Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeStrybel
For what it's worth, while I was gone I ran into a guy who worked one of the recent Olympics baseball series. I was used to calling the "ball" and saying "no, he didn't" as emphasis. He taught me to abandon that mechanic because few things look worse than a PU being assertive in proclaiming the batter did not strike at the pitch on to hear, "yes, he did!" a second after he points down for help. I learned a valuable lesson that day and maybe this mechanic will wind up working its way into my games sooner than not.
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I agree it looks bad when BU overturns an assertive "no he didn't." I still like the mechanic however, but I only use it when I am certain the batter did not offer, and only when I am working with a competent and trusted partner.
"No he didn't" tells everyone I saw that checked swing and the batter did not offer. My partner had better have seen the end of the bat before he overturns it, and if he did, then I had no business selling it in the first place. This is not a secret signal arrangement - I will always tell my partner to give me what he had on any check swing appeal.
It's PU's job to get that call. Of course there are times when PU really does need help (basically when his view is blocked), but those times are relatively rare. If PU is doing his job, 90%+ of all check swing appeals will remain balls.