maven

Yep. There's no out to be had here—which explains why you couldn't figure out whom to call out. In general, no matter what the ODB does to a thrown ball that's bouncing into the dugout, I'm going to be awarding bases. That's the penalty, and it is neither enhanced nor nullified by the ODB doing stupid.

I go the other direction. The yoots can be a lot anyway, and anything I can do to minimize that I will do. Out of the baseline? Yes! Abandonment? Yes! D3K? A few steps toward the dugout and you're out. It's instructional baseball, and screwing around with all that nonsense is not teaching anyone anything. Pitching, hitting, fielding. Keep the rest to a minimum. JMHO

Objection: asked and answered.

For the OP: the reason that the timing doesn't matter here is that, once the ball is dead, the runners are awarded bases. An award is the right to advance without liability to be put out by the defense, but the advance must be completed legally. When the BR passes R1, that's illegal, whether the ball is live or dead. The timing of the passing might matter in other situations. This is left as an exercise.

You've had some great advice so far. Let me comment on this piece. I'm not sure what you mean by "chirping" here, but whatever it is, you need a bright line. Either ignore it, or shut it down. "Don't do too much of that!" is not an enforceable instruction, because nobody has any idea what "too much" or "out of hand" might be. The progression for undesirable behavior is IAWE: Ignore (if possible), Acknowledge (stare at the guilty party), Warn (once), Eject. Any of the steps can be skipped in egregious situations.

If we can't call it in real time, it's not lodged. What's the rationale for the lodged ball rule? It's actually to protect the defense. Don't punish them by overzealously calling it lodged.

Yeah, he knows himself, and that he might not have to pay you if you can't or don't have the cojones to find him after the game. I recommend that umpires always, 100%, every single time, without fail, without exception, in each instance, get paid before the game, usually at the plate meeting. If it's a DH, get both fees. And to avoid exactly this kind of situation. We can't allow this. You discovered that you were going to have to dump him eventually—can you imagine how much easier those games would have been had you done so in the first inning of game 1? [I'm agreeing with wolfe_man here.] From the first chirp from HC: "Coach, we're not doing that today. If you have a question, you may request time and we can talk. Otherwise, this is your warning." Then dump him (no second, third, nth warning). Any ass coach or player, address the HC: "Coach, if you have a question, I'd be happy to discuss with you. We're not going to have other coaches/players getting involved in calling the game. You will be held responsible for their behavior. This is your warning." Then dump him, yes, for the offenses of others. If he says, "I didn't say anything!" remind him that he's responsible for his team. It's too late in the history of amateur baseball for umpires to deal with such asshats. Save yourself hours of nuisance and dump early. If you've never done it, try it—you'll like it. If their other coaches don't get the message, keep dumping until they forfeit. The only other issue that arises sometimes is TD's interfering. If he comes over and starts to talk you out of an EJ, tell him that he's welcome to finish umpiring the game(s), if he intends to do your job for you (and this is reason #672 to get your game fees up front).

Must be R1 missed 3B. R3 couldn't have missed 3B, and if BR missed 3B, the runs in front of him would have scored to go to extras. So when the appeal is granted, his run is nullified, that's the 3rd out, so the BR's run can't count. Final score 4–3, not 4–2? Yep, that's what the SI article reports.

You lost track. 2 runs scored on the wild pitch, R3 and R2, with the batter interfering with the play on R2. The question concerns whether R3's run counts. Here's another way to process it. The general rule is that a run counts if it's scored before the 3rd out—in general, plays are time plays. There are 3 exceptions, and this isn't one of them, so R3's run counts.

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The rule does not strictly require this part. 😉 Agree. A 'walk' or base on balls (as you know, but filling in some blanks more generally) is an award of 1B. An award is the right to advance without liability to be retired by the defense, but the advance must be legal. When the BR interferes, he has not advanced legally, and the award lapses. Because he did not legally touch 1B and made the 3rd out, no run can score.

That's about as close as Lin comes to throwing a pro umpire under the bus. Yeah, that's INT. More like Kemp than Ambrister. Good video. My 2 notes: Either explain what 'protected' means (protected from OBS, because runners generally have the right of way) or use the MLB term 'right of way' throughout. F2 has the right of way on this play due to fielding the batted ball. It's an 'exception' to the right of way rule, not an 'exemption' as the graphic shows.

And be prepared to explain it to the coach who taught him to do it. As someone has already said, this move CAN be done correctly, provided the pivot lands behind the rubber. I'm probably not too technical on that—edge of the heel on the rubber gets a pass—but that's not what happened here. We're also not technical on the timing. Just as with a disengagement + feint to 1B, we're OK if the hands separate before the foot touches on the ground. Technically, the foot must land before the hands separate (he must be an infielder to be permitted to feint to 1B), but nobody enforces that. Once that pivot foot moves, the runner should be heading back anyway, so it's not a significant advantage to allow the motions to be simultaneous. We also don't care that the pivot foot turns while disengaging. The restriction on F1 specifies that disengagement must involve the pivot foot stepping back and "behind" the rubber. So on the rubber is not OK, but turning the foot is fine.

