Delay of game (rebuttal article)

[David Emerling]

I assume, for technical reasons, Carl did not include a videoclip in the article I wrote regarding my rebuttal to his Delay of Game article.

Here is the portion of my article that was edited out:

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Videoclips

Other than the lengthy rituals already discussed, I challenge the notion that having both feet out of the batter's box significantly impacts the progress of the game. I do not think I'm being "disingenuous" in claiming this. After reading Carl's article, I had already made up my mind to write a rebuttal. But first, I had to attend my twin sons' JV high school game. I took my digital camera with a mission – not only to watch my sons play, but to pay particularly close attention to the batters and their mannerisms at the plate. I'll let the reader be the judge as to whether any of these batters warranted an admonishment from the umpire. If so, how much time would that take?

All of the batters in these five clips exit the batter's box after taking a pitch without any of the listed exceptions in FED 7-3-1 applying. Each clip represents a different at-bat. The behavior of these batters typified what I saw throughout the game. They were not unique in any way. The first clip provides the lengthiest "delay" but that is completely due to the coach's lengthy signalling. Play cannot commence until that process is over, whether the batter has one or two feet out of the batter's box. When the coach completes the signals, the batter promptly steps into the box and is ready. It is hard to imagine that this has delayed the game.

Watch the catcher in many of these clips. He's seldom ready any sooner than the batter.

Notice the home plate umpire doesn't seem to be bothered by it all. I'm guessing he has bigger fish to fry. I couldn't agree more.

Here's the link to the videoclip: http://emerling22.com/baseball_videos/delay.avi

It's slightly over 7 megs, so you dial-up people will have to be patient.

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David Emerling
Memphis, TN