[whiskers_ump]

I was not involved with this situation, but a member of the chapter
I belong to was. Below is answer sent to him by Emily.


Wow. What a mess. You are right that umpires do not get involved with batting out of order because it is not our job to verify each batter as he/she comes to the plate. The rules state the offended team needs to bring it to our attention. If we should notice, discreet preventative umpiring could be in order but we must exercise caution because we may notice for one team and not the other and that gives the apperance of bias. So it is best that umpires wait until it is brought to our attention.

The legal/illegal subbing unreported is something we cannot do anything about becasue we do not know. If we see it happening - coach telling new players to go in - we should be proactive in getting the changes before there is a violation. Otherwise it is up to the teams (either one) to tell us about it.

Batting out of order must involve players who are in the batting order. So if a new player bats, then the violation is unreported or illegal subbing and not batting out of order.

Now - for your situation and what I would do. Consider, please, that this is only possible suggestion. Not having the "flavor" of the game I cannot say specifically that this or that should have been done. These sometimes are gut feels the umpire must go by.

Once the coach brought to my attention that something fishy was going on and I got the sense that it was more than batting out of order, I might have taken the opportunity between innings to reinforce to the suspect coach that any and all changes of any kind - including the DP/FLEX - must come through me. If the coach then fesses up that they have been doing all this stuff, you tell them it is done but from now on, do it right. Because, unless the illegal/unreported player is in the game, we really cannot go back and reconstructed when/if they were in the game earlier. What is on our lineup card or who is out there physically in the game is official and all we have to go by. Like, in your case, the DP was not an illegal sub because you never had her leaving and coming back and leaving again....even though she did.

It is a tough situation. Doing nothing during the game but addressing it afterwards was as good as anything you could do. Hang in there.

Emily Alexander