Quote:
Originally posted by PeteBooth
Warren, gotta disagree with your statement BIG TIME on this one. There are plenty of rules in the book in which we do not enforce, otherwise known as Nit-Picken Rules . The only time we enforce is when someone is trying to be a smart a####. Example; Rule says all players except F2 have to have both feet in fair territory. Do we enforce - NO (ie; F3) except if coach comes out and wants to be a hard a###, and then we say Hey coach BTW your first-basemen will be penalized to. That normally ends it.
IMO I do not see how you can possibly or remotely blame Blue on this one. Is Blue Krescan? I'm sure if Blue actually knew that something ugly was going to develop, he would have acted. Your letting the 2 people MOST RESPONSIBLE off the hook.
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Whoa, there Pete! I haven't let anyone off the hook. That's an emotional reaction, not a logical response. All I've said is that there are
more than 2 people responsible for this act, in the big picture! This is NOT a "fix-it" rule like the one you quoted. This is an NCAA safety rule, designed to prevent confrontation between players and teams. It is not an optional rule, although it appears that many umpires have treated it this way in the past. I bet they won't NOW!
Pete, Molina was hit for no better reason than he was in the wrong on deck circle. Christensen had been taught to deal with that by pitching at the player "as a warning"! This was a TURF WAR and the umpire, perhaps innocently, encouraged what happened by not enforcing the rule and preventing Molina from crossing to the wrong side of the plate during the warm up. Please read the story again and you will have a better idea what this was really about
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1. Molina was on the wrong side of the plate, some 50 feet from where he should have been
2. Molina was there for the time span of several warm up pitches before the one that hit him
3. The NCAA has a specific rule against this, to prevent friction between players and teams.
4. The umpire is responsible to enforce the NCAA rule and he didn't. That makes him at least partially responsible IN LAW. It doesn't make him a bad person.
Quote:
There's 2 people at fault here - The one who instructed F1 to throw at the on-deck batter and the player who actually threw the pitch. The administrators of this institution could also have some limited liability if they knew in advance that this coach was not a good sportsman in their hiring process.
If you told me to kill someone and I did, both you and I would be guilty. This scenario is no different. That's the problem in Today's Society - Everybody's looking for an out instead of accepting responsibility for their own actions. As I said we as Blues do not enforce every little rule that's in the book unless as stated someone wants to be a smart a###.
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Ok, then let's take your analogy one step further. Let's say I'm a policeman, and I know that by letting you walk into the neighbouring block there will most likely be a turf war, and someone could get hurt or killed. If I have been ordered to prevent you or anyone else from crossing that line, and I see you do it without even attempting to prevent the act, aren't I at least partly to blame if you get killed or injured as the result? It's called a dereliction of duty, Pete.
Sure Molina should have known better, and that might make him at least partially responsible too. Who knows why he didn't. Sure Christensen and his pitching coach were at fault. All I'm saying is so was the umpire, at least in part. The NCAA had given him a specific rule affecting player safety and "discipline and order on the playing field" to enforce, and he didn't enforce it. Look up that passage about "maintaining discipline and order on the playing field" - you'll find it's one of the umpire's most important fundamental responsibilities, and this umpire failed in his duty to carry it out! [see OBR 9.01(a) - I don't have the NCAA equivalent] THAT is why he is at least partially culpable, IMHO. You might not agree, but I'm betting that the courts do.
Cheers,
[Edited by Warren Willson on Mar 2nd, 2001 at 03:19 PM]