Mt. Prospect Park District

6 Year old Tee-Ball Rules/Guidelines

Program Purpose: The basic goal of the Mt. Prospect Park District baseball program shall be to teach fundamental baseball skills, sportsmanship standard baseball rules and correct team play in a fun and supervised setting where all athletes, regardless of ability, get an equal opportunity to participate.

Rule Guidelines:All participants in the Mt. Prospect Baseball tee ball program shall be familiar with and adhere to the rules. Ignorance of any or all of these rules shall not be considered in excuse for infractions. If a situation should arise which is not covered by any of the existing rules, a ruling, or decision shall be considered official.

The rules which follow are basic in nature and where not stated otherwise, standard baseball rules apply.

Player Eligibility: The league shall consist of 6 year olds only. To be eligible the player must be 6 years old before September first of the playing year.

To participate in a game a player must be registered on the team roster and must not be under suspension or declared ineligible by the park district.

Equipment:

Each team will be provided by the park district the following equipment before the season begins. All equipment must be returned to the park district at the conclusion of the season.

  • Batting Helmets
  • Catchers Gear (helmet, chest protector, shin guards)
  • Heavy Duty Tee
  • General First Aid

Only gym shoes or shoes with rubber or plastic spikes shall be allowed. No metal spikes.

Each player in the field shall wear a leather glove. Plastic gloves are not allowed.

A protective helmet shall be worn by the batter, the pitcher, the on deck batter, by all base runners and the first baseman when in the game.The pitcher must wear a protective helmet with a protective face mask.

Games are to be played with RIF Level 1safety balls supplied by the park district. The home team supplies the game ball, which is then returned to the home team following the game for practices.

Boys must wear cups.

Official Tee ball bats can only be used, no other bats are allowed.

All equipment must be kept in the dugout. The responsibility for enforcement of this rule falls upon the manager and coaches equally.

The Playing Field:

  1. Base paths Dimensions are 50 feet
  2. Distance from home plate to the pitcher’s plate is 35 feet
  3. Distance from front of home plate to second base is 70 feet 7 inches.
  4. 1st, 2nd & 3rdbases shall be white markers 15” square. They need to be secured with a hammer- not a bat!
  5. In bounds shall be defined as follows if not already clearly marked on the field in use - Line drawn from the edge of the backstop behind home plate running straight down left and right field lines.
  6. A semi-circle will be drawn from foul line, 10 feet from home plate and will be considered a foul ball zone. Any ball being hit by a batter from the tee and not traveling further than the outer edge of the semi-circle will be considered a foul ball.

Pre-Game Procedures General Player Rules:

  1. The home team shall place the bases in the correct places, mark the line for the pitcher’s plate and set up the batting tee for the start of the game. Home team shall occupy the third base dugout.
  2. The visiting team shall be responsible for collection of the base and tees after the game and placing them in their correct place.
  3. Each team shall have the field for 10 minutes before the start of the game for warm up. The home team shall have the field second
  4. Playability of the field shall be determined by the league directors. Refer to the Mt. Prospect Park District website ( before game time. Moving to the grass is not permitted.
  5. If the game cannot be played due to weather or field condition the team managers shall reschedule on the next available weekday practice. They will notify each team player at least 24 hours in advance of the rescheduled game. The manager must also notify the tee ball director to check for field availability.
  6. Each player, in good standing, must play in the field and bat as specified in the league rules.
  7. Teams must be able to field at least 8 players from the roster (no catcher or short center) within 15 minutes of the scheduled game (unless the other team decides to waive this rule and allow their opponent to play with 7 players. No less than 7 players may be used at one time. If less than the required numbers of players are available, players may be substituted from the opposing team to play the game.
  8. All players from the roster must play in every game, provided they are in attendance at the game.

General Game Play:

1.A regulation game shall be 6 innings or 90 minutes whichever occurs first.

NO GAMES MAY GO PAST 90 MINUTES

2.There shall be no suspended games.

3.Extra innings are not to be played.

4.Managers shall not deliberately slow up play for the purpose of stopping a game that is about to be called due to the 90 minute time limitation.

5.Every player in attendance shall bat per inning.

6.A player must play at least 3 innings in the field during the game.

