Coach requests help mechanic
 

High school game..4th inning 2 outs R1 on third..I'm in C position..ground ball to deep short..long throw- big stretch by 1st..throw beats runner by 1/2 step I bang out runner but have no clue if foot was pulled..infield starts off field.. R1 has peeled off toward his 3rd base dugout without touching home plate...coach requests I get help on pulled foot..PU tells me foot was pulled..I call runner safe..
Questions...what do we do with R1..award him home, return him to 3rd or bang him out for abandoning his base..One can easily see a myriad of potential issues..bottom 7th tying or winning run..other runners on base
We returned R1 to 3rd but heard, shall I say, vigorous arguments from both coaches for awarding home and for banging R1 out for abandoning base.
Both of these arguments have some merit...what is proper procedure?

You can "rectify the situation" or whatever the specific wording is. So -- what would (most likely) have happened if you made the "safe" call originally at first? My guess is that R3 would have touched the plate -- so consider it done.

(If R3 somehow just "assumed" that BR would be out and went toward the dugout, say, 1/2 way down the line, you'd get a different answer.)

I was taught to point to the PU and ask, "Did he hold the bag?" before making the call.
Just make sure you and your partner cover this during your pre game.

What if PU was watching R3 walking toward the dugout? You point at him and he's not even looking at you. Now you both have no clue.

Make a call and then go get help, or at least make it seem like you are.

This is one of the absolute worst mechanics around IMO. At best, it's no better in the end - though a bit more dramatic - than making a call, getting together, and confirming/changing it to get it right. But at it's worst, if PU isn't sure or was watching another runner or just spaced out, it's a disaster in the making.

Why do you have no clue? You started in C, you should've had plenty of time on a ball to deep short to get an angle on the foot.

Some umpires worry so much about how to get help, they don't even talk about working hard so you don't need to.

👍

Yup. On this one, you know the ball is going to first. There's no reason you can't bust across to get to where you need to be.

I came to this site because I thought I might be able to have some intelligent conversation on the problems with the coach's request for help mechanic. Instead, I get mostly inane blather. I'm done with this site.

Umm...you got exactly what you asked for, but feel free not to develop yourself further.

Inane blather?

You had one play to deal with and you likely stood in place after the ball was hit and didn't work to get in position. So now you want to learn how to get your partner to bail you out.

There's no mechanic. You make the call, you call time, you bring your partner into your mess. HTH.

Bob gave you the answer as far as ruling change and rectifying the situation on post #2.

You got the rule in post #2.

You got a couple of different mechanics (call first, then ask; or ask first and then call) in other posts. You won't find one answer for this -- the general assumption is that it won't be needed vary often.

And, you got some advice on minimizing the need for the mechanic above. Heck, I've made calls in this situation from nearly the first base line (well, 1/2 way between the mound and the line) and from the dirt outside the 1b-2b baseline. All going where I needed to go to get out of the way of the throw and to get an angle on the pulled foot.

So, I'd say you got more than you asked for.

I think the phrase you should be looking for is, "Thank you."