Baseball Pitchers Searched--A Good Time to Start Reading Game-Day Youth: Learning Baseball's Lingo

Major League Baseball umpires are now searching pitchers to make sure they are not putting anything on the ball to be able to toss it better, but it's slowing down the game. Lots of fans have complained about games taking too long to play. Now, umpires must check pitchers at least once during contests for use of foreign substances. Relief pitchers, once they come into or exit a game, are also searched. All this takes time.

Today, the batting average for MLB players is .239, so there aren't a lot of hits, but there are many strikeouts. That's why the league decided to have the umpires do some investigating of things happening on the pitcher's mound.

While you're waiting for the umpire to check that the pitcher isn't doing anything illegal, start reading Game-Day Youth: Learning Baseball's Lingo. Available now from www.bn.com and www.amazon.com in paperback and e-book format.