Legal Tag?

[WhatWuzThatBlue]

This is not an out on a tag.

I forget the name of the catcher ( I believe it was Evans of the Braves a few years back), but the same thing happened. A play at the plate, the ball gets bobbled and the glove goes out instinctively followed by the hand grasping the ball. The catcher's mitt separated the ball from the player. It was a great (albeit difficult) call to make.

Sure, the player has secured possession of the ball. But just like the run down play that has a player barehand a ball and tag the runner with the empty glove, the runner is not out by tag.

I'd hate to have to make this call and luckily have never seen it happen. But, I know that it was the player who made the mistake. Those are the ones who get penalized.

[fmsc]

I have a couple of questions for those who wouldn't consider this a tag. First ,is it a tag if the ball is secured in the bare hand and placed "inside" an unclosed glove while tagging with the glove? I really doubt that many would say no tag. So, where are the boundaries of the legal surface(s) of a glove for the ball to be placed against that will make for a legal tag? Maybe all fielder's who might tag runners should be required to use 2 tone gloves to make these calls a little easier.
Until then, as long as ball is secure and held to any part of the glove during tag I'm calling it a legal tag.

[bwbuddy]

For the record, the umpire called safe, explained quickly to the defense, and no argument was made.

[WhatWuzThatBlue]

Originally Posted by fmsc

I have a couple of questions for those who wouldn't consider this a tag. First ,is it a tag if the ball is secured in the bare hand and placed "inside" an unclosed glove while tagging with the glove? I really doubt that many would say no tag. So, where are the boundaries of the legal surface(s) of a glove for the ball to be placed against that will make for a legal tag? Maybe all fielder's who might tag runners should be required to use 2 tone gloves to make these calls a little easier.
Until then, as long as ball is secure and held to any part of the glove during tag I'm calling it a legal tag.

Fair enough...you and a few others would be making a bad call, but it's your call to make.

The rule book is abundantly clear about what constitutes an out by tag. This is not one of them.

[TussAgee11]

Originally Posted by WhatWuzThatBlue

Fair enough...you and a few others would be making a bad call, but it's your call to make.

The rule book is abundantly clear about what constitutes an out by tag. This is not one of them.

Correct, although if you are the umpire who makes the obvious call, and goes by things such as the tag was down, etc... then he's out.

Not bashing that form of umpiring, although I don't agree with it.

TECHNICALLY, he's safe, based off the definition of the tag I outlined above

[Carbide Keyman]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

Correct, although if you are the umpire who makes the obvious call, and goes by things such as the tag was down, etc... then he's out.

Not bashing that form of umpiring, although I don't agree with it.

TECHNICALLY, he's safe, based off the definition of the tag I outlined above

Depends on how "obvious" it is, and how much of a sh!tstorm you want to endure, I guess



Doug

[nickrego]

Call the out.

It's like not calling a pitch that passes through the strike zone, but gets past the catcher and ends up at the backstop a strike. Everybody thinks its a ball, so we call it a ball.

Same thing here. Everybody thinks its an out, so call it an out. You will see this type of tag many more times in your career.

[LMan]

Originally Posted by nickrego

Call the out.

It's like not calling a pitch that passes through the strike zone, but gets past the catcher and ends up at the backstop a strike. Everybody thinks its a ball, so we call it a ball.

Same thing here. Everybody thinks its an out, so call it an out. You will see this type of tag many more times in your career.

Oh thanks, nick, you just summoned the 'spirit of NIUmp50' to come and dispute you