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WEBVTT
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Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries and Umpire Podcast.
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My name is Daryl and I will be your host as we
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take a look behind the mask, so to speak, sharing
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stories, insights, and experiences from the unique
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perspective of the baseball umpire. In this episode,
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we'll discuss a few of the 2025 Little League
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rules changes in a bit more detail. If you have
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any questions, comments, or ideas for future
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episodes, drop me a line at bluecrewdiaries at
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gmail .com. So if you're ready, grab your indicator
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and plate brush, and let's hit the field. Well,
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what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to episode
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11 of the Blue Crew Diaries. an umpire podcast.
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If I sound a little off in this episode, I am
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getting over a cold, so a little stuffed up,
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but we're going to do this anyway. So, first
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on the agenda, there are still Little League
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Umpire Outreach Clinics going on. all across
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the country, go to LittleLeagueUmpire .org, the
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Little League Umpire Registry. If you have not
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signed up for the Umpire Registry, why not? It
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doesn't cost you anything, and there is some
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great stuff on there. It also allows you to sign
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up for these outreach clinics. Other than that,
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I'm sure you guys by now know that I'm a big...
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a big advocate for the youtube rules clinic videos
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from california district four it looks like they
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have their their yearly series pretty much complete
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including a softball rules clinic video so if
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you're uh if you're not a softball umpire or
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you're not a baseball umpire and you want to
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do softball that's probably the video for you
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or do both why not Other than that, let's get
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on to the main topic. If you want to go back
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to Episode 7 of the Blue Crew Diaries, we talked
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a little bit about the significant updates to
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the 2025 Little League Rulebook. And there were
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some things in there that I wanted a little bit
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more clarification on. Some stuff that... Really
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kind of didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
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But thankfully, my prayers have been answered.
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I received an email the other day from a gentleman
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by the name of Dave. Dave, thank you for reaching
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out. And in that email, aside from telling me
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that he enjoys the podcast. He also sent me the
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link to the updated Little League Make the Right
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Call casebook. So, for those of you who do not
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know the Make the Right Call casebook, it is
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basically a miniaturized rulebook, but it's one
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of these, if you're, here's a situation. If you're
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presented with this situation, here's the rule
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that that situation would fall under, and here's
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how you should handle that situation. Yeah, so
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it really gives a little more clarity on some
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of the stuff that I wanted some more clarity
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on. So let's just start at the top and go down.
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I'm not going to read the entire Make the Right
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Call casebook. I'm just going to go with the
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new updated type stuff. As far as the biggest
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thing here is illegal equipment versus improper
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equipment or damaged equipment. Really, the only
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illegal equipment that is grounds for ejection
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immediately is an improper or an illegal bat
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so if you are umpiring a majors game and you
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have a batter step into the box that has a bat
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that says bb core or usssa or Something like
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that. It does not have that USA Baseball logo.
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That is grounds for immediate ejection for using
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an illegal bat. Improper equipment isn't immediately
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grounds for ejection. Improper equipment is to
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be removed or disallowed you know, have its use
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disallowed by the umpire. And if it is discovered
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that it is being used after the umpire has disallowed
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its use, then it could be subject to ejection.
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Because the umpire has already said, you can't
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use this. Go get rid of it. And we're talking
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like choke -up knobs or like batting donuts,
Load full transcript
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stuff like that. Obviously, batting donuts are
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allowed in junior and senior, but we're mainly
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talking majors and minors right now. So if it
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is discovered that, say, a choke -up knob is
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being used on the bat, the umpire will advise
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the player or the manager, if it was me, I would
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go to the manager myself and simply just call
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time, go to the manager, hey, he can't have that
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on his bat. Simple, right? So if that happens,
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the player will remove the choke -up knob or
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should remove the choke -up knob from the bat.
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Now, if they come up to bat the next time and
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have that choke -up knob, on the bat again, now
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we're kind of flirting with ejection. Because
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I've already told you once, you cannot have this.
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You can't use it per the rulebook. And now you're
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trying to use it again. Yeah, I'd be flirting
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with ejection on that one. Let's see. Same idea
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with damaged equipment. If there's a helmet that's
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damaged, it has a crack in it, or something like
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that, you can't just toss the plier for using
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damaged or improper equipment. Now, if you tell
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them to get rid of it, and they continue trying
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to use it, now we're getting into ejection land.
