Pops

My partner gave a walk to a batter who may have only had a 2-1 count. It happened after a lot of pickoff attempts and throwing the ball around wildly, rundowns, etc. The funny thing is, I had the same count as my partner did: 3-1 before the pitch. The pitcher swore he only threw 3 pitches and the DC had 2-1 as well. The HT scorer didn't track pitches, so we went with the walk. It definitely felt bad at the time. I'm glad to hear that losing the count has happened to others once in a while.

What would you do? Let me set the stage… HS Sophomore game, very well played, score tied in the bottom of the 11th, it’s hot, I’m tired, hungry, and sweaty, the sun’s going down, and I’m not looking forward to a 45 minute drive home. Home team is batting and batter hits a HR. Everyone goes crazy…the players storm out of the dugout to meet the batter at the plate. I’m the PU and watch him touch all of the bases. When he is half way to the plate, he throws his helmet off and skips the rest of the way and the party begins at home. My partner and I get off the field (happy that it didn’t end on a close call). Earlier in the game I noticed that some of the players were on the field during live play without helmets, so I mentioned it to the coach. FED rule 5-1-2-e and the dead ball table says the penalty is an ejection (it does not say player is out). Would you take any action in this situation or just “get outta Dodge?â€

He would be called out for "teammate interference". JM FED Rule #10-2-3-g???

So if that happened with 2 outs, no runs would score!!! What if one of the runners that scored picked him up and carried him to first?

Before going for the lasik surgery, be sure to know that as you age, your vision will still change anyway. This will effect mostly your reading and close work, inability to see in the dim light, etc. So you may have to return for "tune-ups" as necessary or wearing reading glasses. So the great results may be temporary.

Yes, I see it as penalizing the runner for not tagging up since the OBS has no bearing on the play. When F5 gets in the way just enough that R2 has to sidestep him, I'd rather not penalize the defense for R2's bonehead running. I need more convincing that I'm wrong.

What is the logic to using "palms out" toward F1? Is it a visual thing or something that's just taught in clinics?

In the OP, the runner was trying to advance to 3B thinking that the ball was dropping for a hit. That's where the OBS occurred (before the catch was made). He didn't make an attempt to get back to second, but the ball was thrown there to double him up. So my question still stands: Wouldn't you call him out for not tagging up rather than award him 3B on an OBS call in any of the codes? The OBS had nothing to do with reaching the next base because he would have had to go back to 2B tag up anyway. And what if the apparent OBS occurred after the catch or after the throw to 2B...would this change anything on this play? I'm just not getting why you'd enforce the OBS when it seems to be inconsequential. Can't you ignore the OBS in this case?

Sure he is. He has just acquired a tag-up oligation. And you can rule that the obstruction was why he couldn't get back to 2B too. He does have to go back to 2B to tag. If it's OBR you can keep him at 2B IF you decide hew would have made it back. In OBR you can say it had no effect and let the out stand. I'm not sure you can un-call obstruction in FED. If you can't he has to tag on his was to his awarded 3B. The situation as described in the OP refers to an obstruction call on the way to 3B. This was called before the catch was made. Wouldn't you call him out for not tagging up rather than award him 3B in any of the codes?

HS Rules; R2 and 1 out. Batter hits a line drive to right-center field and R2 takes off for third thinking it will fall in for a hit. F5 gets in the way of R2 and the PU immediately sticks the left fist out to call the delayed interference. However, F8 dives and catches the ball and throws to second for the apparent DP. BU sees the catch and the throw to second and signals out for the DP. Does the PU call time and discuss with the BU or does he keep his mouth shut and ignore the INT knowing his partners call?

So you think someone might ask if the foot is on the base even though the runner already beat the throw? That umpire is only qualified to call balls and strikes at a tball game and even there Id make sure he was supervised. Yes. He was expecting me to call the out/safe as well because he said he didn't get a good look at it.

