May this ball Rest in Peace - he was a good ball, always round and up for a good hit
The explanation I have heard is that the proper call for a batter hit by their own batted ball is "Dead Ball." Not foul ball but dead - the reason being that a portion of the batter's box is in fair territory... The ball may have settled in fair territory... Kill the play and then follow-up with explanation of why and make the appropriate final call of either Foul (batter was in the box) or Batter is Out (batter was out of the box).
The 'Dead' versus 'Time' debate is slightly humorous. I know clinicians get a kick out of doing a little play acting and I can just see several of them gathered around a motionless ball with their hats over their hearts and one, or several of them, down on one knee mimicking a prayerful countenance.
This crap is somewhat entertaining but it also pokes fun at the umpire that called Dead rather than Time.
In my opinion... Time is how I release myself from future action as I regain my proper position behind the plate. TIME is a call made when there is no action occurring. (You don't yell time as a prelude to an interference call, or when the ball is thrown into dead ball territory, etc.)DEAD BALL is a call made to stop further playing action - some action is happening, we are going to stop, and there will be no further playing action. If this line of thought is correct, then the proper call is Dead Ball... not Time.
I'm not a clinician... yet. Perhaps there is some other reason to use Time. ???
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"There are no superstar calls. We don't root for certain teams. We don't cheat. But sometimes we just miss calls." - Joe Crawford
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