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Originally Posted by tibear
My question, what criteria do you use to judge whether it is too dark to continue the game? Given this situation should I have asked for new baseballs to simply appease the visiting manager? Call the game? Or let the game continue as I did?
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As you did, watch the players and if any are having problem seeing the ball, especially the batter, call it. Of course if you are having a problem seeing the ball call it. Situation sometimes plays into it. I called one about 15 years ago, we went into top of 7 with visiting team well behind. I figured we had enough light for them to get their at bat. They started a rally, scored 4-5 runs and were close to tying. Of course this took some time. Batter comes to the plate and after the first pitch he turns to me and says he can't see it. Game over.
Had a game early in the season that was 3-3 going into 7th. I expected we could play another inning with light we had but I made sure both coaches knew this was the last inning I expected we could play with light available. In case of a tie I wanted them to know we were not playing further. By the bottom of the 7th I was a bit anxious because it had become dim by then but with 1 out and a runner on the batter saw it good enough to hit a 2 run walkoff.
Rain is also tough. Had one this year that started in a light rain. It off and on rained. Home team was leading after 4.5. In the bottom of the 5th pitcher came out for warmups and we called the game because his plant foot was slipping pretty good when he landed. If he can't plant he might throw a wild one, or hurt himself was our reasoning. No complaints from either side.