Houseleague Junior T-ball Rules

These are variations from the Official World T-ball Rules to be more applicable to house league play.

Regulations

1-1       The Game - T-ball is a game of baseball between two teams of up to 14 players under the direction of a manager and coaches played in agreement with the playing rules under the authority of an umpire or umpires on a recommended T-ball field.

It is designed to get young children interested in the game of baseball by stressing and maintaining active participation of all the players.

1-2       Field Decorum:
a) The actions of players, managers, coaches, umpires and league officials must be above reproach.
b) The use of tobacco, alcohol and non prescription drugs in any form are prohibited from the playing field, benches and dugouts.
c) Players and coaches while participating in a scheduled game are not permitted to deliberately harass or direct any discourteous remarks at the officials or any member of the opposing team.
d) Managers, coaches, or players engaging or persisting in conduct inimical to the spirit, principles and objectives of good sportsmanship in T-ball, shall receive a single warning from the umpire. If the offense or offenses continue, offender and offenders will be removed from the game.
e) Anyone removed from the game must leave the playing field and the spectator area. Failure to do so could result in forfeiture of the game.
f) Manager and coaches must remain in the dugout or coaching boxes at all times.

Definition of Terms

2-1      Playing line- is an imaginary line running from the 30 ft mark of the 1st base line to the 30 ft mark of the 3rd base line. Any ball that stops within the area will be deemed as a dead ball.

2-2      Forfeited game - a game declared ended by the umpire for violation of the rules.

2-3       A fair hit ball - is a legally batted ball that in the plate umpire's opinion will or could have firmly crossed the playing line in fair territory, even if it is fielded before crossing the line.

2-4       A dead hit ball - is a legally batted ball that; a) could not have crossed the playing line, even if fielded in front of the playing line. b) in the umpire¹s opinion the batter has made an illegal swing. But if the ball is caught in flight by the defensive team the batter is out and the ball is in play until time is called.

2-5       An illegally batted ball - is when the batter hits the ball, either dead, fair or foul with one or both feet on the ground entirely outside the lines of the batter¹s box.

2-6       A fielder’s choice - When any defensive player has control of the ball in the area of play and in the judgment of the plate umpire there is no attempt to make a play on any of the base runners, TIME WILL BE CALLED, and the base runners, in the judgment of the umpires, will be held on the last base they occupied or the unoccupied base they were approaching when time was called.

2-7       Asking for Time – An Infielder raising his/her hand with the ball therein, above his/her head.

2-8       Infield area - is the area in the judgment of the home plate umpire in which the defensive infielders would normally play in performance of their duties. It also includes the adjacent foul territories which are encompassed by the playing line being extended to the playing field boundaries.

2-9       An appeal - must be made by a player or manager before "Play" is called for the next batter or in the case of the last batter, it must be made before the last defensive player is off the playing field.

2-10     Batter's box - is an area on each side of home plate within which the batter shall have both his feet during his time at bat.

2-11    Illegal swing - when the batter does not take a full swing or chop swings downward on the ball.

General Rules

3-1       In T-ball there shall be no pitching to the batter therefore no bases may be awarded on balls, there is no bunting and the infield fly rule does not apply.

3-2       Each team shall have a starting lineup of up to a maximum of 14 players but if due to unavoidable circumstances the minimum number of players a team can play with is 8. The game can be played with an unequal number of players on one team. If at the time a game is scheduled to begin, a team does not have a minimum of eight players, a maximum extension of 15 min. will be allowed before the plate umpire declares the game forfeited to the non-offending team.

Any team can call up a player from Blastball to fill out their lineup and this will be encouraged. Teams cannot call a player from a higher division to play for them or use players from other teams in their division.

3-3       In Junior Tball, all players play in the field and all players are in the batting lineup.

3-4       Batting Orders - A player must be listed to bat in the same batting position for each inning. Since there are no substitutions in Junior TBall and every player is listed in the batting order, if a player cannot continue due to unavoidable circumstances that player will be removed from the batting order and the team will continue to the next batter. If a player is removed from the game but is then able to return he/she will go back into the batting order in the position they were originally placed.  After the game begins, changes or additions to this line-up must be made before the umpire calls "Play" for the first batter at the beginning of an inning, except in the case of injury or sickness. All line-up changes must be reported to the plate umpire, the scorekeeper and the opposing manager. 

3-5     Batting Orders must be followed for each inning. A batter who fails to bat in his proper batting position shall be declared out, on an appeal from the defensive team, if another player completes a time at bat in his place. However the proper batter may take his place in the batter’s box at any time before the improper batter becomes a runner or is put out.

If the improper batter becomes a base runner or is put out and the proper appeal is made the plate umpire shall a) declare the proper batter out, b) nullify any advances or scores made by the base runners because of a ball batted by the improper batter, and c) the next batter will be the player in the batting position following the player who was called out because of missing his turn at bat.

If the appeal is made too late then the improper batter becomes legal and the player in that batting position is considered to have completed his turn at bat. The next batter will be the player in the next batting position in the line-up.

3-6       In the event that neither team can field eight players, the game will be rescheduled.