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Today, 11UAA USSSA Tournament:

 

"I thought an Infield Fly was a dead ball?"  :shrug:

 

"You can't tag up on a foul ball" - This came after his F5 caught a foul and R1 tagged and went to 2B, F5 overthrew into RF and R1 came all the way around.

 

 

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A few years back, a local league 10U coach asked me, "Is this the last age group with the infield fly rule?"  I guess he was hoping he wouldn't have to worry about it in the future!

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Last week in a daddy-coach 11U game, kid throws a loopy arc ball pitch that the catcher catches at the top of the zone but crossed the plate at least at the batter's eyes, if not higher. It was a borderline slo-pitch softball pitch, but the catcher didn't move his glove much, so it MUST have been a strike to daddy-coach (who later got restricted due to other comments, but I digress).

 

From the dugout, I hear "Well, it MUST not be where you catch the ball!"....uh, duh, no it's not.

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Yesterday, tournament game, 12U.  I am PU.  Nobody on.  BR is forced out a first.  BU calls him out.  Kid is out by at least half a step, which is nearly an eternity in this business.  From my position up the first base line, I can see it's very obvious the kid is out.

 

BR starts to jog back toward the dugout, but mutters, "I was safe."  His coach looks at him and says, "No, you were out," matter of factly, then the coach looks at my partner, then me, smiles and says, "Billy Martin, Jr."

 

I know this is not the sort of comment the OP is shooting for, but I thought it was funny.

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A coupe of years ago. I had a coach ask me why his batter was out when he made it to first before the fielder caught the fly ball.  This guy's baseball experiance was watching Baseball Tonight the day before the game. He had a few others like telling a batter that he had a great "can of corn" on a ground ball to the short stop. He was restricted by the 3rd inning.

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A coupe of years ago. I had a coach ask me why his batter was out when he made it to first before the fielder caught the fly ball.  

Haha...I had a coach ask me almost exactly the same thing a few years ago.  I forgot all about it!  

 

Between innings he asked me if a runner could advance without tagging up on a fly ball, if he could reach the next base before the ball was caught.

 

I looked at him wondering if he was joking.  But he looked like he was totally serious.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had a coach argue with me on a ground-rule double that his runner from first should be allowed to score because he was already almost to third base when the ball bounced over the fence.  You can't watch more than 5 baseball games without seeing that rule come into play.  How can a coach not know that.

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So tonight I am on the bases on a 14-16 wooden bat game. A banger at first, I call the runner out for the third out. The manager came out and asked if I could explain the call.  :question1: I'm thinking it seemed pretty straight forward, what am I supposed to explain, so I simply said the throw beat the runner.  :crazy: 

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Babe Ruth 13 yr. olds......the team as a whole is struggling. The coach is clueless. I go over in the 2nd inning to tell him his catcher is not crouching and is up to high to give me a good look at low strikes. I suggest he consider having his catcher adjust by getting lower. He tells me that I need to adjust to them! I simply walk away thinking to myself.....dumb idea trying to offer a suggestion to this guy. Never again.

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Babe Ruth 13 yr. olds......the team as a whole is struggling. The coach is clueless. I go over in the 2nd inning to tell him his catcher is not crouching and is up to high to give me a good look at low strikes. I suggest he consider having his catcher adjust by getting lower. He tells me that I need to adjust to them! I simply walk away thinking to myself.....dumb idea trying to offer a suggestion to this guy. Never again.

 

LOL!!!   Ball 4......................

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So tonight I am on the bases on a 14-16 wooden bat game. A banger at first, I call the runner out for the third out. The manager came out and asked if I could explain the call.  :question1: I'm thinking it seemed pretty straight forward, what am I supposed to explain, so I simply said the throw beat the runner.  :crazy: 

Too many of these guys watch TV and see the MLB managers coming out on judgement calls WAY too much.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

So tonight I am on the bases on a 14-16 wooden bat game. A banger at first, I call the runner out for the third out. The manager came out and asked if I could explain the call.  :question1: I'm thinking it seemed pretty straight forward, what am I supposed to explain, so I simply said the throw beat the runner.  :crazy: 

Too many of these guys watch TV and see the MLB managers coming out on judgement calls WAY too much.

 

I had a LL majors coach come out because he wanted to appeal my safe call at first. I was BU. He told me my partner had a better look.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had a LL Manager argue an OBS call at the plate (his F2 was set up three feet up the 3BL waiting for the ball). When I told him I had Type A OBS, he asked, "Type A? Is that the type of obstruction where the runner doesn't even touch the plate?" He was being sarcastic.

