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True story: A sitch very much like this one - F3 and BR collide. Ball gets away about 10 yards down the right field fence and comes to a stop. BR misses first base, practically flying over it.
Defense's coaches erupt. "He missed the bag!!!" more than once. Coaches looking like they are going to come pouring out of the dugout, me with the stop sign. F3 is yelling at my BU, standing on the bag and even stomping on the bag repeatedly, also saying, "He missed the base!!!" BR is hurt, but gets back to the bag. Coaches now want to come to yell at us (not sure which of us... probably both). Now one of them is yelling, "Time!" in increasing volume, getting frustrated with my stop sign. OFFENSIVE coach now asks for Time as well to tend to the injured runner.
Reluctantly, I call TIME.
Defensive coaches come blazing out, "You've gotta call that! We had the appeal in time!" etc. BU just looks at me about to laugh at these jokers, and calmly looks back at the coaches and points at the ball ... still up the right field line by the fence. Little puppy coaches skulk back to their cage.
I bought BU a beer that evening for his completely deadpan reaction. It was perfect.
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"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson
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