(02-21-2017 05:10 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  See I guess the thing is I don't see hit by pitch as a player safety issue, it's part of the game and the reason players wear helmets. Getting beaned by a 90 mph fastball hurts like hell but most likely won't cause serious injury, besides you take that chance every time you step up to the plate rain or shine.Lightning I understand but rain is an element that you have to deal with as a pitcher and if you can't adjust then it's to bad, so sad for you runner take your base. A team can even mitigate it to an extent... Did the equipment manager not watch the forecast the night before and have dry baseballs ready for this exact situation? Are you saying that both teams including the home team ran completely out of regulation baseballs and could not dry the wet ones off fast enough for use? It seems to me people were sick of being in the rain and the conditions were difficult so the ump prematurely called the game. Not what I like to see in baseball.

Or maybe you could stop the game earlier, which the umpire admitted he should have done after play was stopped.