Touch of Bases
 

Had a little goof tonight.

R1 and R2 and batter hits a double scoring both. R2 misses third. I see this from home and BU has his back turned watching the ball, so he doesn't see it.

Coach appeals after play is over and when they throw over, I rule an out- but much to my dismay, BU is signaling safe at the same time.

O coach complains about the double call and BU simply says that he didn't see it, so that's why he was calling safe and said my call was the correct one.


Soooo, how could we have avoided this double call mess?

Proper umpire communication could have helped avoid the "double call"
As I understand-this is BU call not PU call.
BU can ask PU for help if necessary.
IMO: I would rather have "no call" instead of "opposite" calls and have the umpires speak with each other to get call correct.

Sam

I think that the only time that the base umpire should be making a call on this would be the batter/runner's touch of third if there were other runners.

If I am wrong, I think it is barely possible that someone will tell me:D

Joe

pu has all touches at third and home with multiple runners, unless homerun

You understand incorrectly. This is PU's call.

ANOTHER way this double-call could have been avoided is if BU didn't make a "safe" call that he didn't see!

Ditto, almost. PU has all touches of 3B. A HR would be easy for PU to cover touch of 3b.

You are right, but only half right. The base umpire has all touches of third base on the BR, regardless of whether or not there are other runners, unless with no runners he has "gone out" on a ball to right field, in which case the PU has the touch of third.

thanks san diego. you are on the money - as usual.
these are some basic concepts for which we should all be on the same page. since i work with so many different partners i always to try to review touch and tag responsibilities during pregame. secondly, whenever i see an appeal coming i try to make eye contact with my partner and indicate that it is my base or his with a subtle hand signal just to confirm that we are on the same page.
we should all strive to get a handle on basic 2 man mechanics. the PBUC 2 man red book or the CCA mechanics manual are both excellent resources. the FED manual is also ok. while there are minor differences between the different levels, they are all solid mechanics guides.