Augusta Babe Ruth League

Greetings Umpires

• Appeal for missed bases or early tag-ups must be with a live ball and made by either tagging the runner or the base the defense is appealing. Only if the ball has been made dead by going out of play, time called or other reason, must it return to the mound prior to the appeal.

• Pitches must be thrown for an intentional walk.

• The ball is not always immediately dead on a balk. If the pitcher balks and delivers, call out BALK!, but do not kill the play. If the batter and all other runners advance at least one base, the balk is nullified.

• Pitcher's hands may come together above the chin, but must be in front of the body and not above the head.

• Pitcher must take signs from the catcher, while standing on the rubber. Penalty: After a warning by the umpire, the pitcher, on the next offense shall be removed from the mound as a pitcher for the remainder of the game.

• Anyone warming up a pitcher at home plate must wear a mask, including adult coaches.

• A pre-game equipment check is not required in Babe Ruth. Defective helmets are removed upon discovery. Bat violations are covered in 1.10(c) and 6.06(d) Bats must conform to dimensions in rule 1.10. In Babe Ruth, the rule is can not be longer than 36" There is no limit on weight to length ratio. BESR stamp is not required.

• A designated hitter is not allowed in Babe Ruth. In local league play, an Extra Hitter (EH) is allowed by local league option. This is simply a 10 batter line-up. The EH does not have to be in the 10^th spot. The EH is treated like any other starter regarding substitutions. Only nine batters are allowed in tournament play.

• A Babe Ruth game may not start nor finish with 8 players. If the team starts with 9, they must finish with 9. If they start with 10, they must finish with 10. (Some leagues allow the line-up to revert to 9 or 8 in local league play. Defer to league rule.)

• If a manager/coach makes a second trip to the same pitcher in the same inning, the pitcher may not pitch for the rest of the game. Trips don't accumulate throughout the game. There is no limit on offensive conferences... within the spirit of the game. No unreasonable delays.

• Pitcher may not go to his mouth while on the dirt area of the mound (9 ft. radius of rubber) Penalty: add a ball, even when there are base runners.

• Contact Rule only applies to player attempting to reach home plate. Player is out and ejected for deliberately and maliciously crashing a defensive player in the vicinity of home plate. At any other base, the runner cannot be declared out for the act of crashing itself (unless one of the conditions of Rule 7.09 exist) but may be ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct.

• Re-entry Rule- any of the starting players may be removed and re-enter the game once. Exception: If a team has used all of their substitutes and an injury or ejection occurs, the opposing manager may choose an already used substitute to re-enter the game. The injured player may not return to the game if the special re-entry rule is used.

• The pitcher's glove must be uniform in color and may not be white or gray. Common sense ruling for our purposes: Two shades of brown is brown. Have the pitcher change gloves if his has white or gray or is otherwise distracting to the batter. White stitching and small white trademarks are ok. We don't want to place an undue burden on our players when they only have access to off the rack gloves which are rarely all the same shade of brown.

• Catch and carry- Carry into a dugout/bench is live ball unless player falls. Players in the dugout can aid in preventing the fall. Other DBT should be handled like the dugout.

• Force-Play Slide Rule- There is not a force-play slide rule in Babe Ruth Baseball. Basically the runner must leave the basepath (unable to reach the bag with his hand) in order to get an interference and automatic DP.