Adult Baseball: "That's a force play."

[grayhawk]

First adult baseball game for me and I am BU.  Pretty relaxed game and we have bases loaded with 1 out.  Batter hits a fly ball and F9 actually hustles and snags it on the run.  R1 is halfway and R2 took off on the crack of the bat.  F9 throws to F3 and F3 turns to relay it home but apparently R3 had held up.  Meanwhile, F6 is yelling for them to throw to second base and they finally do and I call the out - inning over.  I'm in short RF between innings and one of the players asks me if the out at second was a force play and I tell him that it wasn't.  Another player tries to tell me it was a force and I just let him know that it wasn't and that it's impossible to have a force play on a caught fly ball.  At this point, there is now a question of whether or not R3 actually crossed the plate prior to the appeal on R2 (there was no declaration of the run scoring or not by my partner).  I tell them that I will talk with my partner and as I am walking in, a couple of players ask him across the field if the run scored and my partner says that it didn't because it was a force (uh oh).  I am almost to him and a couple of players are walking to talk with him and I put up a stop sign and let them know that we'll talk about it.  None of this was contentious in the least - they were more curious than anything.  I ask my partner what he had and he again says it's a force and when I let him know that it wasn't, he immediately realizes his mistake but then says that R3 had not crossed the plate anyway so the run does not score.  He let's them know this and we play on without any further questions.

Just a weird play all around.  Adult baseball is...interesting.  Pitching was okay, and these guys can put a bat on the ball, but there is almost no "running" on the bases at all.  Once the ball is hit, it seems like everything from there is slow motion.  A few gripes about my partner's zone, but nothing over the top except for one player that stuck out looking on a very nice breaking ball.  Hard to believe he even complained as it was a pitch where he should have been walking towards his dugout before my partner could even finish his K3 call.  9 innings in 2 hours 30 minutes, so the game wasn't terribly long.

[Majordave]

Welcome to "old man" baseball Steve!  It ain't so bad.  The checks always cash.  If they pay you cash, theh cash always spends.  The arguments usually aren't that heated (until the playoffs) and, if you are interested, you can come to Phoenix with a bunch of us sometime and work the MSBL "World Series' "  Multiple tourneys over a 3.5 week period.  If you are lucky you can get a 75+ age group game or two and  "Magic" will come watch you work it like he did for me last fall.

 

Hahahaha.

Seriously though, the 18+ and the 25+ age groups can still freakin' play ball (majority of them can anyway).  Some of those games are great and actually move pretty quickly if the pitchers are on their game.  I have had exclusively the 25+ age teams this season and I am lovin' it.  

[grayhawk]

Welcome to "old man" baseball Steve!  It ain't so bad.  The checks always cash.  If they pay you cash, theh cash always spends.  The arguments usually aren't that heated (until the playoffs) and, if you are interested, you can come to Phoenix with a bunch of us sometime and work the MSBL "World Series' "  Multiple tourneys over a 3.5 week period.  If you are lucky you can get a 75+ age group game or two and  "Magic" will come watch you work it like he did for me last fall.

 

Hahahaha.

Seriously though, the 18+ and the 25+ age groups can still freakin' play ball (majority of them can anyway).  Some of those games are great and actually move pretty quickly if the pitchers are on their game.  I have had exclusively the 25+ age teams this season and I am lovin' it.  

​I suppose at those ages, they can run to first without worrying about pulling a hammy!  Not sure why these two teams were paired up.  One was in the Open division and the other was 35+.  The 35+ guys held their own until the 8th when the Open team extended their lead.

[Majordave]

Our 4 local leagues sometimes play inter league. 45+, 35+, 25+ and 18+(open). It's seldom pretty. We also have older guys who play down a level or two. Some of them do quite well. They are markedly slower in the reactions and base running departments. 

[TheRockawayKid]

I've found that adult leagues are filled with giant puppies -- tons of curiosity about the game, and they occasionally growl and have to be shut up. 

[ssaumpire]

You get the odd adult team that complains about almost everything or the teams where every player believes they are the coach or captain.

[ElkOil]

I enjoy doing men's league because I know how difficult it can get.  They gripe and chatter a lot, but I don't mind because I use the games to get reps in and build my game management skills.  And once they know you, they tend to back off a bit.  Still, it's a good time even though they'll chew you up and spit you out if they have the chance.