Saturday, April 14, 2012

Umpire Odds & Ends: Batter's Box Bafflement

For Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, something didn't feel right about the right handed batter's box at U.S. Cellular Field as he dug in for his first at-bat in the top of the first inning of the Tigers-White Sox game: Cabrera sensed that he was being shortchanged, that the batter's box was too small.

Talk about Friday the 13th oddities, umpires Adrian Johnson and Gary Cederstrom mulled it over with Cabrera before summoning the Chicago grounds crew to measure the box, which confirmed an erroneous (too small) box had been drawn. As the grounds crew erased, redressed and redrew the batter's and catcher's box housing—this time to correct specifications—umpires and players stood by as South-side Chicago was treated to a seven-minute batter's box delay.

As specified by Diagram No. 2 of the Official Rules of Major League Baseball (OBR), each batter's box shall be four feet wide and six feet in length. The nearest edge of each box shall be located six inches laterally from the parallel edges of the 17" home plate, while each box shall be centered longitudinally at the junctions which form the plate's two obtuse, 135 degree angles. The catcher's box runs 43" wide and has a center that correlates and coincides with the center of home plate itself. The catcher's box shall have an end point exactly eight feet behind the lowest triangular point of home plate that contains the plate's lower right angle.

Chalk up an incorrect QOC for the grounds crew and a winning attempt by Cabrera. After the delay, the White Sox defeated the Tigers, 5-2.

Video: Umpires Delay Game to Fix Batter's Box