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Originally Posted by Fan10
Last year at a Division I college baseball game, I was sitting even with first base. With a runner on first and two out, there was a dropped third strike. As the batter ran down the first base line, the first base umpire (who has worked the College World Series on several occasions) exclaimed very loudly, "He's out! He's out!" Since there were two out even though first was occupied, that wasn't true. Right after the umpire exclaimed that, the catcher made the routine throw to 1B well ahead of the batter for the out.
As the defense ran off the field to change sides, the home plate umpire came down the line to talk to the 1st base ump. I overheard the 1B ump say, "That's right. There were two outs." The first base ump then looked over at the offensive dugout (which was on the first base side) and told the coaches, "There were two outs. I'm sorry. I made a mistake." Nothing further was said. That was the end of it.
That mistake had no consequence since the throw retired the batter (I would have been interested to have seen what they would have done had the throw gone into right field. Would the 1B ump's erroneous declaration have created a dead ball?).
However, according to what I quoted from you above, an umpire who has been to the College World Series on several occasions is not working competitive baseball.
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Reputation goes a long way in this game. I can get away with lots of things that younger umpires will get eat up over simply because of the experiences that I've had with these coaches through the years.
I'm sure it was the same way with the umpire above who has the reputation, and nothing was said, keep playing etc.,
And I would be willing to bet that he doesn't miss a whole lot also...
Thanks
David