Here's the difference, in my opinion. On a checkswing, as BU I'm watching the ball into the batter and I don't have other concurrent responsibilities that may prevent my ability to see this. Plus, you know I'm going to be in position to see this. Not necessarily true with a pulled foot. As PU, you may have other responsibilities (runner coming home, touches of third, etc.) and - especially if the throw is to the RF side - you may not be in a position to see it. The other very big difference is that on a check swing the PU initially makes a call (ball) and the BU is asked if he swung. On the play at first, if the BU does not make an initial call (safe or out), the PU is being asked to rule on 2 things: 1)did F3 hold the bag? and 2) was the runner safe or out? I know you are assuming that BR would be out if PU says F3 held the bag, but when BU doesn't reveal this to everyone, it does throw PU under the bus in my opinion.

The assistant coach in the 1B coaching box was doing some chirping about giving the runner second base which got me thinking (I should have not listened) and my partner was a rookie with little experience and little confidence in his calls. There was some time after the call when the runner was just lying there and the OC came out to evaluate his injury. That's when I made the decision to talk to my partner. You're right about HTBT.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ a detailed version of my question!! If the catcher had time to gun the BR down at 3B, that means BR wouldn't have made 3B regardless of the obstruction on R2. Therefore, I would send him back to 2B because of the time out that was called at home.

Thanks for the comments guys. I emailed my partner but not the coaches. I'll be seeing the one who it went against in 2 weeks. They won the game anyway and he's a good guy so I don't expect any trouble.

So if I understand this correctly, if a player is injured during a live ball, he can be put out without exception and we can not do anything to change the outcome of the play. In that case, we blew the call. That brings up another question...is it appropriate to notify the coaches to say we were wrong in that decision (I feel like I should apologize...I don't usually make those kind of calls). I don't want them to move forward in their seasons thinking the ruling was correct.

I wish I had a video to post of this play, but instead you’ll have to visualize it based on my description. HS game, and I am PU. R2, 1 out. F2 receives a pitch and attempts to pick off R2 who wandered too far off second. My partner is in C and watches as R2 begins his dive back into the base. When R2 has just launched his dive, the thrown ball hits him in the face and he goes down about 1foot short of second but within easy reach of the base. He went down immediately and just landed in a lump. R2 is still stunned as F6 picked up the ball and tagged him a few seconds later. My partner delays his call a few seconds trying to determine what has happened to the runner but finally calls him out. By this time the OC comes out to check on R2 who is still lying there. R2 eventually gets up and starts back to the bench. Now while this is all going on, I approached second base and asked my partner what he saw and he tells me what I stated above. We decided to apply 5-2-1-d and 5-2-1-d-1 and give R2 second base. Did we misapply the rule? We knew R2 would have been safe if he wasn’t temporarily incapacitated.

In a youth game a couple of years ago, I had a 14 year old who was having a bad game come up to me and say, "I can't stand my dad's mouth any more...can you toss me out of the game?" I told him to do the best he could and didn't toss him. Even 14 year olds can act that way under pressure. By the way, he doubled his next AB.

If he didn't actually offer at the ball, you were correct.

Adjud: For your local mechanics on this, if you are the PU and don't see the play very well, what do you say to the BU who asks for your help??? If you say you didn't see it, doesn't it fall back on the BU anyway? Then the BU has to make something up which doesn't look good to either coach.

The funny part about all this is that he immediately came back to me between innings (and after the game) to discuss why I didn't give him the support he needed. I asked him if he made the initial call and admitted, "No, I asked you because I didn't see the play." Well the next time it happens, I will handle it differently because of the good advice I've received here. Thanks.

I never noticed that on any of the major league guys...never even thought to look. Thanks for the advice. What would you do about the pads protecting the ankles...they stick out of the pants just a little bit. I think I need the protection there.

I looked at it yesterday and decided that there was no gap. It will be taken off today!

Yes. He didn't make a call at all...he just asked, "Did he hold the bag?" I felt very uncomfortable trying to communicate with him across the field, so I moved toward him to discuss the situation. He really put me on the spot. I would have agreed with him if he called it one way or the other, but he was basically asking me to call it for him at that point. And by the time I approached him, the defensive coach was all over him for not seeing the call. ("You were right there and didn't see the play?!?!? That's terrible!!")

I use a set of Diamond iX3 shin guards which have the metatarsal protection along with the padding for the sides of the foot. I also use the 3n2 plate shoes which has the metatarsal protection. Is the metatarsal protection on the shin guards redundant? And can I cut off without sacrificing protection?