Jay R.

I am somewhat impressed that they included D. I've only ever seen one other local rules for stealing address balls out of play, and even that was indirect (something to the effect of "A base runner may only score on a play that begins with a batted ball or as a result of being forced home on a walk" as a concluding point to the baserunning rules mods, which included stealing).

Did this actually happen, or is this hypothetical? If it happened I would love to see video.

1) The runner is coming in clearly in foul territory. In this screen grab the ball is somewhere between the fielders on the ground. I guess here I can see your point that the fielders are effectively blocking the same area, one has the ball, so... fine. Agree to disagree, but I see your point. 2) By here the runner has already been forced to deviate by what he might think is a fielder with a ball. That said, by around here he has to realize that it's loose and he's now trying to score. At this point no one has the ball, and there are three fielders between him and the plate. 3) In this screen grab F5 still doesn't have the ball but a portion of him (his right arm and maybe his right leg) are in the runner's new path to the plate. Granted that this is extremely tough to call in real time, especially as PU watching for catch/no and fair/foul, but I don't think they got it right.

Pirates fan here, and I agree with @Richvee. As soon as I saw it, I thought, "Whichever fielder is unprotected is obstructing the runner's way to the plate." To say nothing of the runner having to run around two fielders without the ball after it landed.

Tangential: Remember that in LL (as in MLB, but not as in high school) for the purposes of interference the ball has to be hit "through or by" the infielder, not merely past them.

Similarly, I have told 10U rec coaches (if they ask nicely) that I call the zone for that level in something like a diamond. If it's chin high or mid-shin but down the middle of the plate, it's a strike. If it's between the batter's boxes at the belt, it's a strike. Most react pretty positively to that.

PONY does not. Rule 8-F requires that catchers wear "a mask with throat protection," notes that "hockey style masks are permitted," and says explicitly that "Mask extensions are not needed."

It is that. I will also say that, when I was working LL, it was one of the few things that I deviated from (always pregaming with my partner of course).

Perhaps also of use, depending on what was used at your trainings: Little League's Rules Instruction Manual. This is the 2023 edition; @Velho or @stevis might be able to let us know if there are any significant changes to their interpretations since then. http://www.orwua.com/2023-Rules-Instruction-Manual-rev20230221.pdf

Seems to be produced by LL District 8 in CA, rather than the home office, but echoes what's been said here. Page 90 has what you're looking for. https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63ddc50d014ddc83905ba29e/6428a7a762519371804a5d4b_60 FT - 2 Umpire Mechanics (4-1-2023).pdf

That one really threw me when I took the test last week.

Don't know what their current practices are but Alexandria LL in Northern VA paid quite well 2013-19. My base rate was $60 (or maybe $65?) in 2019. I got a $10 bonus for 70- or 90-foot diamond games (the chapter had through LL Seniors, I think), and anything solo was 1.5x. So a solo LL Majors game was at least $90, and a solo LL Intermediate $105. (We weren't scheduled to do 90' games solo but it happened once or twice, especially in the fall.)

I did a lot of Little League (which has explanatory material and not a lot of local rule options) in northern Virginia, but have switched to PONY baseball and USA Softball in leagues since moving back to southwestern PA. Both baseball and softball locally are heavy on rules mods, and there's inevitably something about a requirement to slide (in addition to USA Softball's "crash" rule). After conversations with several board members and umpire coordinators in various leagues, I de facto call it with the Little League guidance in mind. It is helpful to remember that the catcher can't block the runner's access by awaiting the throw on the plate. If the runner runs into them while they're standing on the plate, the answer is probably "obstruction" or "nothing."

@JSam21 That's fair, and that's the needle I'm trying to thread here given the age levels (and the overall temperature of this league; I've worked other youth leagues that emphasized the different roles of umpires and coaches). When discussing the high school hypothetical you said "the radar goes up for sure." What would it take to get you to say something? Three consecutive pitches? Four? Would you do any coaching or go straight to the ejection? Absent any malicious intent, do you let it go indefinitely?

Absolutely. If there is an obvious mechanical issue (not looking, not standing up, throwing sidearm when there's a batter on your arm side, etc) should we not try to correct that mechanical issue to try to prevent things from escalating, especially in youth rec ball? Several youth leagues I've worked have rules on this, though this particular league does not. I think the local fastpitch softball league says two in an inning or three in a game. I think that if there were an analogous situation---a 9-y-o pitcher who's been dealing for two innings hits batters on consecutive pitches---I would make a mental note after two, after three ask the manager to go to the mound to have a conversation, and after four ask the manager to remove. But I see way more hit batsmen overall than I do batters hit with return throws; I don't think a hit batsman or even back-to-back hit batsmen is as easily correctable as asking the catcher to avoid hitting the batter on the return.

Would you ignore it if say, in a high school game with the bases empty a catcher hit a batter with consecutive returns? Asking honestly, not trying to stir the pot. Tend to agree, though my concern for player safety had me wondering where I would draw the line.

No, but neither did the batter react much.

