[Carl Childress]

Originally Posted by UMP25

MLB Umpires are humans. Consequently, they make mistakes. Case in point: I was at Tuesday's (July 24) White Sox game. In the middle of the game with no outs and the bases empty, a sinking fly ball was hit to the right fielder's left. He came running diagonally toward the right field line, diving to make the catch. On this play, both U1 and U2 went out on it! That's right--TWO MLB Umpires went out on a fly ball when only one should have. In this case, it was clearly U1's call.

What made it worse was that each umpire made the opposite call. U2, who had the worse of the two angles, called it an out, while U1 ruled it safe (in an admittedly weak signal, too). Well, all 4 umpires huddled in the middle of the infield for about a minute, and the came out of the meeting ruling it an out. This was an obvious screw-up all around. My friend with whom I went to the game, a fellow umpire, looked at me and asked, "What just happened?" I told him, "We just saw MLB Umpires messing up. They're just as human as we are."

BTW, replays showed that the ball had clearly hit the ground before F9 gloved it. It was a trap. U1's original call was, in fact, the correct one. I don't know what those guys said in their brief huddle, but U2 was definitely not in the best angle for making that call. As a Sox fan, I could have been pissed, but I wasn't, because I realize even MLB Umps make mistakes, despite the fact that some here think they never do.

I can illustrate why they accepted U2's call by quoting from MY NEW BOOK, 151 Ways to Ruin a Baseball Game.

One of the ugliest photographs ever taken of umpires in action shows one umpire making one call while another umpire is making the opposite call. Two calls on one play. Our golden knights in shining armor were John Kibler calling “out” and the former supervisor of umpires for the National League, Ed Vargo, calling “safe.” Those guys make my partner and me look like pikers who were just pretending to be incompetent.

When I spoke to John about his play in September 2000, he told me he had a painting of “part” of the picture in his living room. “Carl,” he said, laughing, “the artist cut Eddie out.”

Play 54: Bill Sudakis (Dodgers) lifts a little Texas leaguer behind the shortstop. F6 chases the ball, the second baseman chases the ball, and John Kibler, the second-base umpire, chases the play. The pop fly falls safely, and Sudakis continues unchecked around first. Third baseman Mike Shannon (Cardinals) realizes nobody is covering second, so he figures he’d better guard the base. It’s a foot race between Shannon and Sudakis.

Kibler looks up and sees nobody in blue at second. Major league mechanics were clear: When the second-base umpire stays out, the first-base umpire goes with the batter-runner to second. Suddenly Vargo wakes up, and realizes he’s still at first. Now there’s a second foot race, this one between Kibler and Vargo though neither realizes the other is under way. Four grown men will wind up, breathing hard, at one bag. A photographer snaps their picture, and their places in baseball legend are secure.

Manager Walter Alston confronts Al Barlick, the plate umpire. “What do we do now, Al? I don’t know who to cuss.”
Ruling for Play 54: Barlick says: “Walter, it’s John’s base, and we’re going with his call.” Though Alston lost the decision, John told me Walter left the field without an argument.

In your play: Using MLU mechanics, it's U2's call unless F9 is charging toward the foul line. The crew thought: U2 is already out, and game personnel are accustomed to seeing him make most calls in the outfield. You yourself said U1's signal was "tentative." Clearly they knew they were screwed, so, like Barlick, they said: "It's U2's field, so ...."