PU positioning to see swipe tag at 1B

[BDad]

Had a bang-bang swipe tag at 1B the other night and I'm curious what my partner and I could have done better. LL Majors, 2-man crew, I was PU. No runners, my partner is in A. RH batter squibs a spinning dribbler up the 1B line. I go out on the line a bit watching fair-foul and preparing to watch for RLI. F1 comes over and gets between me and BR. F3 charges in on the line while F4 comes over to cover 1B. F3 gets to the ball on the line just as BR is passing him in the lane, picks up the ball with his glove (I signal fair ball), and swipes a tag attempt on BR. I can't see the tag because of F1 in the way. My partner is still on the line on the other side of 1B and calls BR out on the tag. OHC calls time, and talks to my partner. He asked me what I saw, but I didn't see anything clearer than his view, so my partner stuck with the call. OHC wasn't thrilled, but no problems.

So what could we have done better to see that tag more clearly? On a ball somewhere else in the infield I try to get out into the working area to have a better angle, but in this case I had to stay on the line for the fair-foul call. Even if F1 hadn't been between me and BR, I still may not have had a clear view of the tag. Could my partner have moved off the 1B line to the infield side a bit for a better angle? I think he was trying to stay clear of F4 coming to cover 1B, but that meant he got straightlined a bit also.

[Richvee]

There's not much you can do as PU. Like you said, you have fair foul before the bag, RLI, and possible INT/OBS with all those bodies around the play.

14 minutes ago, BDad said:

My partner is still on the line on the other side of 1B

This is what could have been better.  Sounds like this ball wasn't about to go beyond the 1B bag so your partner didn't need to be planted on the line looking for fair/foul. He should have been moving inside to try and get a better look at the swipe tag possibility. Still doesn't mean he's have a great view, but he shouldn't have been on the line at that point. Even a few steps should yield a better look. 

Sounds you  handled it well. U1 makes a call, if asked, he can go to you for help. In this case you had no new information for him, so the call stands. 

[DevildogUmp]

Your partner should have come off the line and come in towards the bag. 99.9% of the time BU holds the line in A is if he has a fair/foul call to make. For almost every other call A is the complete wrong place to take calls at 1st base. With F3 crashing on the ball, he has 3 possible plays: swipe tag, soft toss to F3 or F1, or a foot race to the bag. For all three of these BU needs to be closer to the bag and at an angle to see, not sitting on the line.

With no one on, why are you moving into the working area as PU? The swipe tag you can help on is on the back or side of the B/R - best place to see that is up the line right behind the play. Additionally, from the working area, you really can't help with a pulled foot or follow-on responsibility of an overthrow.

Matt

[BDad]

20 hours ago, DevildogUmp said:

With no one on, why are you moving into the working area as PU? The swipe tag you can help on is on the back or side of the B/R - best place to see that is up the line right behind the play. Additionally, from the working area, you really can't help with a pulled foot or follow-on responsibility of an overthrow.

I was thinking I would get straightlined on a swipe tag to the back, so I wanted a bit of an angle. I stay relatively close to the line to see the pulled foot, which in LL is rarely in line with the throw. I see your point, though, and will try working up the line more.