Quote:
Originally posted by phillycheese
I once called a kid out in a LL game for stepping out of the box. It was late in the game, so the lines were fairly obliterated, but the corners were still intact. The pitcher was serving up creampuffs, so a Dad was telling his kid to step up in the box. The pitch came in fat but started to die so the batter took a giant step and connected. His foot was in my line of vision( cuz we all know we watch the ball and not the batters feet  ). Anyway, I was waiving the play dead as I watched the ball sail over the centerfield fence. I looked for a rock to hide underneath, but couldn't find one big enough. I turned the plate over, and strangely enough found instructions on how to umpire, hehe. What I learned was that, yes, it has to be extremely blatant to make this call(which this case was), and also, that when a kid steps up in the box, he's going to get a verbal warning from me. The grief from a call like this is not worth it. So it is best to prevent it in the first place. Lucky for me, the kid had already hit a homer earlier in the game, so I don't think he suffered any permanent emotional scars from having one wiped off the board.
Phil (mostly lurking)
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Philly, you really should try to
CHIP in more in this forum. I believe it was Pete Booth who noted a real lack of activity on this Board. It is important for all of us to share our
hide under a rock moments as well as our
great success stories. We're never as bad as our worst game and we aren't as good as that last great assignment. I was so proud to be my association's rookie of the year in 1992. Wouldn't you know first game of the next season I was halfway from the parking lot to the field when I realized I had forgotten to take my mask out of the car. I guess it was the Sophomore Jinx at work.