More fun with the OBR

Nothing more to add to the topic of OBR 9.01(c), but no discussion of the Official Baseball Rulebook would be complete without digging into OBR 8.02( b) -- especially after Julian Tavarez got booted from a game for his very dirty hat. Hey, what's on that hat anyway? Could it be pine tar...? Tavarez denies it, of course, and says that it's simply dirt from him touching the cap after each pitch. But the article I linked to has umpire crew chief Joe West saying that Tavarez and Tony LaRussa "admitting" that it was pine tar. Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon is no bad guy for calling him out on it -- Bobby Cox and Larry Bowa have made the same complaints this season -- and it ain't like he's the first guy to fuck with his pitches.

OBR 8.02 (b) doesn't get employed that much either, but it sure breeds controversy when it does. Here's the full 8.02 rule for context:

The pitcher shall not…(a) (6) deliver what is called the "shine" ball, "spit" ball, "mud" ball or "emery" ball. The pitcher, of course, is allowed to rub the ball between his bare hands. PENALTY: For violation of any part of this rule 8.02 (a) (2 to 6) the umpire shall: (a) Call the pitch a ball, warn the pitcher and have announced on the public address system the reason for the action. (b) In the case of a second offense by the same pitcher in the same game, the pitcher shall be disqualified from the game…(e) The umpire shall be sole judge on whether any portion of this rule has been violated.

And the billowy structure of the rule extends to anything a pitcher might have on his person or in his possession -- basically, any foreign substance is cause for immediate ejection. Consider Expos starter Zach Day, who got booted from a game last year after it was discovered that he had used krazy glue to cover a blister on his pitching hand. The bone of contention with the Day example last year was whether he was actually trying to put anything on his pitches with a substance that's sold on the basis of his quick-drying properties. Probably not; pitchers putting glue on their fingers/hands to cover sores/cuts is a common enough practice. But someone on the field complained, prompting a decision from the umpire crew, forcing the invocation of OBR 8.02(b). And if you don't agree with that decision, our old phantom friend OBR 9.01(c), justifies the ruling just as well.

In Julian Tavarez's case, the fact that he's such a sensitive guy probably doesn't help.