Caught Foul... Pit?

[MadMax]

This past weekend, I was acting as onsite UIC, and as I was rolling the cooler full of ice, water, and towels from one field to another, replenishing the guys between innings, one of my crews had a situation happen right in front of me which I was very proud of how they handled it... without botching it or consulting me or the TD.

R1, R2, 2 outs, X-2 count (balls not relevant). Swinging strike, pitch makes contact with the bat, and ends up... in the F2's armpit, trapped there. F2 gets up, flips the ball towards the mound, and starts trotting towards his dugout while the DT fans applaud his outstanding catch... 

... but was it a catch?

The 3BC (OTHC) starts bellowing, "That's not a catch! That's not a catch! Get the rule right!" while the PU steps back, and instead of making an Out mechanic, motions and calls, "Time!". I refrained from saying anything, as much as my younger umpire-self would have liked to, instead leaving it to this crew to determine. The PU motioned in the BU, and they met just in front of the mound. At this point, both the OTHC and the DTHC are on the field, and the PU has to signal to both of them to back off and return to their dugout areas, before he resumes discussing with the BU. Of course, the DT parents are, to a person, clamoring, "But it didn't hit the ground! He caught it!" I'm standing right next to the Field Marshal (FM, an employee of the TD), telling him, "It has to be the glove first for a foul tip. If it hits anywhere else on the catcher's body, like his mask or CP, it's a foul ball."

At that moment, the PU disengages from the BU, heads back towards the plate, and announces, "Foul ball." DTHC approaches PU while his players resume their positions, and PU gives him a brief explanation, ending with, "My UIC is standing right there (points at me), he'll tell you the same thing."

"Play!" Next pitch is a line-out to F5. Oh well. Nicely handled, Blue!

[lawump]

Sweet!

[maven]

2 hours ago, MadMax said:

"Play!" Next pitch is a line-out to F5.

The baseball gods rewarded the crew.

[VolUmp]

I guess I'm only missing one thing. Why the conference?  Is it that the PU wasnt 100% certain the ball missed the glove and hand, or was he unsure of he rule?

[zoops]

It certainly doesn't hurt to conference just to be sure when it's such a rare play.  

[VolUmp]

48 minutes ago, zoops said:

It certainly doesn't hurt to conference just to be sure when it's such a rare play.  

And that doesn't answer my question. 

[beerguy55]

10 hours ago, VolUmp said:

I guess I'm only missing one thing. Why the conference?  Is it that the PU wasnt 100% certain the ball missed the glove and hand, or was he unsure of he rule?

Could be both, but seeing that the PU seemed confident enough in his ruling to dare the coach to talk to the UIC, I'm guessing he wanted some help on the first touch.   I suppose you cover off both points if you're gonna have the conversation anyway?  Would you?

btw - the "get the rule right" comment from 3bC was not necessary, at all.  At that point you don't know if the umpire doesn't know the rule, or thought it hit the glove first.  Give the umpire three seconds to process the information for crying out loud.

[ricka56]

3 hours ago, VolUmp said:

And that doesn't answer my question. 

Unless the PU is a U-E member, me thinks it'll probably remain unanswered.  

[MadMax]

12 hours ago, VolUmp said:

I guess I'm only missing one thing. Why the conference?  Is it that the PU wasnt 100% certain the ball missed the glove and hand, or was he unsure of he rule?

I'm going to turn this around – why not the conference?

Does it matter?

I didn't get a chance to follow up and debrief the crew on that situation because A) it was 112° out on a blistering Arizona midday, B) that was that crew's last game of the weekend, and it itself went into extra innings, putting me and my partner into a waiting position at our field for the winner of that game to take on the top seed for the game we were about to start, and C) they, as a crew, got the call right. My philosophy is – you succeed as a crew, you fail as a crew. I will never slight a crew, or any member of that crew, for getting together so as to get a Ruling corrected or verified. Conversely, if I find that a crew(member) misapplied a Rule because he was so sure he was right, but didn't want to consult his partner(s), there will be some very harsh criticism.

The PU in this instance – "V" – may have not seen the ball hit F2's glove first before redirecting into his armpit. I certainly couldn't tell exactly from being behind the backstop. Or, he had a moment of inspired thought, and thought, "Hey, there's a rule about this very thing, but because it happens so rarely, let's just make sure I'm not doubting its existence." Either way, when you've got around 80 people surrounding you, on a hot July day, in a semifinal game, you rely on your team for support. So, he asks his BU partner (not lackey, or underling, or sidekick) – "J", in this case. J's a good kid. Young, in his second year with our group here, but an up-and-coming umpire. Whatever V and J discussed, I trust that V steered it in an effective way, because it didn't take long, and as I said, the resulting call was right.