[Mark Land]

Discussion from another board on which I would like your input. Please excuse the long wind up before the question. Situation: R1. B/R hits ball down sharply in front of the plate; it bounces high into the air to F1. As soon as F1 gloves the ball, UIC (erroneously) yells, "OUT!" R1 continues to 2nd; B/R stops running. F1 throws to 1st. The initial question was: What does BU do when UIC makes his call. The only opinion offered was nothing during the play. If UIC asks BU after the play BU could tell UIC what he saw. The question then becomes: what do you do now? UIC now realizes he was wrong.

One person, Bill Meyers, said: "I think the lesser of the two evils would be to allow the play to come to a conclusion, and then if asked, and only if asked, you would inform your partner as to what you saw. It is then up to him to correct his call. If he does correct his call, then the two of you should get together and place the runner(s) on such base(s) so that the defense didn't gain an unfair advantage from the umpire's incorrect call."

Here is the essence of what I originally said: It would be nice to think we can correct all our errors, but I do not see how we can here. Once B/R (or fielder) reacted to UIC's call, I think UIC is stuck with it. The OBR does not contemplate umpire error. As dissatisfying as it is. I think UIC has NO choice but to eat the call, admit he made a mistake. Otherwise, I do not have a clue how to place the runners or who to call out. I said we were then playing fantasy baseball.

Bill responded "We don't live in a perfect world, so you're not going to make everybody happy. However, if a runner is put in jeopardy because of an umpire's error, you can and should do something to correct that error. Maybe I should have said, they should "attempt" to place the runners so that the defense doesn't gain an unfair advantage." He disagreed that we should try to fix it, and said: "Sometimes umpires make mistakes. However, you can't allow either team to gain an unfair advantage as a direct result of that mistake. The reason we are there in the first place is to keep the playing field as level as possible. If you are going to upset the balance of the game, and then not attempt to correct the situation, you might as well have stayed home in the first place."

I said, fine, where do you put the runners? What do you pretend would have happened had UIC not blown it. Was B/R thrown out at 1st? Was R1 thrown out a 2nd? Did F1 throw the ball into right field? You get the point. Bill did not answer.

This has been bugging me. Today I realized my suggestion was not as "clean" as I would like. If the UIC's call stands, R1 is out too. He was "doubled off." Clearly, we can't punish the offense twice. You can easily change the fact any of 100 ways. Anytime an umpire makes an incorrect "catch" call and there are runners on base, mass confusion is not far away. How do you unravel the mess?