 

I said, "Yes."

 

(Ended up dumping his AC - my very first EJ ever - after the game for coming directly to me once the game was over and saying, "Nice f#@kin' call, Blue!")

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I had a LL Manager argue an OBS call at the plate (his F2 was set up three feet up the 3BL waiting for the ball). When I told him I had Type A OBS, he asked, 

 

Why is it Type A if F2 didn't have the ball?  Was the ball on the way to F2 but not yet close enough to him for him to be in the process of fielding it?  I've never been clear on that distinction.

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Yes.

 

The play was being made on a runner attempting to score.  F2 set up on the 3BL as the runner was rounding 3B & never moved (in & of itself, not a violation, I know); F2 stood there waiting for the throw which arrived just after the runner started his slide well short of the plate due to F2's position.

 

Easy Type A OBS call.  (Made the same call two weeks ago in a LL Major game)

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I had a coach in 16u once go nuclear because I didn't call a fly ball fair when it touched F3 in foul territory (he botched the catch) and bounced fair immediately after making contact with him. "You've got no clue about anything baseball related," he said after I sent him to the parking lot.

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There's not really a 'distance' that can be described.  In fact, according to the latest LL RIM I've seen, they want OBS called any time a fielder is blocking a basepath without the ball, even if they are in the act of fielding a thrown ball.  I believe this is different from several years ago when it said a fielder awaiting a thrown ball may not always be guilty of OBS.  (but I don't have an older copy of the RIM to consult)

 

So, it's OBS all the way and twice on Sunday.

 

F2 simply needs to be aware of where he's standing.

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14u tournament game yesterday. Foul tip and runner steals.

Coach: James, he tipped it.

Me: Yeap.

Coach: Well, doesn't the runner have to go back?

Me: Nope, he caught it. Live ball, play on.

Coach (as he's returning to the dugout): Apparently a foul tip is a live ball.

His AC: Yeah, I was wondering why you went out there. Thought everyone knew that.

Coach: I still don't get it...

I think I literally felt my IQ drop.

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R2, R1 and pick off at 2nd and it goes into the outfield.  As R2 attempts to go to 3rd he is Obstructed by F6 (Fed rules so automatic 1 base).  Anyways, R2 realizes he's getting the base and trots to third, meanwhile F8 throws and throws it into the dugout.  R2 gets Home and R1 gets 3rd .

 

Coach comes out.

 

Coach: what did you call?

Me: Obstruction 

Coach: Well isn't that a dead ball? :smachhead:

Me: No, and he gets home, 2 Bases from Time of Throw

Coach: oh okay... Wait! Time of Throw? I thought when it goes into the dugout  :smachhead:

Me: Nope Time of Throw

 

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14u tournament game yesterday. Foul tip and runner steals.

Coach: James, he tipped it.

Me: Yeap.

Coach: Well, doesn't the runner have to go back?

Me: Nope, he caught it. Live ball, play on.

Coach (as he's returning to the dugout): Apparently a foul tip is a live ball.

His AC: Yeah, I was wondering why you went out there. Thought everyone knew that.

Coach: I still don't get it...

 

I'm official scorer for a LL Intermediate 50/70 game yesterday afternoon.  PU is doing a very good job, IMO, Great mechanics on an infield fly call to short RF (loud "IF" call immediately after F3 set up under the ball) then a great, loud, dead ball illegal action call when a batter steps out of the box while hitting his bunt.  Most of our umpires are a bit too casual with this stuff (in my opinion) but this guy was really working hard.

 

Then comes a foul-tip with R1 stealing 2B and he sends R1 back to 1B.  I was going to ask him about it after the game but he was long gone by the time I had finished the paperwork.  

 

Oh, well...  Maybe I need to hand out cards with this sites URL on them. :)

 

At least the coach-induced drama was at a minimum.  The losing coach (15-14 in 7 innings) was complaining a good bit about the other teams chanting from the dugout.  Was trying to come up with rules that prohibited it.  After the game, the best I could find was LL 4.06.  Pretty much leaves it as a judgement call and he wasn't able to convince either umpire that it was unsportsmanlike.

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I had a coach yesterday in an 11U tourney tell his catcher this "on a dropped third strike touch home plate and then throw down to first" with bases loaded and no outs.   :o

 

When I explained to him the rule briefly in between innings, he told me, "Thank's so much for telling me.  I didn't realize.  I'm glad you told me here and not having a parent yell at me when I didn't know!"  

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