I just happened to be home, minding my own business, when I got a call from a local umpire, with a mess to clean up. This is his explanation of the call. I know both crew members, both good young people and umpires who work hard. They are getting a very interesting lesson that will help them in their development. Did I give them the right advice?
OBR: R2, R1, 2 out, 1-2. F2 drops strike 3 and PU calls Batter
out. Defense hears the PU, and leaves the field. Batter and all runners are told to run and they did, and at least R1 and R2 score, maybe even the batter.
Mayhem is what I am hearing over the cell phone, so I am going with what the umpire told me at this point. Looks like we need to do some work in handling situations with our younger umpires
I do hope someone gave them a cell phone to call me with, as opposed to carrying it on the field with them
I repeated back to the caller what he said. I then asked him, "Is the PU changing his call (i.e. F2 did drop the ball)?
"He wants to get the call right (sounds like he changed it to me)."
My response: "If the PU is changing his call to say F2 dropped the ball, then you have caused problems for both the defense and the offense, and the play is over. What you should do is put the batter on 1st base, move up the runners who are forced by the BR to move (making the bases loaded and taking runs off the board), tell both coaches exactly what you are doing and why you are doing what you are doing, and then play ball."
I finished by saying: "Be warned, someone will protest the game (which is okay in this league), and the Commissioner will decide what happens." What I did not tell him is that you will be ejecting at least one coach (more than likely), and dealing with at least one set of mad fans. However, some things must be discovered and experienced w/o warning to be truly learned!
Okay, here is my reasoning: Simply put, at least one person on the crew messed up. The PU admitted he missed a call. If I was the PU in this case, I probably would stick with the out call, and have to eject half the known world, but I digress.
At this point, it is impossible to repair the damage (IMO, if this happened under NCAA, I think this conclusion is also valid, but I could see where a crew would decide to eat the call) so how do you fix things if the call is changed? It is totally legitimate to give 1B to the BR, he ran on a dropped 3rd strike which he is allowed to do. No play was made on him, which is the responsibility of the defense to do.
The umpire in question, however, sold the out call. He vocally called the batter out, and the defense responded appropriately by leaving the field. So the defense is put in jeopardy by the mistake of the PU.
The fly in my solution is obvious; even in FED the rule is clear that both sides are responsible for knowing the situation even if the umpires do not. But, when the PU decided to change his call, even in OBR, you have to get it right.
Comments?