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Originally Posted by BlueLawyer
Three factors came in: (1) Did the defense have even the slightest chance to turn the double play and (2) did the runner interfere (intentional or not) with that chance? or (3) Did the rulebook mandate a FPSR violation- e.g.- pop-up, roll-block, spike above the knee, etc.
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That is not a good list. #1 has nothing to do with the call, therefore #2 is also not valid.
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Originally Posted by BlueLawyer
UMPIRE'S JUDGMENT is the one controlling, crucial factor.
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On every play the umpire's judgment is the controlling factor. Take the play where a left handed pitcher in the set position steps to first base, moves his arm as if to throw, but does not throw the ball. This is about the easiest balk to call (behind dropping the ball), but the umpire must still watch the play and then deicde if it was a balk or not. The umpire could have thought that the pitcher stepped off first, or he could even say that the pitcher did throw the ball to first. As much as the offense won't like it, there is nothing they can do about the call. What the umpire judged is what he judged, it is not protestable. Umpire judgement is involved in every single thing that goes on during the entire game no matter how obvious what the "correct" call should be.