What would be the proper procedure as base ump here?

[scrounge]

R3 is in a run down between 3rd and home. No other runners on base, so I'm at the 3rd end as BU, partner has the home end as PU. R3 is heading away from me to home when he goes wide to avoid a tag. I thought he clearly went outside his baseline but PU doesn't call it, instead calling him safe and counting the run. Coaches are a little upset but really not too much; they were asking if there was a tag. PU doesn't formally ask for help but takes a few steps to me. In any case, we were pretty close just due to the rundown situation.

I go and talk just to confirm. He asked me if I had a tag, which I did not. I ask if he thought it was out of base lines, saying that I thought he was. He says he wasn't. Since the action was going away from me, I thought it was his call and didn't push it, even though the dude was a good 4 or 5 ft outside.

Should I have been more assertive in saying that, or just dropped it like I did?

[Rich Ives]

R3 is in a run down between 3rd and home. No other runners on base, so I'm at the 3rd end as BU, partner has the home end as PU. R3 is heading away from me to home when he goes wide to avoid a tag. I thought he clearly went outside his baseline but PU doesn't call it, instead calling him safe and counting the run. Coaches are a little upset but really not too much; they were asking if there was a tag. PU doesn't formally ask for help but takes a few steps to me. In any case, we were pretty close just due to the rundown situation.

I go and talk just to confirm. He asked me if I had a tag, which I did not. I ask if he thought it was out of base lines, saying that I thought he was. He says he wasn't. Since the action was going away from me, I thought it was his call and didn't push it, even though the dude was a good 4 or 5 ft outside.

Should I have been more assertive in saying that, or just dropped it like I did?

4 or 5 feet out of "his" baseline or "the" baseline? The 3' rule applies to "his" baseline, not "the" baseline.

"His" baseline is the only one that counts and it's determined, sometimes several times in a rundown, by drawing a line from the runner's position to the base he's headed to, and you draw (and redraw) it each time a tag attempt starts.

[UmpJM]

scrounge,

If he asks, you tell him what you got.

Still his call.

With 2 umpires in a rundown, it is ideal to make eye contact with your partner before either of you makes the call.

The eye contact "establishes" who is going to make the call.

In the real world, "ideal" doesn't always happen.

Whoever makes the call "owns" it.

Sounds like you did fine.

I concur with Rich I.'s point.

JM

[Chance]

Rundown signaling is something I cover in my pregame. Whenenver the PU and BU are engaged in the same play confusion may ensue on the outcome of who has the call. Or worst yet, both signal and the signals are different, . For that one call thats right in the "middle" of the rundown where it could be either umpires call, its crucial to get it right. Some guys go with eye contact and either a shake of the head as in "yes I have it" or other guys I have been with like to have eye contact and a quick point / tap to their own chest, letting their partner know "my call".

[jnazz]

I like the "tapping your chest" mechanic and I'll even vocalize it if I think there may be confusion --- "I've got the call Mike!"