No Catcher

[brainbrian]

Can a team play without a catcher?

I know it wouldn't be very smart with two strikes or with any runners on base, but could their catcher play the field?

[UmpJM]

brainbrian,

I believe that a team must play with exactly one catcher.

Reference:

"4.03
When the ball is put in play at the start of, or during a game, all fielders other than the catcher shall be on fair territory. (a) The catcher shall station himself directly back of the plate. He may leave his position at any time to catch a pitch or make a play except that when the batter is being given an intentional base on balls, the catcher must stand with both feet within the lines of the catcher's box until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. PENALTY: Balk. (b) The pitcher, while in the act of delivering the ball to the batter, shall take his legal position; (c) Except the pitcher and the catcher, any fielder may station himself anywhere in fair territory; ..."

JM

[rickfriedmann]

Not sure that reference requires one of the players to catch. However, it sure makes for interesting ball four situations. For that matter, every strikeout will be a free ride to first for the batter. To say nothing of stealing second AND third on the first pitch after a base hit. Of course, that no-catcher deal could be what Wilson intended when they developed the Platinum!
Come to think about it, pitcher better RUN in to grab the ball after each pitch or else his 20 seconds (FED) will run out cause I'M not throwing the ball back to him.

[orioles35]

Wasn't there some manager who proposed not playing with a catcher, stating "the pitches could just bounce off the umpire".

Shoot, I'm target practice enough some games. They aren't as much catchers, as they are "chasers".

[brainbrian]

Well, of course you wouldn't do it with runners or with two strikes, but possibly in the final inning of a tie game with a good hitter coming up or something, it definetly wouldn't hurt to have an extra fielder. Like how every once in a while a team will play with two outfielders and five infielders for a batter.

Or you could do it to get to get back at the umpire for a bad call.

Thanks guys.

[jicecone]

Originally posted by brainbrian
Well, of course you wouldn't do it with runners or with two strikes, but possibly in the final inning of a tie game with a good hitter coming up or something, it definetly wouldn't hurt to have an extra fielder. Like how every once in a while a team will play with two outfielders and five infielders for a batter.

Or you could do it to get to get back at the umpire for a bad call.

Thanks guys.

At first I thought your question was , well, STUPID.

Now I am convinced it wasn't your question at all.

Brainbrian, or lack of brainbrian.

[scyguy]

FED 4-1-5 "The game begins when the umpire calls play after all infielders, pitcher, catcher and batter are in posisiton to start the game".

FED 5-1-4 "After a dead ball, the ball becomes alive when it is held by the pitcher in a legal pitching position, provided the pitcher has engaged the pitcher's plate, the batter and the catcher are in their respective boxes ...

So, we cannot start without a catcher and we cannot put ball back in play without a catcher.

I don't think it would ever come up in a FED game and if it did, I would not allow it.

Being a fellow Missouri umpire I will refrain from any insulting comments.

[brainbrian]

Nope, sorry boys. I'm a basketball referee. I umpired little league ball for a season and was terrible, so I stopped. Basketball is my true passion, haha. I just had a question.

One of my great baseball calls was bases loaded, batter hits the ball to an infielder who throws home and the catcher catches the ball standing on the plate for the force out. Then the player slides in and touches the plate, I call safe thinking the catcher didn't tag him.

Another time I yelled "out" but threw my arms straight out for the safe sign on a call at first.

And my strike zone... it varied from pitch to pitch.

I'll leave the baseball umpiring to you pros. So feel free to bring on the insulting comments, I'm sure their quite funny actually and I like to chuckle.

[pob14]

When the brand new Mets drafted non-immortal Hobie Landreth to be their first player ever, Casey Stengel said, "You have to have a catcher, because if you don't, you're likely to have a lot of passed balls."

[ozzy6900]

Originally posted by brainbrian
Can a team play without a catcher?

I know it wouldn't be very smart with two strikes or with any runners on base, but could their catcher play the field?

Actually, as opposed to others, I think that it is a very good question!

The answer is:

The umpire can't even start the game. F1 (with ball in hand) along with F2 and the batter must be in position for the umpire to put the ball in play. So if I ever ran into that situation, I'd just stand around homp plate for a bit then walk off with my cash!

[TBBlue]

Originally posted by brainbrian
Nope, sorry boys. I'm a basketball referee. I umpired little league ball for a season and was terrible, so I stopped. Basketball is my true passion, haha. I just had a question.

One of my great baseball calls was bases loaded, batter hits the ball to an infielder who throws home and the catcher catches the ball standing on the plate for the force out. Then the player slides in and touches the plate, I call safe thinking the catcher didn't tag him.

Another time I yelled "out" but threw my arms straight out for the safe sign on a call at first.

And my strike zone... it varied from pitch to pitch.

I'll leave the baseball umpiring to you pros. So feel free to bring on the insulting comments, I'm sure their quite funny actually and I like to chuckle.

Nice stories.
I don't think these guys will insult you. You tried, you realized it wasn't for you, you admitted it here, and gave us some of your humorous mistakes. From what I have read over time, insults are saved for guys who don't realize they don't know something, but insist they know it anyway.

[brainbrian]

Originally posted by TBBlue
Nice stories.
I don't think these guys will insult you. You tried, you realized it wasn't for you, you admitted it here, and gave us some of your humorous mistakes. From what I have read over time, insults are saved for guys who don't realize they don't know something, but insist they know it anyway.

Thanks guys.

Take it easy over here, I'm back to the basketball forum.

[Matthew F]

Originally posted by scyguy
FED 4-1-5 "The game begins when the umpire calls play after all infielders, pitcher, catcher and batter are in posisiton to start the game".

FED 5-1-4 "After a dead ball, the ball becomes alive when it is held by the pitcher in a legal pitching position, provided the pitcher has engaged the pitcher's plate, the batter and the catcher are in their respective boxes ...

So, we cannot start without a catcher and we cannot put ball back in play without a catcher.

The above rules cover making the ball live, but do not dictate what the catcher is allowed to do after that.

FED 6-1-1 states what the position of the catcher shall be at the time of the pitch... "The catcher shall have both feet in the catcher's box at the time of the pitch". This pretty much eliminates the catcher from becoming a fielder, since such action would be inherently dangerous.

[scyguy]

correct Matthew, good one.