This question keeps coming up: Do you intervene when your partner makes a major mistake? Generally the answer seems to be, “No, wait for a coach to challenge the call. If they don’t – too bad; go on with the game.”
Sit: A- Here is one that occurred several years ago: two good varsity teams, the BU called a LBR violation for the 3
rd out. The defense ran off the field; the runner looked at the umpire, but gave up and left the field. No one questioned the call. I guess that I was the only person on the field that saw F1 fake a throw – and the runner stopped to look at her.
Question: do you let it go when it was obviously a wrong call?
Sit: B – low level JV game last week, rookie umpire behind the plate. R1 on 1B; I am in “B.” D-coach comes on field with scorebook and confers with PU who looks at her line-up card. They both go over and confer with the O-coach. I assumed that if the PU needed me she would call; otherwise I was out on the grass chatting with F9. When it broke up I went back to my position and on the first pitch I realized that I no longer had a runner on 1B. Oops, must have been a BOO; and I retreated to “A.”
Between innings I asked BU what happened. Illegal sub, she said; she wasn’t on the line-up card. Actually she was a legal player; I told PU she was an unannounced sub and that there was no penalty.
Question: if you were paying attention and you saw the runner being taken off the base would you get involved? You could have corrected a bad umpire call, and educated the PU and both coaches.
Sit: C – same game, next inning. Opposite coach comes out with scorebook; same procedure as before. Now the PU is looking at me; obviously not sure of herself. I ask her what is wrong; she says, “Same thing.” “Unannounced sub by the other team.”
Question: do you say let’s treat it same; call the out, neither coach knows the difference anyway?
OR – do you say – we know the rule; we have to do it right even though one coach gets the short end?
There are really two questions here. (1) Do you intervene to prevent partner from making an incorrect rules call? (2) If it were called wrong against one team, would you allow it to be wrong against the other team?
WMB