[mcrowder]

I see your points.

I guess my point is that "ordinary effort" should not be judged at the moment the ball is hit. It should be judged when the ball is at or nearing it's apex. (If I'm wrong, then what is the intent of our clinicians who advise us to wait until this point to make the call --- what are we looking for at this point that we were not able to discern earlier?)

Forget 10U because I think we're kind of on the same page there.

If, at the apex of the ball, there is a fielder poised under (or nearly under) the spot where the ball is going to land, it's an IFF. No - I'm not taking into account the fact that the catcher is awful or half blind... but this goes hand in hand with the INTENT of this rule. If F2 is in position, but not likely to make the catch, then F2 IS in position to start an unearned double play - which is what the rule was supposed to protect. Regarding the booger-picking first baseman (or the adult F3 who happens to be peering at the hottie in row 1 when the ball reaches the apex) - there's no reason to assume that F3 will not become aware of the situation by the time the ball gets there - you still have IFF there too.

In the long-winded play I described, at the moment the ball was hit, it appeared to be a no-brainer IFF. But at the moment the ball was at it's apex, I was able to see that not only would this ball drop with ordinary effort, but in fact there was no way in Hades this ball was going to be caught. Why penalize the offense by calling an out here - that was not the intent of the rule.

I know this goes strongly against the grain of the "Need an out call an out" or the "I'm going to call an out in every possible situation so I can leave earlier" factions. But I don't believe the wording of the rule or the intent of the rule is to call an out in either the OP or the sitch I described.

And regarding newer officials, I don't believe this makes things complicated. OP obviously new how long to wait before making the call... but not why he was waiting that long. I think this is easy to train. Wait until the apex - look back down to see if the ball, to the best of your knowledge at that moment, is likely to be caught (or at least fielded) with normal effort, and call the IFF if it is.

PS - you can call me Mike.