Catcher hurt......do you kill the play?

[Dave Hensley]

Originally posted by Tim C
I have catchers that get hit (seriously) rather often. I never stop the play. When play is done I always stop the action and give F2 time to recoop!

I would not have even considered stopping the play on this example. Guess that make me join the minority also.

Please increment the minority count by one more.

[Rich]

Originally posted by Dave Hensley

Please increment the minority count by one more.

And one more.

[mcrowder]

Guess it was just the early-risers stopping play on this.

[chris s]

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser

And one more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And one more.........

[largeone59]

I'd say always error on the side of safety. Liability reprocussions could insue.

[mcrowder]

I see your point in extreme circumstances.

But who's safety are you worried about here. Catcher's already hurt. Killing the play doesn't heal him faster. I'd almost say that killing the play too early can have as much a negative effect on safety as not killing the play. You kill a play that is still apparently live, and you run the risk of having half of the players think it's live, and the rest not paying attention - this could cause further injury as well.

There are cases of injury where I would kill the ball. This one is not even close to being one of them.

[jicecone]

I can care less what hell poll you guys are taking here and even care less than that, what side I'm on. I will repeat what I said before though, if a player's injury, (IN MY OPINION), is serious enough to kill the play, I WILL DO IT EVERY TIME.

Rut, if thats what you did and felt it was right for you then it was the right call. A cather that takes a ball to the throat could, or could not be a serious injury. And if there are officials out there that treat the game as being more important than the health of the players, especially at the HS level, then your not worth the weight of your ball bags.

[officialtony]

I still consider this a " game " of baseball and not a real life n death serious circumstance. It's a game. If someone gets hurt, stop play, make sure they are OK, and continue to play the " game ". If my life depended on continuing action or face death, I would continue play until all action ceased.
I reiterate - it is a " game " of baseball. Where are we placing priorities of importance? Whether some guys gets an extra base or whether a young athlete is hurt ( maybe seriously - who am I to judge that ? ) leaves me little choice in my decision. Stop play.
Just my humble opinion.

[Tim C]

Aren't some of us being overly dramatic.

I would not kill the play.

[DG]

I have never seen a play where a few seconds made any difference in the extent of an injury. I saw the worst case of ball off the bat to the pitcher's head this Spring in a HS scrimmage game. Runner on 1B at the time. The new umpires working this game let play continue until the 1b man picked up the ball and runner seeing this stopped at 2B. 3-4 seconds, tops. This guy was not unconscious and I don't understand how. The delay before he could be helped off the field was about 10 minutes. I thought the new umps did a good job.

[Tim C]

Most of us would agree with you.

[cbfoulds]

Originally posted by largeone59
I'd say always error on the side of safety. Liability reprocussions could insue.

No liability issues here.

Maybe HTBT, but I'm also one who would not have killed the play as described.

Had a sitch similar to DG's in a Legion game last summer: F1 poleaxed by a shot just above his rt. eye & toward the ear; the ball fell about where you'd stand in the C position.
Fielders standing around shocked, concerned about F1; R1 stopped at 2d. Both umps verbalized [not shouting, but loud enough]: "Pick up the ball!"
As soon as the ball was under D control, THEN we called Time. Coaches already on the way out, play killed well before they reached the foul line: NO delay in getting help for the injured player - but also no premature killing of the play, either.

[largeone59]

Originally posted by DG
I have never seen a play where a few seconds made any difference in the extent of an injury. I saw the worst case of ball off the bat to the pitcher's head this Spring in a HS scrimmage game. Runner on 1B at the time. The new umpires working this game let play continue until the 1b man picked up the ball and runner seeing this stopped at 2B. 3-4 seconds, tops. This guy was not unconscious and I don't understand how. The delay before he could be helped off the field was about 10 minutes. I thought the new umps did a good job.

I feel this play would be a bit different. I think a shot to the throat would necessitate an immediate kill of the play. What if the ball collapsed something in his throat and he was choking? THEN the extra seconds are important.

JMHO on that. I personally would error on the side of safety if i wasn't sure. If he was hit anywhere else, i don't think i would kill it.... except maybe the eye (like when my buddy hit a line drive back to the pitcher and the pitcher actually lost an eyeball. like it came out of the socket. true story, but that's another day, another discussion).

[Dave Hensley]

Originally posted by jicecone
I can care less what hell poll you guys are taking here and even care less than that, what side I'm on. I will repeat what I said before though, if a player's injury, (IN MY OPINION), is serious enough to kill the play, I WILL DO IT EVERY TIME.

Rut, if thats what you did and felt it was right for you then it was the right call. A cather that takes a ball to the throat could, or could not be a serious injury. And if there are officials out there that treat the game as being more important than the health of the players, especially at the HS level, then your not worth the weight of your ball bags.

Your opinion is duly noted. What justifies the insult ("not worth the weight of your ball bags") to those who see the issue differently?

[DG]

Originally posted by largeone59

I feel this play would be a bit different. I think a shot to the throat would necessitate an immediate kill of the play. What if the ball collapsed something in his throat and he was choking? THEN the extra seconds are important.

JMHO on that. I personally would error on the side of safety if i wasn't sure. If he was hit anywhere else, i don't think i would kill it.... except maybe the eye (like when my buddy hit a line drive back to the pitcher and the pitcher actually lost an eyeball. like it came out of the socket. true story, but that's another day, another discussion).

He is walking toward the dugout, for whatever help might be there. If a few seconds makes a difference there will not be enough help in the dugout for him. I might call time if I saw somebody get spiked and a geyser of blood was spurting out. But then again playing action is probably over already.

I had one last week, a runner is sliding into 3B on a close play lost his helmet, and the ball got away. So now he jumps up and heads for home, 3B man retrieves the ball and is throwing home for another close play, and I am thinking "this sum***** is going to get hit in the head". What would you do?