aaluck

Glad this was posted. A lot of very good lessons in there on how not to officiate a game.

I may be wrong, but I'm assuming that this is not the high school level. Probably summer ball/travel/etc. It is not unusual.

My Mama always said... "Better safe than sorry"

And why it isn't now is ridiculous.

This is why I hate this whole "make an attempt to not get hit". Here's my rule (not that anyone cares). The batter's box belongs to the batter. If you throw the ball into the batter's box and it hits the batter...go to first. This does not mean the batter can move his knee/elbow, etc forward or backward to get hit. But if he stands there, or turns his back to the ball he's getting first.

Exactly. Why make me decide. Just pull it back.

If he's an outfielder 2 bases from the time of the throw. If he's an infielder 1 base from time of pitch----by baseball rules

I firmly believe this. In our association we will always send an experienced umpire with a young one, always.

I would say the former. If you have a shift with F4,5,6 all on the left side of second and there is a lazy fly ball hit to where F4 would 'normally' play I have nothing there. I like what @JonnyCat was taught. In my scenario above F4, in his current infield position, cannot make that catch with ordinary effort. In that situation I would not, because it cannot be caught by and infielder with ordinary effort. I would say if you do you are rewarding the defense with an unearned out.

I was reading back on everyones reactions, updates and observations and this really stuck out. I remember the same thing....everyone acting like long-lost friends. Now we all cannot stand each other. Strange how divided we became in just a couple of years. Not only over covid (masks, shutdowns, vaccine, on and on) but so much more. Strange how things workout. 😪

Actually I think U3 was out leaving U1-2 in a slide--hard to tell for sure from the camera angle. So he should have the BR into second. But the point you make is valid Why is he standing in the base path?

Here is where the REAL problem usually starts. If the TD backed up the umpire (rarely happens), then no problem. However, if the TD didn't and allowed them to continue the game (with the same--if the guy was stupid enough to come back, or different umpires) the parents and coaches now think this is acceptable behavior and that the UMPIRE did something wrong. Id love to know what happened next.

Three 'free'. After that change required. A visit to make a change does not count against your three visits.

Under NFHS rules if it did strike the bat unintentionally and then roll fair do we have a fair ball? I seem to remember this from a test question at some point. Thanks

Glad to hear I'm not the only one to do that. Since then I am very slow with my call, great lesson learned. It still, to this day, requires me to 'hold myself back'.

Got a feeling they are hoping for a HR.... not a single

I will tell you that when they came and played at the AAA stadium here, more folks went to that one game than about a week's worth of AAA ball games.

Nice job!!! There are quite a few guys on here that have been fortunate enough to have our sons on the flied with us. Great feeling when you see them interacting with adults and being the 'bigger adult'.

This is nearly the same situation I had last year (or maybe year before). If I remember correctly the point was made by a few on here that once its called a strike, here foul ball, it stays a strike. In our situation we did the same thing in the OP and put the runner on first. Since that time I have made it a habit that if I'm not sure what got hit or what hit what, the only thing I call is "time", not strike, not foul ball, etc. Go meet with partner and make a decision from there.

Love it. They both were calling the assignor 'immediately after the game'. Our assignor has ZERO tolerance for stupidity.... Im sure that didn't go well for them and thats good enough for me.

Love your optimism and approach. Unfortunately, you are one in a hundred. To answer your question.... Yes, these crazy coaches and parents want to win at all costs, including blowing up a catcher. And to make matters worse they have not even opened the rule book--let a lone read a couple of pages. Last night, HS area game for playoff position. I'm with an older guy (and that's saying something with me at 54, great umpire) that cannot move 'quick' to say the least. Bases loaded, he gets pounded by line drive in his knee, which deflects off him and hits R2. We stop play, trainer comes and checks on him, award bases. Here we go..... defensive coach wants R2 out for being hit on the deflection of my partner. Offensive coach wants a 'two base award from time of pitch', his exact words taken directly from the 'rulebook'--that according to both of them my partner and I need to read.

Sounds like AZ has some real BAD baseball going on. What level is this ... I'm assuming 9U? If I'm coaching and the above-stated is going on, why bother with the 'skunk in the outfield', just let the pitcher throw it to the backstop.

I guess that is correct. I just didn't know if there was a rule that prevented such a ground rule. Ill give maybe a better example. If a pole is in the dugout and it hits that pole and bounces back in play, It's my understanding that is always dead. Would you guys change your opinion if a ball hits the bench in the dugout and bounces back in, can that be live. I'm just hung up with live territory behind dead territory.

NFHS rules. Hopefully I can explain this so it makes sense. Field has your typical above ground dugout. Opening is about eight feet high and about 20-25 feet across--very similar to the stock photo below. About three feet in front of the opening there are two chest-high nets, held in place by padded poles, each about eight feet long that cover most of the opening, with a 'hole' in the middle so you can come or go either on the sides or in the middle. Going through the ground rules coach wants to play everything off the net, no problem. He also wants to play everything that hits the top facing of the dugout opening (which would be the white part in the photo, behind the nets) that comes back on the field over the nets. Can you do this? Can you have live ground behind dead ground? Edit;;;; Found a better picture thats nearly identical