gorilla Gold, it might behoove you to print a copy of the 2023 portion of your rule book that shows this product is LEGAL. No matter what, you will eventually run into an opponent who's coach complains about it, and usually with an umpire who also doesn't realize there's been updates to the last rule book they have which is probably 30 years old. These are the same morons who still think there is a "present the ball" rule. I understand that not every coach is up to date on all the rules, especially if their kid isn't a pitcher. But there's absolutely no excuse for an umpire to not know what is legal, and that "present the ball" went out of the rulebook 40 years ago.
Most of you guys that watch a lot of games on TV probably notice the towel in the pitcher's back pocket, this is called Gorilla Gold. GG is the only grip enhancer legal in all of the alphabet soups: PGF, USSSA, USA, NSA, etc. Those with a rulebook printed within the last 3 years should see that. I'm pretty sure, but I'm too lazy to look now, the Gorilla Gold website boldly says that it's legal in all associations. GG is not rosin, it's actually sticky, like a tact cloth. Unlike other grip enhancers: pine tar, firm grip, etc. Gorilla gold does not discolor the ball. Using other foreign substances will discolor the ball and turn it black.
If you have a kid who's a pitcher, make the $5.99 investment in Gorilla Gold from Amazon, Dick's sports, Scheel's, or any other retailer. It has a zip lock that will keep it sticky for a very long time. The one I have in my bag used for lessons, that I use to show students and parents, is still sticky and it's about 12 years old. If you put it away and seal the bag after each use, it will last a long time. But at $5.99, it's cheap enough to buy several.
Each kid that uses it will need some time to adjust, they have to figure out how much "stick" they want on their hand. Some like it only on finger tips, some like the whole hand. But, personally, I cannot imagine pitching without it. A kid has to get used to the initial feeling and get used to it. If they try it once and claim they dislike it, it means they haven't given it enough of a chance. This product is a difference maker for pitchers. Once they use it several times and start to understand and feel the way it will help, they will never want to pitch without it either. Not everyone will love it instantly but, that's only because they don't completely grasp how much this will help. Gorilla Gold is the 2nd best thing to happen to pitchers in the last 25 years, the first was allowing pitchers to start with 1 foot on the rubber.
Keep in mind, rosin removes moisture like sweat. GG adds stick to the hand giving the ability to spin pitches sooooooo much better than without. Using these 2 things together is ideal.
Also, there's 2 kinds of rosin: rock rosin and powder rosin. Rock rosin comes in a bag that looks somewhat like a sock. Powder rosin comes in a small square bag. Rock rosin is yellowish, powder is white. Rock rosin not only removes sweat but it also becomes sticky, which is why that has been illegal for pitchers. Powder rosin does not add stick, it just removes moisture. Because it would become sticky, rock rosin has traditionally been illegal for pitchers. Now that GG is legal, I don't know why they would still make rock rosin illegal. That rule seems antiquated now.
What I used to do, I mean... I knew a guy who used to cut open the bag of powder rosin, dump it out, pour rock rosin into the powder rosin bag, then sew it back up. Umpires never check rosin to insure that it's actually powder rosin, when they see the powder rosin bag they just assume it's actually powder rosin in there. So, I was... I mean, that guy I knew was pretty clever.
I never heard of using 2nd skin as a grip enhancer.
If you take my STRONG advise to get Gorilla Gold, it might behoove you to print a copy of the 2023 portion of your rule book that shows this product is LEGAL. No matter what, you will eventually run into an opponent who's coach complains about it, and usually with an umpire who also doesn't realize there's been updates to the last rule book they have which is probably 30 years old. These are the same morons who still think there is a "present the ball" rule. I understand that not every coach is up to date on all the rules, especially if their kid isn't a pitcher. But there's absolutely no excuse for an umpire to not know what is legal, and that "present the ball" went out of the rulebook 40 years ago.
+1 for Gorilla Gold. Absolute game changer. DD hated it at first, but once she was forced to get used to it (like Hillhouse mentions) she loved it. Her initial pitching coach was a huge proponent of it as well.
