Help... what should the deminsions and the slope of the mound be? Some places we go it is so steep we can hardly pitch. Is this done for home field advantage?

Hate to tell you but...as far as I know, there are no legal dimensions for a mound. Get used to the differences.

NJ Pitch

The NFHS rule book pretty clearly lays out the proper dimensions. The pitching rubber should be 10 inches above the plate height. Drop "should be" 1 in per foot. I have never seen it measured by any official.

Baseball really blew this one. The slop that a pitcher lands his stride foot on is very important concerning arm strain and consistent delivery. Some school coaches build it up high and steep to " wink wink" get some advantage having their kids practice on it. To practice at one slope and go play where it is nearly double in angle is equivalent to arriving to find that your hitter must use 45 oz. wooden bats and theirs don't. This is a bad situation that the relationship of elevation of mound to home plate and slope of the mound where the pitcher strides do not relate. It need standardizing badly IMO.

A coach 70 miles away should not be able to surprise dictate( of his own chosing) the angle of the mound for your guys. Bad for the game, the pitchers and I think merely overlooked in the original rules.

It's been part of baseball since it was called "Townball" and ld Abner was just a twinkle!

Home field advantage means exactly that! Is it right , no. Is it going to happen, I hope so!

What would you say to slope on the line that brings a slow roller back into play? Or tall infield grass, or fluffy dirt in front of the plate? Or baseball w/taller seams (or smaller ones if you like)?

It's part of the game! It used to be part of the pitcher's job to dirty up the ball and the mound was the choise of the home team, could be a mountain or a ditch!

"You should enter a ballpark the way you enter a church." Bill -Spaceman- Lee

Pitchinside writes:

"What would you say to slope on the line that brings a slow roller back into play? Or tall infield grass, or fluffy dirt in front of the plate? Or baseball w/taller seams (or smaller ones if you like)?"

What would you say if you came to town and we moved first base back 5 steps because you had a fast team? Follow the rules and make mounds regulation. I ain't rocket science.

Swing, I think that's something the ump might notice. I'm just saying that the home team has been ding things like this since the ball was white! It's part of the game, some of the stuff my boy has had to pitch from kills me. Just give him half an inning, and he'll adjust!

They should follow the rules, absolutly! But the rules will be stretched to the breaking point by some! By the way, I've seen my boy call time and fix his landing area on several occasions.

"You should enter a ballpark the way you enter a church." Bill -Spaceman- Lee

Pitch,

I hear you and believe me I am not that rigid but baseball pitches and swings are about creating angles properly. The inclined plane called the mound should be 1 inch/ foot fall per 6 feet out front or so I am told. If it isn't even close then you change the spine angle the time the foot gets down and the torque position of the pitchers. Our 06 pitcher just pitched a one hitter , walked five , and hit one. He struggled up and down and finished with a back ache from 93 pitches from an angle he has not pitched from that did not resemble the rules. They have clinics for coaches to teach coaches about these things so I assume they know the facts.

You cannot fix a landing area during a game that need 2 yards of dirt. You cannot safely pitch off a salad bowl

Most kids play on a variety of mounds. Our HS didn't have a particularly high mound but when I got a chance to throw off a high mound I was thrilled. Of course that is different from a normal height mound that is poorly maintained.