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Okay, I get it...apparently my mistake has been to assume that everyone knew these were appealed calls. Let me very specific, you've seen it, the opposition has seen it and they know you've seen it (you are a consistent, fair and hardworking umpire after all). Then they appeal the non-call (since no safe signal is given on a fence clearing homerun). What do you do?
Let's face it, most missed bases are not by large margins. The runner tries to cut the corner while stretching a double or misses third while flying home. Rarely do we see anything more than a few inches as the infraction. The obvious misses are just that, obvious calls. Be honest...
I've never implied that we need to learn the rule better. I've simply said that we need to enforce them fairly. Not what our version of fairness is, true equanimity. Too often, we see veteran umpires make decisions based on what they think is an acceptable call. Earlier, I wrote that umpiring is an art and not a science. While our interpretation is important, this is not a creative process. Indeed, some rules are finite. When we add supposition and plausibility to them, they become grey. (A pitched ball that legally enters the strike zone is always a strike. "Wait a second, blue, he balked and this is high school. No pitch!" or A batted ball caught in flight is an out. "Uh, blue - he used an illegal mitt or the pitcher balk in HS") Definitions are finite examples of the laws of baseball. They are designed to prevent confusion. It is when we apply exceptional thoughts that they become arbitrary.
[Edited by WhatWuzThatBlue on Oct 23rd, 2005 at 06:29 PM]
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