Quote:
Originally Posted by easygoer
Objectively, it seems much more likely that the throw was offline: that's far, far more common than offensive teammates going onto the field during play.
If the throw were up the line I wouldn't have had a problem, I know the difference. It seems as if there is a presumption of guilt, and lack of objectivity by some of the posters. There are coaches who can be objective and listen to reason, just like there are umpires who will do the same. I was in no way rude to the umpire, I asked my question, he gave the answer and we moved on. The fact that I thought he was incorrect lead me here for additional clarification. I admitted to him on the spot that I did not know the specific rule that applied to this situation, it just seemed wrong. While I am certain I have not seen or coached as many games, as many of you on this board have seen or officiated, in the ones I have seen, I had never seen anything like this play that happened in this game. And the explanation that "he just scored" did not seem to do it justice.
Thanks for your help,
Popcorn
p.s. I have never been run in a baseball game, once in a basketball game, but thats a whole different story.
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The same scenario was discussed in the summer. The ball hit the bat held by the ODH and sailed into DBT. Most of the umps agreed to award R1 and B/R 2 bases for a ball thrown out of play. Sounds crazy, I know. Now it appears that no one read your OP before discussing the same ruling that was presented this summer.
After many pages on that old thread, the person who started the thread twisted the throw near the plate area to one that was offline drawing the catcher away from the plate. It occurs all the time around here. Apparently, this was enough to substantiate the no interference ruling for a large group of umpires on this website. Contact by offensive coach, player, and other authorized field personnel with a bad throw is grounds for a NO interference ruling.
I tried to point out that it may also have been ruled interference based of ODH's indifference to the play at the plate. The ODH's actions alone may have led to the interefence with a play at the plate. If one feels the ODH had a responsibility to avoid contact with a thrown ball that was live and in play (similar to a runner's obligation to avoid a live batted ball), he might agree with me. I stated this may also apply to basecoaches outside the coaching box. But the opinion of the board of directors was to treat the offensive personnnel as "part of the field" and ignore the obvious interference with any "thrown" ball.
I did want to point out that the defense did miss a play on a fly ball. Evans and Roder have a difference of opinion on the play and provide a different umpire interpretation as far as base awards from the Wendelstedt group and others here who support NO interference. I'll exit the discussion at this point.