Quote:
Originally posted by Rich Ives
Warren, I didn't mean to imply that an umpire would cheat on his responsibility. But I've encountered too many who don't know the rules. I don't know if I'd want to trust their ability to judge whether it's a rule violation or a judgement call.
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My experience is pretty much centered around LL age leagues, tournamants, etc. I've seen a LOT of protestable calls. I only actually protested one 'cause it was so idiotic (Ol Smitty called "That's four fouls, you're out" - guess who won that one.)
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Ok, ok. Point taken! (grin) As I said, I can understand why LL Inc's Andy Konyar made the ruling he did. No argument there. If your leagues basically follow the LL pattern for umpire experience then following their directions concerning protests is also perfectly appropriate, IMHO. I guess this is just another example of where the rules need to be modified a little to fit the situation.
Between LL level competition and the MLB Pro's there is a whole LOT of territory that needs to be covered. Hopefully it is being covered mostly by accredited officials who can at least tell the difference between a judgement decision and a rule misapplication, most of the time. Maybe not. I'm certainly willing to declare that MOST of the umpires I work with could be trusted with this decision. The ones who couldn't are always allocated with a more trusted official.
Cheers,