Quote:
Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
Papa C.,
That was well put, as expected. I didn't realize that you were responding to my posts again, but welcome.
I actually work Minor League baseball. I can only tell you what mechanic that is being taught to us here and at the major college level.
As I said, I work with multiple NCAA crews, depending on the conference. On one crew, we NEVER grant the appeal when my 3BU is in C or my 1BU is in B.
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WCB:
Unless you work in an unaffiliated minor league, I believe your comment about how you handle half swings is disingenuous. I know Mike Fitzpatrick, and I know his evaluators enforce the PBUC mechanics, one of which I quoted in my orignal post.
You say that some NCAA coaches go berserk when the plate umpire checks with an umpire inside the diamond. On the one crew, where you "NEVER grant the appeal when my 3BU is in C or my 1BU is in B," if I were one of the NCAA coaches and you refused to check, I would protest the game, citing 3-6e: "When asked by a coach or player, the plate umpire
must [my emphasis] seek a decision from the appropriate base umpire ragarding the 'checked swing.'" Whether it was a check swing is judgment; whether you refused to ask is evidence of a blatant disregard of black letter law.
After the protest, which I would win assuming I lost the game, I would call the conference supervisor and be sure you never worked one of my games again: "Hey, Tommy, can you believe it? They just wouldn't appeal when I asked. Say, who are those guys? Did they come in on a turnip truck or what? I know it's hard to find enough warm bodies these days, but...."
Finally, why not adopt the PBUC guideline and ignore whether U3 is in C or U1 is in B? Ask the umpire on the line, whichever side B1 is hitting from.
BTW: Did you know that I invented the names of the positions? I'm surprised to see you, a "professional umpire" using them since the professional schools have studiously avoided those labels.
Instead of saying "Go to B with a runner on first," they prefer: "Move into the infield on the right side of the diamond, station yourself on a line between the plate, the skin of the mound, and the outfield, and stand perhaps 15 to 20 feet behind the rubber."
When I trained umpires for a PONY league, I got tired of the latter and switch to the former. Life is so much better now.