Pitcher Wristbands and Bracelets: Flourish or Distraction?

Plate umpire Jim Reynolds instructed Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello to remove a bracelet (CLE Feed / UEFL Video) prior to the first inning of Tuesday's Indians-Tigers game, a gesture unnoticed by either broadcast, but expertly deciphered by Kcreasy, who wrote to us:

After Tigers catcher Avila threw to second before top of the 1st, Reynolds walked out to the mound, handed Porcello a new ball and you could see them talking. Reynolds walked away and you could see Porcello go to his glove hand and remove a bracelet and place it in his back pocket. This was the same crew that had RA Dickey remove a bracelet his daughter made. I took a video of it off my tv...

Felix Hernandez wearing a band? There goes the ad campaign...

MLB Rule 1.15 states that a pitcher's glove may not be distracting in any manner, while 1.11 mandates all uniforms and undershirts be identical and distinctively equivalent. Rule 9.01(c), of course, bestows upon umpires the authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in the Official Baseball Rules.

However, such action may instead fall under the purview of a recent MLB Directive, as eluded to by Mets Manager Terry Collins in August, when this same umpiring crew enforced this same policy, as Crew Chief Jim Joyce requested Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey remove bracelets from his wrist in the midst of a 6-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Joyce received flak for his enforcement of policy when Dickey told reporters, "I was a little bit angry because those were a couple of bracelets my girls had made for me before I went to Kilimanjaro. I'd had them on every day since January."

If indeed MLB sent out a bulletin mid-season with such a policy addendum, umpires were simply enforcing policy and no further issue appears at play. However, problems and controversy arise when rules are enforced inconsistently wherein one umpire allows the item while another orders its removal, especially if this certain alluded-to Directive is a policy that has, in one form or another, been in place for several years. History and precedent support the removal of distracting wrist garb on pitchers.

A 2006 ESPN Page 2 piece addressed the issue of MLB pitchers and players wearing bracelets. In regards to pitchers, the article pointed out that Huston Street often wore a green WWJD bracelet on his glove hand, while Angels Manager Mike Scioscia asked for its removal. A's pitcher Kirk Saarloos was known to have worn a pink Livestrong-style band before being asked by umpires to remove the item.

Even earlier, in 2003, Bobby Cox asked umpires to remove Mets pitcher Jae Weong Seo's Buddhist bracelet.

UEFL Video: Reynolds instructs Porcello to remove bracelet prior to Shin-Soo Choo leadoff AB