Quote:
Originally posted by His High Holiness
All;
Good umpires do not allow s$$$ like this in their ballgames. Yes it is legal but:
1. You will never see it on television.
2. Because you will never see it on televsion, you, the umpire will be blamed for the things that go wrong when this play is attempted. The other coach will be in your face. In evaluations or umpires, s$$$houses in games count against an umpire.
3. Big dogs like me will watch the circus that occurs and hold you, the umpire, accountable for the circus. When I see weird stuff like this in ballgames, I blame the umpire more than the coach. How the umpire responds has a lot to do with whether or not I recommend him for promotion.
4. There are a lot of things that the umpire can do to stop such nonsense. Because it never occurs on television, the umpire's reactions in shutting down this play cannot be evaluated against a standard. The lack of a standard gives the umpire wide latitude in dealing with this. Take it from a big dog. End this before it starts.
Calling out the runner for being out of the baseline is not the right way to go. I guarantee, however, that this play would never get off the ground in a game that I was doing. And if I saw it work in one of your games that I was watching, I would mark you down as not ready for the big time. The next time that you are tempted to allow something like this, remember that a big dog who controls your future may be watching.
Peter
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Peter: Don't be too sure it isn't seen on TV. Some of our high school games are televised, and several teams use this "ploy." It was invented by a Little League coach in the senior league (where they can lead off) in New York state.
It is often successful at high school and below. I've seen it tried a couple of times at JUCO - to dismal failure.
At our coaches meeting in January, the subject came up: "What can we do on defense?"
I said: "Cut him off at the pass." Station F4 directly between him and second; station F3 directly between him and first. Throw it to the second baseman and have him sprint toward the runner. (Of course, you keep your eye on third base.) There's simply no way the runner can reach any base safely, so the only question is: Can the defense score an out on R3 (forget about R1) if he commits to home?
If you'll check the BRD, you find that PBUC has ruled the runner may lead off any way he wishes from any base. (Section 411)