Calling Time Out

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Chris_Hickman

Tim, I am not going to e-mail guys I know to prove a point. I like to think that most of my posts consist of good common sense. But here is one. 2 man system... nobody on....trouble ball hit and base ump goes out. Plate guy takes BR into 2nd. Base ump gets back into the infield and plate guy jogs back to the plate area. I do not call time out to jog back into position unless the BR requests time to dust off or somethin'. My back is turned to the field. I see this all the time in the minors. Any thoughts?

We (and by "we," I mean the SDCBUA as a group, not you Justme ) were taught that it is neither necessary nor desirable to call Time to clean the dish, except with a runner at 3rd. This association frowns on the unnecessary, frivolous calling of Time, and this is an example of that. Good things can happen when the ball is alive (such as outs), and not many can happen when it is dead.

The same goes for the above example, there is no need to call Time, as long as at least one set of eyes is watching the action on the bases.

When I'm working the bases, and an umpire unnecessarily calls Time, I feel that he has no confidence in my ability to manage the action on the bases while he is briefly involved with the all-important task of removing a bit of dirt from the plate.