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Let's see here. Oh, this is a biggie. Situation.
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A player comes to bat wearing a wristwatch. Is
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this allowed? I have been known. I shouldn't
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say known on occasion, but known. quite a bit
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to wear my watch when I'm umpiring out on the
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field. I mainly use it to time in between innings.
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Just to kind of get off track a little bit here,
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I'm not thrilled with Little League's whole one
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minute from the last out of the last inning to
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the first pitch of the next inning. I get it.
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They're trying to speed the game up. But that
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does not give you a lot of time. I mean, one
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minute for all the defensive players to come
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off, the new defensive players to go out, the
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pitcher to warm up. You know, maybe
the catcher's
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not ready. So now the one minute has expired.
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The catcher is just now coming out. Well, according
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to Little League, that pitcher doesn't get to
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have any warm -up pitches because the one minute
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is over. I don't agree with that. Now, the league
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that I umpire for, that I'm going to be honest,
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I may not umpire for this year, there's a lot
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of drama in people trying to serve themselves.
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behind the scenes that has absolutely nothing
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to do with the kids who are playing. It's all
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adults trying to get things to go their way.
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And I don't agree with some of the stuff that's
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going on, so I may not umpire for that league
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this year. But one of the things that they could
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do a lot better at is trying to speed up those
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inning changes. Um, cause I mean, I've, I've
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sat there and sometimes they're like five, six,
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seven minutes between innings. So, and, and I
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know, you know, it's, it's more my call. I could,
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you know, kind of stand up for myself and say,
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okay guys, let's go. Um, but I don't, I don't
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know why. Anyway, getting back on topic. So a
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player comes, steps in the box, has a wristwatch
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on. Is this legal? According to the 2025 rules,
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yes. Players may wear jewelry provided it does
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not pose harm or injury. I could see a wristwatch
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being a problem. especially if a pitch is just
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a little bit inside and glances off the player's
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wrist or something like that. That could hurt.
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However, they can wear a watch. It just cannot
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have two -way communication capability. So if
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you have an Apple smartwatch, you can't use it.
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Okay. The watch that I wear out on the field
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is just a regular old Casio. I mean, it's got
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the digital display, but it still has the old
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school hands that a lot of players this day and
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age have no idea how to read because they don't
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teach that in school anymore, apparently. Just
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like... A lot of schools aren't teaching cursive
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writing. Why? I have no idea. So, yes, a watch
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is allowed. Let's see. I'm just going down through
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here, picking some stuff out. Okay. Rule 1 .16.
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Situation A. The Newtown Little League Tigers
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come to the game with seven highly polished chrome
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-colored batting helmets. Is this allowed? Pardon
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me. That is not allowed. It is illegal. Batting
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helmets must have a non -glare surface and not
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be mirror -like in appearance. However, this
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is not grounds for ejection under Rule 3 .01a.
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It is not grounds for ejection. They just can't
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use the helmets. Same thing with Situation B.
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During pregame equipment inspection, the NOXE
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stamp on several of the home team's helmets cannot
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be located. Again, remove the helmets from play.
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That's it. This is not grounds for ejection.
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Oh, what else do we have here? Let's continue
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batting order. A lot of this is stuff that, you
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know, administrative stuff that, yes, the, you
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know, the Empire should know, but it's not, you
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know, not a huge deal. Let's see here. All right.
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So, rule 3 .01. Damaged or improper equipment
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is used during the game. The use of damaged or
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improper equipment, now that's damaged or improper
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equipment, is not grounds for ejection. The only
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one, like I said, that is grounds for immediate
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ejection is an illegal bat. The use of an illegal
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bat... that being one that does not meet the
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specifications of Rule 1 .10, or has pine tar,
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is the only example of illegal equipment and
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will always, always result in an ejection as
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provided by Rule 6 .06d. Damaged, improper, and
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illegal equipment including an illegal bat, must
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be removed from the game at the point of discovery
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and subject to ejection from any point thereafter
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under Rules 3 .01a, 6 .06d, and or 9 .01b. So...
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If you have an illegal bat, it is an immediate
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ejection. Immediate. If you have a player that
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steps into the box with a, let's just say a helmet,
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that you notice has a large crack in it, that
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is not grounds for ejection. Because it's damaged
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equipment. It is not illegal equipment. Very
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simple. You tell them, hey, time, you got to
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go get another helmet. Can't use that one. Simple.
