Big dog, little dog again

[Gre144]

As the umpire behind the plate you have to make the final decision. You have two choices, your choice or your partner's choice. If you go along with your partner's choice, even though it was the wrong call, you need to stick with that decision. This reminds me of a situation that I had a few days ago. The batter runner is at the plate ready to bat but does not report. The defensive team appeals. PU calls the batter runner out. Offensive coach gets upset. I talk to my parterner and told him that the batter runner became a legal sub upon entering the game. I told him that I was sure but he didn't buy it. So I said to him, "Hey, I will go along with your decision." The end result is that everyone was happy because we got the game going again right away.


In your situation, it sounds like the offensive coach knew the rule. With this in mind, you should have stuck with your decision and said "As the home plate umpire, I will count the score." After making such a statement get the game moving along.(At this point don't even discuss the situation with the base umpire. Just get behind the plate and say play ball.) As an umpire at home plate you are the judge and final arbiter. You must interpret the rules to the best of your ability and live or die with you decisions.

Finally, common sense can go a long ways when you are not sure of a rule interpretation. Let's say the losing team is down by 15 runs. They finally get a score but the other team argues the legitimacy of the score. Should you count the score or not?
I would count the score. Conversely, lets say the winning team scores another run under a controversial situation. Do you count the score or not? I would take the score a way.

Greg

[Edited by Gre144 on Jul 17th, 2001 at 09:55 PM]