In Pete Booth's last post in his thread regarding "ejections" he finished by discussing the need for uniformity among officials. Pete indicated lack of uniformity in ejecting while seemingly accepting that there is uniformity in APPLICATION of the rules. I don't necessarily agree.
He also offered a challenge to come up with another thread that could be well discussed.
I offer the following as a question I posed to Carl in his column on another board. He chose to stay away from it for some reason. I know there are others out there who, to some degree, feel similar as I do. I have seen posts indicating such.
Is this anything anyone wishes to discuss, or is it something I only see in my own mind? Does it happen elsewhere?
PREVIOUS POST:
"I suspect or at least hope most users are here to further knowledge by learning from the some of the best (or at least the respected). After review of many situations and postings, etc it is obvious many know their rules and how to apply them.
Unfortunately, in my locale I have seen many, especially those who advance upward and know the rules and interpretations (because they are the teachers) fail to apply them in the games.
Great examples include batter interference, R2 doing the mambo in front of F6 on a ground ball, pickoff attempts with F6 or F3 kneeling or blocking the bag yet barely being able to reach the ball, and BR's running OBVIOUSLY fair causing F3 to abandon base on throws that are reachable but off toward home---to name just a few.
We've all seen these plays.
These officials AVOID THE CONTROVERSIAL CALLS and sell the no-call instead. I have seen those calls ignored despite post-play complaints by players and coaches. Later, some of the umps have referred to that type play as "good baseball" and to "just let the players play". Plays like this are supported by Pro actions such as the Knoblauch no call several years ago in the LCS, Pudge Rodriguez busting a thumb on Mo Vaughn (you never saw UIC call interference?), and fan interference on a fly ball in Yankee Stadium with Richie Garcia in perfect position to make the call. Not to mention Clemens throwing a bat remnant at a runner (how many of you would have had Clemens remain in your game??). OOPS, I guess I mentioned it. When you think about it, these OCCURRENCES happen far less at the Pro level.
I feel at the Fed level especially, the coaches tend to condone or at least live with that "no-call" as part of the game. Resultantly, that TYPE of play festers. I think there are very few Fed games you'll see where one of those listed techniques will not be attempted (not necessarily successful). Those officials who have the guts to make the "fair" call end up in controversy--------ultimately slowing down their progression upward or getting scratched.
Wouldn't consistency among officials, vs. hypocrisy, lead to a much better game as it was meant to be."
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Now, gentlemen, I am not talking about booger pickin', but I am talking about enforcing the rules that I have seen discussed on these boards for several months. I feel the fear of getting scratched or being evaluated negatively because of involvement in a more controversial play (other than ball/strike, fair/foul, safe/out) leads to lack of uniformity on the field. Unfortunate as it may seem, I have seen the instructors bypass such calls in their games. Certainly it could be MY judgement may not be the same at THEIRS, but some of these incidents resulting in no-calls could have been seen from Cleveland (and weren't called). Most of us saw the Pro plays referenced. Maybe my judgement is off there also, but I felt they epidomize the improper no-call. I, needless to say, would have made a differnet call in those Pro plays. With the exception of Garcia's call, I saw the others as both obvious and flagrant.
Anyone care to discuss?
[Edited by Bfair on Dec 28th, 2000 at 12:35 PM]
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