Kept up with Ball Four?
Originally posted by SAump
The "Take Your Base Award Batter" is actually a Base on Balls AWARD that is not communicated to the batter. The catcher and batter should hear the original BALL call. The Base on Balls AWARD is communicated to the scorekeeper who may not hear the umpire's Ball 4 call because he is sitting in the cooler press box AC. I suppose he can see the batter THROW the bat and run to first, but an umpire's signal makes it OFFICIAL.
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I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Are you suggesting that an umpire needs to make a verbal announcment to a scorekeeper for a base on balls?
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No, I am suggesting that an umpire will lose the use of his vocal chords for a day or two if he tries to shout out each and every call for the scorekeeper who may be sitting high above in an air-conditioned press box on a hot Texas day.
Perhaps some people will laugh at the behavior, but I actually feel sorry for any umpire who tries to shout each and every call to the scorekeeper who is already WATCHING the game.
I think I am asking for the umpire's signal to indicate how a BASE ON BALL AWARD is made by an UMPIRE to alert the official scorekeeper that it is an OFFICIAL decision, and not one made by the BATTER-RUNNER.
[Edited by SAump on Feb 25th, 2006 at 07:17 PM]
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