fullcount13

How on earth (barring something extremely obvious) would you ever be able to say, on a jump-spin move, that the pitchers foot came down in exactly the same place it was originally? I don't believe I've ever seen a balk called on a jump-spin move where the throw was completed to first.

Got ya! Thanks for clearing that up!

I keep getting hung up on the rule where everyone is saying "to satisfy the requirements for a balk, all the runners INCLUDING the batter runner must advance at least 1 base." Maybe I'm just overlooking something here (also not that many years under my belt), but I didn't realize the batter had to gain a base on a balk as well. For example, let's say there's R1. F1 balks, but makes the pitch anyway, F2 throws to 2B but is unsuccessful in catching R1 stealing 2B. Now the ball is called dead. The way I'm reading the comments is that eventhough R1 advanced one base safely, the batter also gets 1B? I'm pretty sure I'm reading something wrong here. Need some clarification guys, thanks

Let me go on and apologize up front for being new to the sport of umpiring and possibly asking a dumb question, but why does the fact that the runner was standing ON the bag not make a difference in him being out? Is this due to the fact that the bases were loaded and he was forced to leave with the hit? If there had only been a runner on 2nd would the ruling still have been the same? Again, I apologize if this seems simple to some, but I have learned alot from this website and I appreciate all you seasoned veterans helpings folks like me out! ;)

Keep in mind I am very new to the umpiring profession, but what would be the point of allowing anymore than 3 appeals at the most on a grandslam? If there was no outs, this would end the at bat for this team and the other appeals would be pointless wouldn't they? Unless there's some secret rule I've overlooked where you can carry outs over to the next inning

I kinda figured that. Thanks

Is there an official rule and penalty for a coach that just walks from the dougout to the mound for a visit without making a gesture or audibly asking for time from one of the umps? This weekend I had a coach start walking towards the mound from the dougout to visit the pitcher and pretty much with one foot in the air over the foul line looked at me and asked for time out. It almost seemed like he knew he was about to do something wrong when he caught himself. I just thought it was kind of odd how he acted and wondered if there was a penalty if he HAD crossed the foul line without time being called. Thanks guys

I appreciate it guys! Thanks

I haven't had this happen to me in a game situation, but made me think about the different situations that could come up in younger kids ball since ANYTHING is possible. I was watching an MLB game the other night where the batter popped up to F3 just behind the bag. F3 was camped out waiting for the ball basically strattling the line when he made the catch. If this had been kids ball, and F3 would have been standing with both feet clearly in foul territory waiting for the ball, but when attempted to make the catch his arm follows the ball clearly back into fair territory and he misses it, what is the call? Looking down the line from home you would clearly be able to see that the ball never enterend foul ground but F3 was standing in foul when he touched the ball, but the ball ended up hitting in fair. This may have a really simple answer, but I'd just like to hear it from one of you guys that may have seen it before. Thanks

And if his foot did not come off the rubber then its a balk in pro rules whether he fakes or throws to first but in HS its allowed to throw to first on this move if the foot doesnt come off the rubber I can't even picture in my head how someone would somehow step towards 3B, fake and throw and then spin to throw to 1B without their pivot foot coming off the rubber. Has anyone ever seen this happen?

Well put gentlemen! Well put!

Boy I love this site! Haven't been on a full 2 days yet and already got cleared up on 3 or 4 situations! Thanks guys! Here's another one I had the other night. (9U age group) Bases empty, no outs. BR hits line drive to SS which ricochets off his glove and hits him in the face (not full force by any means, but in the face none the less). The SS picks up the ball which dropped at his feet and throws over to 1B which sails high. The BR rounds first and makes it to 2B safely at which point the action stops and the coach calls time and comes out to check on the kid. On the way out the coach asks "isn't the runner suppose to return to 1B since the kid got hit in the face with the ball which should result in a dead ball?" I spoke with the PU at which he responds yes, a dead ball should be called when a kid gets hit in the face with the ball and the runner should return to first. He said this rule was for the kids safety (which I don't have a problem with). This was one of the situations where the rules for USSSA would have some variation from the ORB, because unless I'm wrong, if a major league player had this happen to him, they would definately let the runner stay at 2B. Were we right?

The book that I got that situation out of is called "The casebook of little league baseball and softball". From what I can tell comparing the rules of this book to the official major league rules online they're the same. It's got a picture of an umpire pointing at you on the front of the book with the words "Make the right call" above his head. I think its mostly for umpires, because it has different positions for the umpire in different situations and things like that. It does have all the numbered rules corresponding with the mlb rules. Pretty much all the umpiring I've done is in USSSA sanction, which from what I've been told goes by mlb rules except for some safety issues since we're dealing with young kids.

I've read the rule for "How a team scores" (4.09) over and over and I can't seem to wrap my mind around this situation. I know it's probably very simple to understand, it just hasn't soaked in yet. One of the rule books I have has this scenario: "Bases full, two outs, batter triples, three runs cross plate. After ball is returned, second baseman calls for ball, steps on second base and appeals to umpire, claiming batter-runner missed second. Umpire declares the batter-runner out. How many runs score?" I know the exception to the rule states a run is NOT scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made and # 3 of the exception states: "by a preceding runner who is declared out b/c he/she failed to touch one of the bases. Hopefully if one of you veterans re-words this for me I can get it. BTW, I don't know if it was a typo or maybe I'm just overlooking it, but I don't think they included the answer to this scenario in this book. At least it's not where all the other questions answers are. Thanks

That's what I needed to know! Thanks