A number of bench clearings last season, including a significant one involving the London Majors, have prompted the Intercounty Baseball League to implement new regulations for 2017.
"We've had a history in the Intercounty Baseball League, over the past two or three years, of fairly minor incidents that lead to bench clearings -- and then you end up with major incidents," said IBL Commissioner John Kastner. "It became very clear to us that there was a recurring problem, and [the new rules] should address that."
In January 2017, the IBL passed the new regulations regarding bench-clearings, after consulting with Minor League Baseball in St. Petersburg, Florida. The regulations outline the implementation of immediate suspensions for players who leave a dugout or bullpen to engage in an altercation. Managers could also face immediate suspensions under the new regulations.
There was a total of 14 bench clearings in the 2016 season involving teams within the IBL, according to Kastner. One bench clearing between the London Majors and the Toronto Maple Leafs led to an investigation by the league.
"The London-Toronto incident was a real problem," said Kastner "We did a very exhaustive investigation, we interviewed about 13 people... we put a committee together of people that were very [experienced] in the field."
During Game 4 of the best-of-seven series in August 2016, both Toronto and London's teams cleared the benches during the middle of the fourth inning following a close play at third base. During an exchange, it was alleged that racial slurs were uttered by the Leafs towards multiple London players. When play was set to resume, the Majors pulled their team off the field in protest, which delayed the game for over an hour.
Ultimately, the investigation of the Game 4 bench clearing did not yield any conclusive results as to what actually transpired, but suspensions and fines were issued to managers on both teams.
Kastner said he hopes the new regulations deter similar incidents from taking place in the 2017 season.
The new IBL regulations are as follows:
- a) The player identified as first to leave the dugout or bullpen to engage in or start an altercation is automatically suspended five games.
- b) The manager of the team identified as first to leave the dugout or the bullpen is automatically suspended three games.
- c) A position player, who leaves his position, to engage in an altercation, is automatically suspended one game. This also applies to batters and or players in the batter’s box.