Quote:
Originally posted by officialtony
As the PU, I prefer a little different signal to send to the BU. We agree, before the game, that if he is unsure he can glance at me briefly before he makes his call. If I have an out, I have my right fist clenched discreetly on my thigh, much like an out or strike signal. This assures him from my vantage point half way up the line that the foot was there. He can then determine if the ball beat the runner or vice-versa. This applies only if he questions the 1st baseman's foot off the bag. Otherwise, the call is his. In either case, I back him up on his call.
Anything you agree on ahead of time will work - short of yelling out " foot ".
We have repeatedly been advised to minimze those extracurricular hand signals as many coaches try to pick them up and then put you on the spot. If I can move one hand instead of two, I feel like I have a better shot at hiding it from the coach.
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It's your job and it's a proper mechanic for the plate umpire to be coming down the line to answer the question concerning a pulled foot or swipe tage. You provide the answer to the question and the base umpire makes the call. Why are you hiding this from the coach? There's nothing to hide. I don't know what level of ball you work (Not putting you down or trying to insult you don't misundertand me) but if you do high school varsity on up the Coaches know that it's the plate umpires job to provide assistance for a pulled foot or on a swipe tag. If BR is called out and the Coach thinks he's safe he's going to be all over BU saying he should get help from PU. How are you going to explain this? Are you going to tell him you gave a hand signal? Do you think he's going to believe you?
[Edited by gordon30307 on Feb 23rd, 2005 at 04:00 PM]