Catcher hands ball to PU

[Mike Prince]

One out, R1, two strikes on batter. F2 catches a foul tip for strike 3. He thinks it is the third out, hands ball to PU and heads for dugout. By time he is told/figures out that it's only 2 outs and he gets back to plate, the runner is now on his way to third. As F2 gets back to the plate the DC is yelling "where's the ball" at which point the PU drops it to the ground at his feet.

Other than saying that F2 needs to get his head in the game, is there any other call than "play ball" to be made? As a spectator at this game I say no, but wanted to see how others here would handle it.

[Ros@]

Please do not kill the messenger but it I believe in this case, the PU also must remain with his head in the game. Instead of taking the ball he could have told F2 to "just put it on the ground, I'll pick-it up, turn away but monitoring the next moves ". No harm done. But to throw the ball like nothing happened at his feet..... tricky...

But then again.... fast thinking.

[mstaylor]

The umpire needs to know the situation just like the players, actually more so. When the catcher tries to hand him the ball he needs to step back away from it. Once he actually catches the ball then he kills the ball. Don't allow any advances and be prepared to take some heat for catching a live ball. As the umpire I would have a private conversation with the catcher telling him to not throw the ball to an umpire.

[jnazz]

Is there anything wrong with saying, "only two out, Catch."?

[mstaylor]

In youth ball probably not, in older games I wouldn't.

[JamesC]

I caught in high school, and Was a very alert catcher. I always knew what was going on and when to do things that needed to be done. With that said, I never handed the ball to the umpire. They don't need the ball. I always rolled the ball or tossed it back to the mound. I do think that if the catcher hands it to the umpire in this particular situation, with runners on, then it should be killed and the umpire needs to take that chewing because he is the one that messed up. Just my opinion...

[Paperipper17]

I'm with you guys. Gotta be more alert than that. Had an F2 toss me a ball a couple nights ago. I had to jump sideways to keep it a live ball and the runner advanced second to third. But if you touch it, you have to kill it and take your whoopin'.

I don't think I'd say anything regardless of level of play though. IMHO, I don't think that's our job. Watch and react. Not that I'm completely against it, just don't do it myself.

[noumpere]

One out, R1, two strikes on batter. F2 catches a foul tip for strike 3. He thinks it is the third out, hands ball to PU and heads for dugout. By time he is told/figures out that it's only 2 outs and he gets back to plate, the runner is now on his way to third. As F2 gets back to the plate the DC is yelling "where's the ball" at which point the PU drops it to the ground at his feet.

Other than saying that F2 needs to get his head in the game, is there any other call than "play ball" to be made? As a spectator at this game I say no, but wanted to see how others here would handle it.

OBR and NCAA: The ball remains live, and the umpire should drop the ball.

FED: The ball is dead when the umpire handles it.

[Dragon29]

Had an F2 toss me a ball a couple nights ago. I had to jump sideways to keep it a live ball and the runner advanced second to third. But if you touch it, you have to kill it and take your whoopin'.

I have only ever had an F2 toss me the ball once after a strikeout; they always roll it back to the mound.

I was so surprised that I just held my hands up and took a step back; it hit me in the CP and fell to the ground. It never occurred to me to think about whether or not there were three outs; I just reacted. As it happens, there were three outs, so it made no difference, but at least I know how I'll react if it ever happens w/less than three out.

I bring this up only to point out that if there had been two outs and the same thing happened, I would not have killed the ball once it hit my CP & dropped; I would have kept it in play and probably not said a word.

[Rich Ives]

OBR and NCAA: The ball remains live, and the umpire should drop the ball.

FED: The ball is dead when the umpire handles it.

Me too.