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Originally Posted by orioles35
Nothing verbalized. Since the batter swung, I signaled "strike" and let the play develop.
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orioles35,
I'm a little confused about why you killed the play as the defense was making a legitimate attempt to put out the clueless runner who had left the base in his mistaken belief that he had to return to 1B.
In your initial description, it was the
offensive coach who was saying "foul ball". Why punish the defense? If you are playing under FED rules, there is the notion of "Verbal Obstruction" which would apply if someone on the
defense told the runner it was a foul ball - but you said you didn't know
who told him.
Their are two rules (OBR) about the runner running the bases in reverese order. The one more people have heard of is 7.08(i) which contains the ever popular "travesty of the game" phrase; it only applies when the runner does it to intentionally "confuse the defense", not when he is under the false impression that he must return to a previous base.
The less familiar one is 7.01 - which applies after the
...pitcher assumes his pitching position.... If the runner attempts to return after the pitcher engages the rubber, he is properly called out, no matter what the reason for his return.
Sounds like you were helping the offense on this one. Umpires aren't supposed to do that.
JM