Don’t throw your glove at the ball
If you play this game long enough, as announcers love to say, you will see something that you have never seen before.
You can add, that if you watch this game long enough, you will see rules that you never knew were rules before.
Many of us have been involved in a game where a ball is hit over our head, and our first reaction is to throw your glove at the ball. Rarely, if ever, does our glove hit the ball and thankfully it does not, because if it did, we would be breaking a major rule in the game of baseball.
Rule 7.05(c) states that if “a fielder deliberately throws a glove at and touches a fair ball” then “at the time of pitch, the batter-runner advances three bases.”
Wow! Three bases for an instinctual play. I believe every player, schoolyard or in actual game have thought about doing this. Some of you reading this blog have actually tried this feat in a game. If the umpire was well versed in the rules of the game, he would institute this three base rule.
Essentially, Major Leaguers can only catch the ball with their hands. A glove is considered part of their hand if the glove is connected to the hand.
This rule also extends to hats, shoes, and batting gloves. So if you have ever considered, or have been quick enough, to rip off your cleat and fling it into the air and stop a line drive over your head; don’t do it.
Just another glimpse into this wonderful game of baseball.
Until Next Time,
Chad