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tara

by tara
(brandenburg KY)

My daughter is a pitcher. Can she have a towel on the field to wipe her hands on or wipe the ball off in case it's wet (from the rain)? If so does it need to be a neutral color?

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tara

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Never seen that ...
by: Dan

Dear Tara,

Thank you for your question. I have never seen where a pitcher has been permitted the use of a towel on the field. I have seen two alternatives. The first is the plate umpire has the towel and alternates balls when the pitcher askes for a dry ball. The second is that each coach has a towel and keeps the balls dry. When the player requests a dry ball, the umpire throws out a ball he has in his ball bag while taking a new dry ball from the coach of the pitcher on the mound. The wet ball then goes to the coach for drying.

BTW, the pitcher has the option to keep asking for a new ball until she finds one she is comfortable with. So if she does not feel the one that the umpire thows out is dry enough, she can ask for another one.

At the end of the day, I would imagine that it would be at the discretion of the umpire, but I do not believe the umpire will permit a towel of any color on the field.

Kind regards,

Dan

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Use of Towel
by: Kevin

In my experience over the years as a Coach, if I approach the umpire politely and explain to them that my pitcher is sweating excessively and can't grip the ball sufficiently to keep from possibly hitting a batter, they have more often than not graciously allowed the pitcher to use one with some guidelines; it must be folded in a way as to not be a distraction to the batter,tucked behind the back in the middle, and it can't flop. It helps if the towel is the same color as the uniform, ie: navy.

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