7.An offensive team shall consist of:

1 catcher

1 pitcher

 4 infielders

4 outfielders, including the short center.

8.A defensive player may re-enter the game at any time.

9.An injured player may re-enter the game at any time.

10.A courtesy runner shall be allowed if a runner of batter is injured.

11.A player when he re-enters a game need not necessarily return to the same position they were playing previously.

12.If injury or ejection of a player results in a team having less that 8 defensive players, the team may continue to play with 7 player or borrow players from the other team and continue to play.

13.There shall be no infield fly rule used in the tee ball league.

14.There shall be no score kept in the tee ball league.

15.Base stealing is not permitted

16.There shall be no lead-offs by any base runners. A runner may start to advance only after a legal hit has been made by the batter. The violation of one base runner shall affect all other base runners.

17. If a defensive play is made and a runner is out, the runner shall return to the bench. However, all batters will be allowed to hit per offensive inning, no matter how many outs are made (per rule #28)

18.Should a runner leave too soon and reach the next base safely, he is to be returned to the base he had occupied.

19.There shall be no bunt hits allowed in tee ball. A batter must always take a full swing and the ball must go beyond “foul ball zone” (see Playing Field rule #6).

20.The ball shall be placed on the tee in a hitable position by the coach of the offensive team before the play is to begin. The hitter then must get the go ahead from the coach before they may hit the ball to begin the play. The offensive coach must make sure the defensive team is ready before giving the go ahead. If the ball is struck before getting the go ahead from the coach the play is dead and the batter shall be charged with a strike. Also, should a batter swing and miss the ball, it too shall be recorded as a strike. There are no strike outs in tee ball.

21.A batter must stand within the regulation batter’s box before they may hit the ball. Any ball hit while outside the batter’s box shall be a dead ball.

22.The ball remains in play from the time the ball is legally hit into fair territory until the ball is returned to the infield. At this point only, is the ball to be set on the tee.

23.In the event of an overthrow which results in the ball going out of bounds, all runners, shall advance one base beyond the base they were headed. To qualify as being headed toward a base, the runner shall have been over ½ of the distance toward the next base. Should there be an overthrow but the ball remains in bound, runners may advance as far as they wish at their own risk.

24.Both teams shall use a batting order consisting of all players from the roster present. These shall be the batting order throughout the game.

25.Any players who arrive after the lineups have been exchanged will be inserted after the last batter in the original batter order.

26.On a close play at the plate any runner is out when he does not slide or attempt to get around the catcher who has the ball or is in the immediate act of fielding the ball. The catcher’s immediate act of fielding the ball must be within three feet of the plate and any position by the catcher in the baseline without the ball shall be considered obstruction and the run shall score. Any runner who maliciously runs into any fielder including the catcher shall be called out and removed from the game.

27.No player shall play the same defensive position during a game.

28.All batters will be allowed to hit per offensive inning, no matter how many outs are made.

29.It is required that a tee be used the entire game, for the first four (4) games only.After the first four (4) games the tee will be used according to the coach’s discretion or after 3 pitches are missed by the batter.

30.Pitching, by the coach may only begin at the fifth (5th ) game of the season. Under no circumstances, shall any person under the age of 18 pitch in tee ball.

Coaches/Players Etiquette and Responsibilities:

  1. Players, Manager & Coaches shall observe proper etiquette while on the field. Profanity swearing or unsportsman-like conduct will not be tolerated by the league and could result in suspension from the baseball program.
  2. Any person who deliberately throws a bat, helmet or any other piece of equipment will be ejected from the game and subject to suspension.
  3. Team managers and their coaches shall umpire the game. A manager or coach from the offensive team shall umpire the game while his team is on the field. When a half is completed, the opposing team’s managers or coach shall umpire the game. The same person need not necessarily umpire the entire game for his team.
  4. Coaches and managers, as well as their players, shall remain in the dugout on the bench or in the prescribed areas for the duration of the game.
  5. Two coaches will be allowed on the field with their team when playing defense.One in left field and one in right field. No coaches are allowed in the infield.

Thank you for all your hard work throughout the season!

Mt. Prospect Park District – 6 yr old Tee-Ball Rules/Guidelines

Updated 3/18/15