Did Conoropo use forbidden substance? Draci coach disagrees
Friday game between Draci and Hroši brought a rare sighting, after referee ejected home pitcher for a forbidden substance on his hands. Home coach Hynek Čapka disagrees with the verdict.
The moment came in the seventh inning when visiting coach Alexander Derhak asked for the check on Conoropo’s hand after Adam Jacquese’s out. You can see the situation in the video below.
The video shows the home coach wasn’t of the same mind with the referee’s verdict and he even brought rosin (colophony) from the dugout, which based on the Draci coach, was the only substance Venezuelan pitcher had available. The situation culminated in Omar Conoropo and Hynek Čapka ejections. Čapka had his say in the game scoring record:
[trans.] “Draci pitcher Conoropo was ejected from the game and referee Vičar stated the reason was that he wore a rubber bracelet on his glove hand, which was taken from him and sent for testing. As I was leaving the field, I was supposedly cautioned, which I didn’t see or hear, as I had my backs turned to him. It was probably because I asked visiting coach, who brought the attention to the bracelet, whether he was satisfied. Following this, the referee changed the reason behind ejecting pitcher Conoropo, claiming he had paintar (pine tar – author.) on his hand. When I came back to him again and asked him how he discovered that, he said his wrist was sticky. After I disagreed and said [pitcher] had none [pine tar], I was ejected. I stand by my claim, that he didn’t use any pine tar, because we don’t do things like these in our club and we don’t have substances like that. We only have stick for the bats, which smells strongly after pine, but Conoropo certainly didn’t have that on his hand. He only used colophony, which he applied on his wrist before each inning. I bought it today in a baseball shop.”
We will see, whether the situation will be discussed further. Just a remainder, the rules allow to use colophony, however, they don’t allow to have “any foreign substance on or near player”. As far as the bracelet goes, the rules state:
“Pitcher can’t have anything on his hand, any finger or wrist (for example a bandage, tape, glue, bracelet, etc.). Referee is the only one who can decided whether the item is a foreign item as stated in rule 6.02c)7), but under no circumstances can it be allowed to let pitcher pitch with such item on his hand, finger or wrist.”
