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Originally Posted by David B
Its not our job as umpires to bail out a F6 or F4 who throws the ball and hits the runner.
David
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You're not bailing anyone out. By enforcing the rule you are potentially saving future runners from brain damage.
There seems to be a myth among many umpires that middle infielders are taught to 'adjust' their throw to avoid oncoming runners. This myth is as foolish and misguided as "the tie goes to the runner" myth. Any upper level coaches reading this thread are laughing at you much like we impune coaches for their ignorance of the rules.
Any runner who comes in daring the thrower to hit him is indeed not very smart, but no one ever accused these kids of genius.
You can't always legislate for stupidity, but coaches understand automatic DP for interference and will teach slide or get out of the way for strategic purpose if for no other reason.
I'm sure many of you will continue to allow the runner to come in standing up and hopefully force the fieder to adjust his throw. I wonder though how you'll feel the first time one of these runners ends up in the hospital with brain damage. I hope it never happens, but if it does I wonder if you'll think back to this discussion and think 'yea maybe this is one of the things FPSR was trying to prevent?'
For me, if I'm doing a Fed. game, I'm erring on the side of safety. For all of Feds faults we all know that their intention is safety.