Calling Time Out

[tibear]

I always call time whenever I do something like clean the plate.

I've seen the situation where the umpire doesn't call time and cleans the plate. Everyone relaxes and is waiting for the umpire to finish and the runners are walking non-chalantly back to the base when the pitcher picks them off. Of course the arguement ensues that the umpire was cleaning the plate and that time was called.

The PU then says time wasn't called and that the play was live. So the out counts. Then all hell breaks out because you have the runner and his manager who is all over the PU for doing something where they think he should have called time and the PU insisting that he doesn't have to call time.

If your worried about F2 going for a conference as you bend to clean, simply tell him not to go because your done in 2 seconds.

I think its best to call time and then there is no problem.

Quickly:
1) Call Time out.
2) Clean plate, Clean Glasses or whatever.
3) Call Time in with a "Let's Go" or something to indicate you want them to go quickly.

Should take no more then 5 seconds.

[BigTex]

Originally Posted by tibear

Quickly:
1) Call Time out.
2) Clean plate, Clean Glasses or whatever.
3) Call Time in with a "Let's Go" or something to indicate you want them to go quickly.

Should take no more then 5 seconds.

By rule, you cannot call "time in" until the pitcher has taken his place on the rubber and the batter is ready in the box. Whenever you call "TIME," you should have "TIME" for more than 5 seconds. If you give an informal "time in" and then the pitcher (who may be standing behind the mound) fires to first, and someone calls an out.....stand-by for a sh!thouse.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by tibear

I think its best to call time and then there is no problem.

Quickly:
1) Call Time out.
2) Clean plate, Clean Glasses or whatever.
3) Call Time in with a "Let's Go" or something to indicate you want them to go quickly.

Should take no more then 5 seconds.

1. Umpires don't call "time in", they put the ball in play.
2. Putting the ball in play requires that the pitcher has the ball and is on the rubber, the batter, catcher and umpire are ready.
3. Don't ever clean your glasses during an inning.
4. 5 seconds? The umpire would like a Monty Python sketch.

[tibear]

Originally Posted by GarthB

3. Don't ever clean your glasses during an inning.

You've never had sweat running down the middle of your lens????
How can you possibly wait until the end of the inning, you can't see anything!


Yes, I realize the pitcher has to be on the mound to call "Play". Usually when I clean the plate it is just after a hit and the plate has needed a brush for a while. With the hit, of course we must wait for the play to come to an end and usually thats when the pitcher has the ball standing on the mound. So before the next batter gets to the plate, I quickly call time, take a second or two to give the plate a quick brush, get up turn around and put the ball back into play. By the time I get behind the catcher, I still have to wait a second or two for the batter to get into the box.