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Originally posted by WhatWuzThatBlue
I've provided the example of one of my most humbling kicked calls a few times here. NCAA game...a foul ball goes back to the screen and the catcher is an ace. He stops near the screen and I set up a few feet from him, watching him, not the ball, as we are taught. He spins at the last moment and my head practically came off trying to find the ball. I asked him to show me the ball and when I saw it was cleanly in his mitt, I signalled the out. The only problem was that I never saw it glance off the screen while one of my partners did. We had a runner on and he took off for third. My partner immediately came in - he was the third base umpire and when I saw him abandon his position without worrying about the runner I knew I was wrong. He asked me what I saw - our mechanic - and I told him. I asked if he saw something different - again, our mechanic - and he told me what happened. The call was corrected, the batter remained and the runner returned.
In the aforementioned example; the ball was FOUL meaning a reversed call doesn't effect the game. The runners simply return but what about this:
R1/R2 1 out game tied HT up at bat. R1 moving on the Pitch. Sharp grounder to F4, R3 is heading home. F4 now makes a tag attempt on R1.
Let's assume U2 rules out on the tag attempt and then F4 flips to F3 for the inning ending DP No runs score we go to extra innings. However, you as U1 CLEARLY see the missed tag by F4. According to your philosophy above, you would step in and Reverse the call but what do you do with R3? If U2 ruled safe in the beginning chances are F4 would have thrown home.
In a 2 person system that involves CONTINOUS action you stick with the call right or wrong. If there is no Continuous action as in your example, then the call can be easily changed because it's easy to place the runners.
A common example is a HR ruled Fair/Foul. Easily corrected. If it's Fair runners go home, if Foul runners return. If a HR is changed to a Double simply return the runner back to second base.
IMO, that's why baseball is different than the other sports.
Pete Booth
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Peter M. Booth
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