Old Time Religion - Judgement Calls

[Ump20]

I am not sure that any of these “classics” will convince readers about the illegality of changing your judgment calls nor the finality of foul ball calls past first-base but I’ll offer them for consideration:

(1) Base Umpire Mechanics (excerpt from NASO’s It’s Official April 1996)

Pulled foot, swipe tag, dead ball. “In the rare situations when you need help on a pulled foot or swipe tag at first, get help from your plate umpire before you make a call. A capable base umpire will get his own calls. This is especially true if you are on the same side of the diamond as the call…”

(2) Judgment Calls Are Final (excerpt from Referee Magazine November 1992)

“Any umpire’s decision which involves judgment…is final (Fed 10-1-3, NCAA 3-6f, OBR 9.02a) Those simple words mean exactly what they say. The result: When the umpire announces a judgment decision by rule the call cannot be changed…

Umpires who want to change judgment calls often justify the changes by referring to pro rules 9.02b and c )(or similar rules in other books). Those rules say, in part, that if there is reasonable doubt that an umpire’s decision may be in conflict the umpire making the original call may ask another umpire for information, then the original umpire will make a final decision. That’s a nice rule, but it does not apply to the above play. Why? Because there is no conflict with the rules. The base umpire judged that the defensive team did retire the batter-runner. There is no information another umpire could offer (such as the ball was dropped by the fielder out of the base ump’s field of view) that was not available to the base umpire. Jim Simms/ NY

NASO is National Association of Sports Officials. It’s Official is now part of the monthly Referee Magazine.