Tough call at 1st...Say Goodbye to another Asst. Coach

[Rich]

Originally Posted by nickrego

I think you better be able to see it, or don't work anything other than a 4 man crew, so you can sit in a lawn chair at your base and make your calls.

Rotation ? What rotation ? I need to be 6' from my call, or I can't make it ?

You do the best you can. 2-man is a series of compromises.

If you would bet your life and/or career on the call you made in the OP even with a camera pointed right at the base and instant replay for the world to see, then I'd support your call.

If not, you should've called the runner safe. Benefit of the doubt, ANY doubt, should definitely go to the runner on this play.

[nickrego]

Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser

You do the best you can. 2-man is a series of compromises.

If you would bet your life and/or career on the call you made in the OP even with a camera pointed right at the base and instant replay for the world to see, then I'd support your call.

If not, you should've called the runner safe. Benefit of the doubt, ANY doubt, should definitely go to the runner on this play.

Fair enough.

Let me add two things;

1) On this play, the runner came in slow enough that I am very confident in what I saw. But I guess that doesn't mean it is what I should have called, because I do believe in calling the expected call, at the right time.

2) Me personally...When a runner comes back to the base standing up, rather than hustling in with a hard dive, if the play is close, I bang them them out. No rule to support this. Just my way of making a decision on a close play.

[3appleshigh]

You continue to give this call to the 1st baseman, you might as well get out the first aid kit now. With metal spikes on I would coach my kids to make sure the 1st baseman PAID for the OUT, you wanna block the bag, fine, but your gonna bleed as I step throught the top of your foot. I'm gonna reach first your foot there or not.

[Kaliix]

Exactly right. These things have a way of taking care of themselves. I had a kid I know complain about this very thing to me (not at a game) and I told him that if the first baseman tries to block the bag with his foot, go hard into the bag feet first. I told him not to try and intentionally hurt the kid (ie spikes up high or wind up into the slide), but to just slide hard into the bag and if you have to go through his foot to get to the bag, so be it.

There is a reason that 1st baseman don't block the bag with their foot or leg. It is bush league and will get you hurt. IMHO

Originally Posted by 3appleshigh

You continue to give this call to the 1st baseman, you might as well get out the first aid kit now. With metal spikes on I would coach my kids to make sure the 1st baseman PAID for the OUT, you wanna block the bag, fine, but your gonna bleed as I step throught the top of your foot. I'm gonna reach first your foot there or not.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by 3appleshigh

You continue to give this call to the 1st baseman, you might as well get out the first aid kit now. With metal spikes on I would coach my kids to make sure the 1st baseman PAID for the OUT, you wanna block the bag, fine, but your gonna bleed as I step throught the top of your foot. I'm gonna reach first your foot there or not.

I wholeheartedly agree. I was not arguing in favor of F3's positioning. I would stomp on his foot just as hard as I could get away with, if I were the runner. But the fact is that the runner should be diving back on such a close play, and could have easily gotten his hand back on the base in time. I tend not to reward bad baserunning as a general rule of thumb.

[LMan]

Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser

If not, you should've called the runner safe. Benefit of the doubt, ANY doubt, should definitely go to the runner on this play.

Yep. Unless the throw beat the runner so badly that Grandma in the cheap seats saw it, the runner is safe every time.