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All right. So, really, that's the big one that
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I was kind of hung up on. I think I've kind of
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talked enough about that. Yeah. So that is where
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we are at for that one. Dave, again, thank you
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very much for reaching out and sending me the
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link to this Make the Right Call casebook. And
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the link to it will be in the description here
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on the podcast. And also in the description down
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below on YouTube for those of you who are listening
00:17:41.150 --> 00:17:50.029
to this episode there. So with that comes this
00:17:50.029 --> 00:17:55.049
week's trivia question. So last week, the question
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was, does Little League have a must slide rule?
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And the answer to that is technically no. There
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is no must slide rule. However, per the rulebook,
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the runner under Rule 7 .08, Subsection 3, the
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runner must either slide or attempt to get around
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a fielder. Who has the ball and is waiting to
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make a tag. So if the runner does not slide.
00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:47.079
Or attempt to avoid contact. The runner is out.
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Also if you're working majors and below. The
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runner is out if they slide head first. While
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advancing. To the next. base. If they leave the
00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:06.819
base they're at to advance and then they turn
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around and retreat back to that base and go in
00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:15.599
head first, that is perfectly fine. But if they
00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:19.619
go into the base head first while trying to retreat,
00:19:19.980 --> 00:19:27.339
that is illegal and cannot be done. And I have
00:19:27.339 --> 00:19:31.700
seen that. I saw that the very, very first game
00:19:31.700 --> 00:19:34.160
I went over and watched. I wasn't even officially
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:38.039
an umpire yet. I just went over and watched one
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of the games. It was one of the first games of
00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:44.779
the season. And runner coming home, came in,
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.460
slid headfirst. Now, the problem was the runner
00:19:49.460 --> 00:19:56.339
was safe at home. And I'm standing kind of behind
00:19:56.339 --> 00:19:58.890
the fence, kind of behind home plate. And the
00:19:58.890 --> 00:20:02.809
umpire, he's already got his mask off. He's in
00:20:02.809 --> 00:20:05.970
a good position. He sees that the runner slides
00:20:05.970 --> 00:20:10.210
in and the runner is safe. But he went in headfirst.
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And I literally heard the umpire say, oh, man.
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Like, headfirst slide, runner's out. Yeah. And
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even the umpire wasn't. wasn't thrilled about
00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:32.480
having to call this runner out because they made
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a simple mistake and simply forgot. Oh well,
00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:40.819
it is what it is. So no, Little League does not
00:20:40.819 --> 00:20:45.319
have a must slide rule. The runner simply has
00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:50.319
to slide or attempt to avoid contact. Which brings
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:56.119
us to this week's question. Or this month's question,
00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:59.980
I should say. This is, again, going back to Episode
00:20:59.980 --> 00:21:07.960
7. What is the penalty if an illegal bat is discovered
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being used during a game? This has changed this
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:20.980
year. What is the penalty if an illegal bat is
00:21:20.980 --> 00:21:25.630
discovered being used during a game? Think you
00:21:25.630 --> 00:21:28.529
know the answer? You can always go back to Episode
00:21:28.529 --> 00:21:33.670
7. The answer's right in there. So that is going
00:21:33.670 --> 00:21:39.809
to do it for this month's episode. I love doing
00:21:39.809 --> 00:21:45.029
these. They're so much fun. Yeah, so again, Dave,
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thank you very much for reaching out. I greatly
00:21:48.329 --> 00:21:52.390
appreciate it. I hope everybody is enjoying these
00:21:52.390 --> 00:21:58.079
podcasts. I know they're not the greatest thing
00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:02.319
in the world. Just kind of a talking head. But
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I do try to make them as good as I can. So if
00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:12.940
you're enjoying them, let me know. If there are
00:22:12.940 --> 00:22:15.960
things that I can do to improve, let me know.
00:22:17.299 --> 00:22:19.779
And if you send me an email saying, well, the
00:22:19.779 --> 00:22:21.920
biggest thing you can improve on is stop talking.
00:22:22.730 --> 00:22:26.170
Because you talk way too much. Yeah, that's not
00:22:26.170 --> 00:22:32.569
going to change. Sorry, guys. So having said
00:22:32.569 --> 00:22:36.369
that, as always, thank you all for listening.
00:22:36.470 --> 00:22:39.029
And I will see you on the diamond.