[WhatWuzThatBlue]

Two thoughts for the price of one:

"Runner from 3rd base is running home, jumping up and down. As he reaches the plate, he jumps into the waiting arms of his fellow players. One guy finally drops him. You guessed it, the runer never touched the plate. He was dropped " a few inches" from the plate. He MAY have touched it, but there are so many players there, who knows? Well, the rest of the players circle the bases and by the time the batter gets to the plate, there are lots of people on the field."

Well...did he miss the plate or didn't he? You say that he may have touched it, but you didn't see it. Do you call a runner out because the fielder may have touched him or do you need to see it?

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On rewarding the better play, that is what rookies and lazy veterans do. Joe West gave us a couple of examples of calling it correctly, even though the expected call was otherwise. You don't serve the game by ignoring obvious infractions.

Now, how may I have handled it? When the crowd started to gather or when he was mobbed, I announce, "Guys, I need to see him touch." That gets their attention and lets the opposition know that I'm watching. It controls the game and doesn't provide an advantage to either side. That is fair and good.



[Edited by WhatWuzThatBlue on Dec 24th, 2005 at 09:30 PM]