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Originally Posted by CO ump
So when it comes right down to it, what's more important following the letter of the law or maintaining the best interest of the game?
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This is not a useful question. The rules do not address this situation or any like it, so following "the letter of the law" is not an option.
Remember that the problems all arose because the OFFENSE made a mistake, namely BR missing 1B.
The PA announcer made the next mistake, namely announcing the offense's mistake. Eject the PA announcer to deal with his mistake.
Now the defense wants to appeal the missed base. As an umpire, I have no definite knowledge whether they would have appealed without the information from the PA announcer. Since the offense made the initial mistake, I must give the benefit of the doubt to the defense and grant the appeal.
Rich, although the the PA announcer
illegally announced the missed base, it does not follow that this was
how the defense came to know about the missed base: they might first have seen it. Again, the benefit of the doubt must go to the defense here.
If, as in the actual case, the O-coach comes out and says to grant the appeal, that just means that he won't be ejected. On this play, anyway...