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Originally Posted by UmpireErnie
NFHS rules used to not have appeals except for BOO. Base running infractions were not appeals. If we saw a runner leave early or miss a base, at the end of the play we just called time and announced the out. It felt really weird.
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So weird that many umpires would ignore violations because they didn't want to be the bad guys. And I think you can trust me when I say that many of these calls were and would be suspect in the eyes of the visiting team, right or wrong.
Umpires react to plays. The competition is between the teams and, IMO, it is their responsibility to observe and "catch" the opposition cheating, taking advantage, or whatever, not the umpire's.
Those who work SP will tell you that quite often a runner will cut a base short in an attempt to get the outfielder to hurry a throw. I do not want to be in a position to rule that player out for using a strategy to hurry the defense especially when there is no rule dictating the path of any runner.