Quote:
Originally posted by Cubbies87
In many situations, one umpire will THINK they have seen something better than the other ump.
Even though the BU starts with his back to the play, the play develops on top of him, and it is his call to make initially. If the PU sees something, but the BU does not ask for help, either verbally or with signals, stay out of it. Going over the head of another umpire, or appearing to do so, opens the whole crew up to a world of nightmares from the coaches, players, and fans that need to be avoided for the game to run smoothly.
But, this play had to do with safety, and malicious intent. As DownTownTonyBrown hit home on (excuse the pun), intentional collisions have no place in any non-proffesional ball. In this instance, a signal for an umpire conference needs to be made by the PU. When play has seized, and the BU sees the signal, a conference can be had. The play will be discussed, with both points of views. The BU is in charge of this conference, and the decision, along with post-conference actions are his job. If the umpires agree to change the call, the runners are awarded the bases that the umpires feel they would have reached, and F6 is ejected. But, this is a controversial call, and a fuming coach needs to be dealt with some leeway.
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Larry makes a very valid point here. A point that I didn't make strongly enough in my posts. And it is really the original question/point that Freix was making... Whose responsibility is this call?
As a general rule of thumb, and I think it applies in this situation as well,
THE FIRST CALL IN THE INFIELD BELONGS TO THE BASE UMPIRE unless that first call is at home plate.
The plate umpire calls for the conference with his partner and presents the information that he feels the BU didn't receive. BUT IT IS THE BASE UMPIRE'S decision to either include that information and perhaps changes his call, or not change his call. As Rich pointed out, we don't overrule each other. We umpires are a team and decisions are generally agreed upon - especially one like this where the BU has half of the play in front of him and half of it behind him.
When I said "come to the rescue of the BU," the above is what I meant: PU presents his information, BU does as he sees fit with it, BU makes the final call, BU enforces the appropriate penalties, PU goes back to the plate and puts the ball back into play.