In 1998 I attended the Lone Star Umpire Camp, instructed by Jon Bible. After attending this 3 day camp, I too subscribe to the theory that all umpires on the field are responsible for getting the calls right. Yes, it is the primary responsibility of the plate man to get foul balls off the batters body. But if I am working the bags and am 110% sure the batter was hit I will kill it regardless.
Jon and his staff mentioned two other thought processes to consider:
When formulating your decision is the batter/runner acting like he was hit immediately or not.
If you call foul immediately, you have only a strike on the batter, for all intents and purposes a do-over. If you let the bastard play continue, you will have a controversy from one side or the other and probably the shitty end of the stick.
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Thu Feb 22, 2001, 07:48pm
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