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Originally Posted by jicecone
Wait a minute here. I am in Pete's corner here.
Some of you are so intent in teaching everyone the pro-mechanic, you are missing the fact the the PU ANNOUNCED, "No he didn't go." Not one of you have stated that the pro mechanic says you are to step up and over rule your partner after he has clearly made his decision.
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The "pro" mechanic, which is not limited to just the "pros," does, indeed, state that the base umpire is to immediately make a call without waiting for his partner to request it. This is done specifically to avoid this completely avoidable debacle, the blame of which lies totally on the umpires.
I am amazed on how many of you are so enshrined in this sacrosanct notion of umpire exclusivity that you can't grasp a little common sense and effective mechanics which would have prevented this in the first place.
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The end result was correct for this situation.
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So the end justifies the means?
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I do not know the correct Pro mechanic and if your telling me that the BU is to step up and quickly over rule an announced decision by his partner, well your just going to have a big sht house anyway.
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Hardly. I've done this twice in my career as base umpire, and BOTH times it resulted in a quick, decisive, and definitive call that no one disputed. In fact, in one of these cases the head coach of the offensive team stated that he was "impressed" by what he called the "continuity of the crew in preventing what would have been mass confusion and a headache."
This "voluntary strike" is not decades old. It was put into the MLBUM a few years ago roughly, and why? Because this had actually happened. As is the case with a lot of interpretations and mechanics tips that aren't otherwise mentioned anywhere, these things usually come to be after a situation occurs that prompts their creation. Now that the "voluntary strike" is a recommended mechanic, the situation at hand is less likely to occur if it's used.