[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Jim Porter
[B]
Quote:
Originally posted by Hayes Davis
Quote:
Originally posted by Warren Willson
Personally, Mark, I would treat this the same as Umpire's Interference, which is the nearest rule that you could apply. The umpire interfered verbally with the true course of play.
Cheers,
Warren Willson
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It is a fair, equitable, and smart way to handle such a decision. Warren's advice is right on the money.
What would your solution be to the posted situation? How you would you handle it? Would it be different from Warren's? Please explain how and why.
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Jim,
I'll disagree with Warren here. I can't go along with umpire interference - B/R on first, R1 on second. DJWickham, in my opinion, is the one who got it right - B/R is out, R1 at second.
I believe this situation is closer to the umpire who calls a fair ball foul than it is to umpire's interference. Only the B/R reacted to the umpire's call. Everyone else continued as if there had been no call. And who knows for sure that the B/R reacted to the umpire. Perhaps he stopped running because the ball had been fielded by F1 and he figured he was a dead duck.
If you go back to the original post you'll see that F1 made the throw to first. That the B/R stopped running only made the play less urgent. But the defense made the proper play and should get the out. No presumption here - the throw was made. The question became more of what to do with R1, who advanced to 2nd. If - and only if - the defense comes out asking for the double-up at first base, will you have any serious discussion. And I can't see that happening because they all know it was a grounder, not a caught pop-up.
You are more likely to get a squawk from the offense bench that the B/R stopped running because of the early call. In that case the discussion will have to go something along the lines of "My bad, too bad. Let's play." (Add your own colorful, imaginative language as you see fit.)
Beyond that, you have all the "What if's ...?" What if the play went to second instead, what if the throw went into right field, what if ..., what if ...? Each has its own answer.
In my opinion, the REAL question in this scenario is, "Why in heck is the plate umpire yelling any call at all on [what he thinks is] a pop-up to the pitcher?" Don't we usually let that one call itself?
Thom
Member UT
[Edited by Thom Coste on Oct 29th, 2000 at 05:46 AM]