Nic

I wish I had these references last night when the maniac coach was yelling at me to prove you couldn't clap and whistle at the pitcher. Thank you sir!

Well put. It seemed like this kid was being a bully and it started to infringe on the grounds of unsportsmanlike behavior. Almost like he was tainting.

Exactly. On top of being d-bags, they acted like I was out of line for saying something. It was like a bizarro world.

Babe Ruth 15U game between two towns that feed into the same high school. The kids all go to school together. It was chippy between the two sides before we even showed up on the field. One particular kid was extra obnoxious above all the other kids. I was BU and the obnoxious kid reaches base and proceeds to clap and scream at the pitcher the entire way around the bases. He reaches 3B and his act goes up to another gear. I couldn't remember if this was allowed or not so I erred on the side of caution and sided with the defensive team. I quietly instructed the runner to stop clapping. He wasn't satisfied but he did stop clapping. Next time up, he gets on and now he's whistling and yelling "hey hey hey" the entire time around the bases. He gets to 3B and I tell him knock off the whistling. Now he throws a fit. The 3B coach cries bloody murder. Another coach threw a fit. "There's nothing in the rulebook against it!!" I can't find anything that says it's not allowed. In fact, most everything says to let the players police themselves. At 14?! And Im not usually one to make a mountain out of a mole hill, but this seemed especially egregious. Is clapping and chanting and whistling really allowed by the baserunner? How do you handle this?

If I understood you, @maven, if F1 calls "time," it would forfeit his right to appeal?

Ahh, I understand the interpretation now. Thank you sir.

11U USSSA 0 outs. 1B holding R1, 2B holding R2. Pop fly approx 30-35 feet up in the air, behind 1B but on edge of the dirt. 1B starts back two steps and suddenly vacates the position by running forward. At no point was he ever under the ball. He seemed to me to have misjudged the location of the pop up. 2B realizes this ball is not going to be caught by 1B and sprints from his position holding the runner at second with a great effort to within eight feet of where the ball dropped in, on the edge of dirt. It bounds into the grass and rolls down the right field line and up against the fence, plating two and allowing batter-runner to reach 2B. DHC argues I messed this all up. Says it should have been infield fly regardless on such a play. Wants it to be 1 out 1B and 2B. I said nothing ordinary about. It took an extraordinary effort for 2B to get within eight feet or so. I'm not rewarding the defense for botching that play. Did I botch that call? A veteran umpire friend told me he would have called IFF and I cant see how that could be. What do you have?

I know its tough without seeing it. 1.He'd come set. He'd stop. 2.He'd go digging. 3.Both hands would start moving as he acquired the grip. not dramatically, but noticeably from my position at B/C. Tremors very jerky motions. 4.Occasionally his elbow even got involved and was moving. Perhaps its not a balk and I was overblowing it. Just seemed like *something* illegal was going on.

But how much do you allow? If it causes his hands to move, and occasionally his elbow, would that not be too much, and grounds for a balk

Thanks. Good advice.

How do you rule in this situation? How would you have handled the coach? 11U Cal Ripken OBR Top of 1st, RH pitcher comes to the set position. Home team is on the first base side. Pitcher would come set, and continue moving his pitching hand inside his glove, which in turn would move his glove hand. This was not a part of his routine. It was sporadic from pitch to pitch. It depended on what pitch was called. He would dig in the glove to go from a FB grip to a CB grip. And occasionally, his elbow would move. Other times, he wouldn't move his hands at all. I was bothered by a) the glove hand movement, and b) the elbow movement Moving the glove seems like a false start to me. But the thought that kept popping in my head was, "if I'm running on first, I'm deceived by the elbow moving if I'm going on first movement." We were asked by director to work with the pitchers in regards to balks this weekend. Meaning we gave a warning first. After the top of the inning, I walked over to a coach from that team and simply said, "if you could quiet the pitchers' hands once he comes set, I'd appreciate it, coach." To which he responded, "is he doing it intentionally? The rule is there to not intentionally deceive the runner, IS HE INTENTIONALLY DECEIVING THE RUNNER? NO." Turns his back and leaves. They kept talking about it, and at one point they got mean. "Whys he always acting like he knows SH*#? Why can't he just umpire?" The coaches are former minor league players who are as arrogant as they come. But I was unsure of what the threshold is for how much movement of the hands after coming set is allowed. I was taught to come still. But who knows why I was taught that growing up. So I let it ride the rest of the way today. I wanted to error on side of caution. But if intent to deceive is a determining factor, it doesnt absolve that deception still exists. I argued intent to deceive doesnt matter. Only that deception is happening. Thanks in advance!

Curious if i interpreted the rule correctly here. 10U OBR Right handed batter. 1 out. Wild pitch. R3 attempts to score. Ball bounces at a 45 degree angle back behind the RH batter's box. Catcher scrambles and makes a nice play to slide and gather the ball, firing to the pitcher covering the plate. Batter vacates box but only by taking two steps back, and as a result, towards the action. Sure enough catcher's thrown ball strikes the batter in the back. Run slides across the plate. I ruled batter interference and called the runner out because there was one out at the time of the play. OHC argues it was unintentional interference. I countered by saying he was in a DIRECT line between the catcher and pitcher covering. Intent doesn't matter in this case. The batter made no effort to get out of the play, which he had ability to had he had a better awareness. it was so egregious.... Catcher also had a good chance of retiring the runner had he been allowed to carry through with the play. Did I interpret this rule correctly? I have read senor azuls work on the subject. But want to be 100% sure in this case I'm right. Thanks in advance.

I looked and didnt see exactly what I wanted to ask, btw. How do you explain to coaches and parents how to counter a player blocking second base on a steal attempt? Tonight 12U OBR and a SS for one of the teams was standing in front of second base when taking the throw from the catcher on steal attempts, blocking the base. Catcher had a gun and put it on the money everytime. He always had a play. Wearing rubber cleats and not spikes. R1 would always try and go around the SS, and eventually would be called out. They were frustrated by the end of the night. I was asked, 'if it's legal, how do you counter it?' I said, "cleats up, calf shot, clean but hard, going directly into the bag once would be my suggestion," I told them. Seems harsh way to explain. How do you explain this to coaches and parents?

If pitchers pivot foot lands in front of rubber, hes allowed to take the throw to 1B without penalty, but if it lands behind the rubber after the jump, and pitcher fakes to 1B, its a balk. Am I Understanding you correctly, sir??

Good stuff, thanks for your time.