It is time for Japanese baseball to revoke — or at least amend — the rule on automatic ejection of the pitcher when a batter is hit in the head by a pitch. According to the in-Japan-only regulation, an umpire must toss out of the game any pitcher who throws one into a batter's helmet, intentionally or not, and regardless of the situation and type of pitch.
As far as I know, Japan is the only baseball-playing country in the world that includes this in its rule book.
Even if a hitter's hard hat is slightly grazed by a slow curveball or low-speed change-up, the hurler gets the heave-ho by the plate umpire for having thrown a "dangerous pitch." Two guys in Japanese baseball were hit on the head on the same day, Aug. 7.
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