MooseLoop

BR should not abandon his base until he knows for sure he is out. Would like to have seen the attempted catch, the movement to the dugout, and the rest of the play, but calling him out seems to have been within your discretion. OBR 5.09(b) (old 7.08) Retiring a Runner Any runner is out when: . . .(2) after touching first base, he leaves the base path, obviously abandoning his effort to touch the next base; Comment: Any runner after reaching first base who leaves the base path heading for his dugout or his position believing that there is no further play, may be declared out if the umpire judges the act of the runner to be considered abandoning his efforts to run the bases. Even though an out is called, the ball remains in play in regard to any other runner. . . . PLAY—Runner believing he is called out on a tag at first or third base starts for the dugout and progresses a reasonable distance still indicating by his actions that he is out, shall be declared out for abandoning the bases

​Then why does its home page say this? Note: Please understand that, while this site is devoted to Little League umpires, it is in no way directly associated with or endorsed by Little League Baseball and Softball Incorporated. This is a private site, and all of the opinions expressed here are those of the author and other contributors.

​Got it. Muchas gracias! Why can't the official Little League site . . . Oh, never mind. After all, where would they get the money to fund a reliable website?

​I believe you Rich, but the Little League 2015 rule changes and clarifications webpage only lists an age chart as a change, so I've been relying on my 2014 book as being accurate for all other rules. Little League drives me crazy.

LL rule 1.15(c): No pitcher shall wear sweat bands on his/her wrists or arms. But a non-distracting compression sleeve not worn for the purpose of absorbing sweat would be legal, says me.

​Correct, except the pitcher does not have to throw warm-up pitches. How he uses his one minute is up to him. If the manager meets with the whole team, including the pitcher, outside the dugout before they take the field on defense, would you charge a conference?

​OBR 8.02(c): "The manager or the catcher may request the plate umpire to ask his partner for help on a half swing . . .." "A BUNT is a batted ball not swung at, . . ." So must a PU upon request by a manager or catcher ask his partner for help on whether a bunt was attempted? Might be a good practice, but absent an authoritative interpretation, I'd say BU should stay out of it.

​It meets the general MLBUM requirement you quote above ("In stepping to a base, pitcher must lift his entire non-pivot foot off the ground and bring it down in a location different from where it started and toward the base. The entire non-pivot foot must move in a direction and distance to the base.") I've never seen it done, so it makes me wonder whether there is a more specific requirement for stepping to second. Actually, after thinking about it some more and looking "step" up in my dictionary, I would define "step" as putting the free foot in front of the non-pivot foot in the direction of the throw or feint. So no, it does not meet the requirement.

​So you are saying merely moving the free foot toward 2B some distance is a step toward the base? Pitcher, without turning his hips, can just move his free foot halfway to the pivot foot and flip the ball to second?

We don't see an angle from the side. Might have been a shoulder flinch to home just before the stepoff.

In FED, courtesy runners are part of the speed-up rules which require state adoption. So unless your state association has adopted the rule, it is not in effect. In California, CIF has delegated the adoption to the regional sections, and the sections may delegate the adoption to the leagues. So the rule may vary among the leagues. Sheesh!

My reply to the whats-your-zone question is that judging the umpire's strike zone and adjusting to it is one of the skills of baseball, but this is not my first 9&under rec game. Usually light response follows, to which I nod and move to the next topic on my agenda, like ground rules. FWIW, I have no big problem with the way you handled the situation. And you'll do even better next time.

​'Twas the 2002 World Series, game five. Giants manager Dusty Baker's 3-year-old son Darren was an overeager batboy when J.T. Snow scored just ahead of trailing runner David Bell. Darren could have been in the middle of a play at the plate had J.T. not snagged him while crossing the plate.

Sorry, I thought I knew that fake tags were expressly prohibited in OBR. I'm sure I've even called it, but without a base award. That will stop until I find the rule cite that BRD could not, which I suspect will be awhile. Never mind!

Fake tags in OBR are Type B obstruction (no play being made on the obstructed runner) and the runner usually is only protected to the base they are on anyway. No automatic one base award for OBR type B obstruction like in FED.

Sometimes when one team is chirping, the other team will start chirping too to make sure they get an equal share of the appeasement close calls. This will occur regardless of your consistent zone. You have to decide how much chirping you will accept, and what you'll do when they exceed your limit.

Don't take 5.11 literally and put the ball in play before all players are ready. If runners are returning to their base or the catcher is fixing his mask with a runner on third or a fielder is in foul territory or . . ., don't put the ball in play simply because the pitcher has the ball on the rubber. Do what Jocko says, and wait for the batter and battery to be ready to go.

Carl Childress in BRD section 294 says without discussion that FED RLI requires interference. 'If he is out of the lane and interferes, BR is out, the ball is dead, and runners return TOI.' He also says that the rule only applies to throws from behind the runner since the purpose of the rule is to prevent the runner from screening the fielder behind him from the first baseman in front. He cites an official FED interpretation that says "BR is required to be in the running lane the last 45 feet to first base when the ball is fielded and thrown from an area behind him." But that interpretation makes no mention of actual interference. So is interference presumed? If the throw is caught for a putout, is the ball still dead?

Batter's feet must be completely in the batter's box. That is six inches off the plate. Hard for the knees to be in the strike zone if the feet are in the batter's box. Catcher can ask plate umpire to pay attention to this.

Ignore, acknowledge, warn, eject. You seem to have gone from ignore to eject. Perhaps HTBT (you don't mention tone of voice or gestures), but I don't see from your description a reason for skipping steps, especially if you were not aware at the time of the coach's reputation.

Heck no. Put in the substitute and let him go touch first. You're lucky your injured son was not declared out for coach's assistance!

I just re-read this thread, and boy does my head hurt. Mud, you are difficult to translate. What does "inside move" mean? Is it restricted to an RH F1 turning clockwise (viewed from above) past third to step to second? If so, then the knee (or any other body part) at the balance point would not move to home and not commit the pitcher to pitch. If the pitcher turns counter-clockwise (i.e., past first), then the knee would necessarily move toward home. Would this commit the RH F1 to pitch? I'll leave the slidestep v. slow leg raise question to coaches.

I know this is the accepted interpretation. Can anyone provide a rationale based on rule language for why stepping and throwing to first after an RH F1 leg lift is a balk, but an RH F1 leg lift followed by a counter-clockwise turn past first base and a step to second is not? Or is it just conventional wisdom, long accepted, origin unknown?

What "natural motion" commits a pitcher to pitch? The rule implies umpire judgment, but like most rules, that judgment is informed by accepted interpretations. After watching the Jim Evans balk video (highly recommended), I had concluded that no commitment to pitch occurred until some part of the pitcher's body (head, shoulder, hip, knee, foot) moved toward home. I let RHPs lift their leg to the balance point (without pausing/stopping, of course), then step and throw to first. After a discussion about this last year on this site, I concluded that I was wrong. The consensus was that once RHP lifts his foot, unless it is moving immediately toward first for a throw, RHP is precluded from throwing to first. The rationale was that once RHP lifts his leg toward the balance point, it is not possible to step to first without first moving toward the plate. A significant minority thought that any lifting of the foot precludes RHP from going to first, that a jump step was required. I still like my original interpretation, but I enforce the consensus interpretation in my games.

Continuous Batting Order. Everyone bats.