Quote:
Originally Posted by Eastshire
I'm not saying that it's inherently careless to throw the bat at the pitch in an effort to hit it. Your description would be an instance of were it clearly wasn't careless. On the other hand, if the bat does go flying into the dugout or goes backwards into where the catcher can legally, and reasonably expected to, be, his legitimate attempt to hit the ball does not excuse the careless throwing of the bat.
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Not quite sure how the location of where the bat ends up, has anything to do with the determination of whether a bat was "carelessly" thrown or not. Why are we insistent on saying that things that are not specifically covered by the Rules, are therefore wrong or illegal. As officials we need to stick to enforcement of the rules as they exist and are interpreted. Making it up, just causes problems.
Eg: I am doing a game the other day and R3 is coming home and does not slide. The catcher is on 1B side of plate and receives a low throw from right side of field. Reaches over and tags R3 around the ankle, causing him to flip/trip over the catcher. Two players, playing within the rules and just not executing the plays normal with good baseball techniques. My partner ejects R3 for malicious contact. The coaches question the call. I am not asked to get involved and don't.
It is obvious that it looked malicious to my partner and he made the call but, I don't believe his interpretation of the rules were consistent with "malicious contact" and therefore because something unusual happened, he felt he had to react with a ruling, that I believe was incorrect.
Sometimes you just have to umpire.