Agree. Nor did he disengage, but stepped on (not behind) the rubber. The "knee pop" is usually called on the knee of the free foot. And the foot that must gain distance/direction is the free foot—he stepped toward 2B with his pivot (which made the throw look weird).

Of course—I'd eject Bryce Harper for stepping on the field (and it would be belated at that). But I'm not an MLB umpire, and they're not allowed to eject on general principles. In amateur games, this is certainly an unsporting act worthy of attention (warning or ejection, depending on the level, the heat of the game, ABS, etc.).

This was a mechanic taught 20+ years ago. Could be an old timer.

I was kinda surprised that NCAA umpires appear to be so dense that they struggle to understand what "direct line between the bases" means. As an amateur brain surgeon, this ain't brain surgery.

I don't think this is OBS, because F2 doesn't block the runner's access to the base. Here's the moment the slide is starting. The runner can get to the back of the plate. He happens to slide right into F2's foot (ow), but that doesn't constitute OBS. After the contact, they end up in a pile on the 3B side of HP, so it looks like more blockage than it is. It's also bang-bang: the ones we want to get are the big ones, where F2 sets up in the baseline or moves there as the runner is still 30 feet from the plate or more. Stay off the ones where the blockage occurs so late, or indeed where it wouldn't have been illegal had F2 caught the throw. Those are the ones that make us look like we're "inserting ourselves into the game" or whatever. (Just my recommendation...) That umpire won't see much of anything from there, BTW.

That's the problem that many umpires bring to FPSR. They insist on thinking that it's a flavor of runner INT, and has to involve the same criteria. It isn't. FPSR is its own rule, its own criteria, its own standards. Hindrance is NOT the key concept for FPSR, positioning and sliding are. Once we get past that confusion, identifying and calling violations becomes much easier.

Disagree: grayhawk is right. BU in B can certainly see this. The FED rule clearly requires sliding on a direct line between the bases, which this is not. The stick is shîtty only because so many umpires can't be arsed to enforce the rule. I recommend becoming part of the solution.

BRD (2015) §345: FED "When a fielder muffs a batted ball and he must move to re-field it, if contact occurs in the base path, the umpire will protect the runner unless the official declares deliberate interference (8-4-2g)." BRD §346: Play 208–346: R1. B1 rockets the ball of F1's glove. The ball rolls directly into the base path, and F4 races for it. BR has neared first at moment R1 crashes into the second baseman. The umpire judges the runner could have avoided the contact. F4 has not yet reached the ball at the time of the crash.... Ruling: In FED, R1 is out for interference.

"Why is that the rule" questions have to be answered historically. OBS originally had no exception for fielders who are fielding batted balls. The rule evolved to afford fielders who are fielding a batted ball an exception, which OBR calls fielder right of way and is also known as "protection." Giving that fielder a limited protection from OBS improved the competitive balance of the game. Over time, that protection also evolved in order to accommodate plays where a fielder initially is protected, but then fails to field the batted ball—a deflection. He loses the right of way, and is once again (and instantly) liable for OBS. But the defense is still entitled to play on the batted ball, and if another fielder is in a better position to do it, why wouldn't you protect that fielder? The rationale for doing so is exactly the same as for protecting the first fielder. And the rules don't distinguish between a "merely" deflected hard shot and a misplayed slow roller. Once a batted ball gets away from a fielder, he usually loses his protection (though it's possible that he's still best positioned to field the deflected ball, as when a corner infielder deflects a ball into foul territory—though then right of way/protection from OBS is moot).

This is incorrect, and the "although" statement is misleading. A batted ball that deflects off a fielder to another fielder can involve protecting 2 different fielders. First, the one playing the initial batted ball is protected, then the one playing the deflected ball is protected. You are correct that we may change our minds regarding who is protected. This typically involves a batted ball hit between 2 fielders, one of whom turns out to have had a better play on the ball. Sometimes, both can happen in one and the same play. You're running together unrelated concepts. An error is a scoring term used to assign responsibility for baserunners and earned/unearned runs if they score. A deflection is a term used to describe what happens to a moving baseball. A deflected ball might or might not involve an error by a fielder, depending on whether it involves a batted ball that could have been fielded with routine effort. This is correct. More specifically, once a fielder is no longer protected, he's liable for OBS if he hinders a runner. And that can happen instantaneously (see the coach who asks, "what's he supposed to do, disappear?" Obnoxious reply #1: yup. Obnoxious reply #2: "no, he's supposed to field the ball cleanly."). On a batted ball in the infield, deflected or no, somebody is protected. If that's someone other than the initial fielder playing the ball, the runners will have to avoid him. I assume that addresses what your last sentence is asking (not sure what "continue to chase after that ball" implies).

I would have thought that every HS varsity coach would want to know that rule. I know a bunch of them who are always looking for a rules advantage—sometimes in the weirdest places. (You're welcome for me not hijacking the thread with war stories...)

You'd think that at least one of them might think, "Oh, how embarrassing that I said that on the broadcast. Maybe I should learn the rule?"