I admit I was thinking about that even before the coach came out---if the third pitch had been a borderline ball that the catcher caught and threw back without moving and it happened again, would I have tossed him? I think the standard for ejecting kids has to be fairly high and without obvious malice I'm not sure that I would have, though it is of a piece, for example, with the LL standard for ejecting someone who cannot hold onto a bat safely. I might have told the coach that he can either sub the catcher or both he and the kid are done (akin to LL's option for having a coach remove the kid before the ejection becomes necessary). In any case the catcher pitched innings 3-4 and then played short.

I've been umpiring on and off for a dozen years and had a new situation come up today in a U10 fall rec game (PONY Mustang with local mods, but I don't think it matters other than runners cannot advance home except on a batted ball or forced home on a walk). By the bottom of the second inning, the visitors' catcher has demonstrated that he's both skilled and alternately bored and frustrated. With no one on or runners frozen, he's catching from one knee and throwing the ball back without standing up. With two outs and runners on second and third, a left-handed batter comes up, the first two pitches are strikes, and both return throws are lazy sidearms and hit the batter while he was standing in the box. Clearly not malicious, but both balls hit the batter in the helmet after glancing off either the bat and or shoulder. (No one attempted to advance, given the local rules on stealing home.) After the second one, I called time and asked the catcher to "Please stand up and throw the ball back to the pitcher without hitting the batter." The next pitch was strike three, catcher rolled it back to the mound and walked away. The visiting manager then came out to tell me that the batter needed to get out of the way and that his catcher could throw wherever he wanted. I was flabbergasted---the batter was well within the box, in a legal batting stance, and none of his movements in any way interfered with an attempt to retire a runner. I was polite but the idea was so foreign to me. I explained that there was no reason for the catcher to even come close to hitting the batter and that, especially at that age level, I'm going to protect the batter from lazy play that borders on dangerous. He mumbled a bunch of stuff that didn't make sense, then walked away. I still can't understand what he might have been getting at. Am I missing anything? Should I have done anything differently? (To be honest I was tempted to eject the coach for arguing that the batter should have to dodge returns from the catcher, but I don't think that I should've.) Has anyone seen something like this before, and how did/would you handle it?

It depends on the ruleset and possibly the positioning of infielders. Under USA Softball rules, if the closest infielder was behind the base, the ball is dead, the batter is awarded first, and forced runners advance one base; if the closest infielder was in front of the base, the contact means nothing, play on. Rules Supplement 44: Under National Softball Association rules, the ball is always dead, the batter is awarded first, and forced runners advance one base. Rule 8-8, "Baserunner Not Out," part L: I have played in a men's league that specifically used MLB rules as the base rule set, with heavy modifications for slow-pitch softball. In that case, the base affords no protection and the runner would be out unless the ball went "through or by an infielder." Rule 6.01(a), "It is interference by a batter or runner when," part 11:

Not immediately, as Kelsey Jansen learned the hard way: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/kenley-jansen-tosses-live-ball-into-dugout-against-braves-c182237644

If I'm being paid by one local rec association and their team is playing a team from another association, I try not to wear the home team's colors. Some of the parents in the smaller leagues where I am assume the umpires are in the pocket of the hosting organization. For the tiny association I schedule umpires for, they only use teams in the Texas Rangers' color schemes (royal, red, and powder) plus navy. So it was easy to make black the official color for our umpires. For my son's rec association, I was solo umpiring a preliminary game in a travel tournament hosted by their all-stars (my son was not on the team). I wanted to wear white for heat reasons and had no idea who was playing and what colors there would be. Turned out to not be an issue but if the hosting team was wearing white with navy trim (like my shirt) I would have gone with powder blue. It is absurd, but it happens in small-town rec ball.

Yes, OBR had a pitch time limit that was unenforced until the pitch clock. Really good article on that here: https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2023/3/29/23661015/the-forgotten-history-of-the-pitch-clock-in-baseball From the article:

Yeah, IFF in youth ball almost always leads to some argument. I was working our local rec Bronco (U12) championship as U1 and the best player in the league came up with the bases loaded and no one out. He absolutely skied a popup between home and first base. The plate umpire and I both took a beat to read the play, saw the pitcher move under it, and simultaneously signaled and called "Infield fly!" (I added "if fair," but I digress.) The pitcher took his eye off the ball as it came down well into fair territory and it clanged off his glove. I emphatically signaled and verbalized "Batter's out! Infield fly!" has he approached first base, given the age group. First base coach is screaming at his runners to run, and R3 is tagged out by the pitcher halfway to the plate. There was nothing ejection worthy but the offensive team tried everything---"No one signaled!" "I didn't hear anyone!" "No one said the batter was out!"---despite the fact that I know I signaled and verbalized and saw and heard the plate umpire do the same. Offensive team won handily anyway.

At least in some jurisdictions PU in softball has all fair-foul calls. I was pregaming a Bronco (50/70) baseball game with a guy who's certified by PIAA (PA high school) for softball and does some baseball. Was asking about mechanics and he said that all his softball games are two-man but PU has all fair-foul regardless of positioning.