hitting the ball w/foot out of box!

[phillycheese]

I once called a kid out in a LL game for stepping out of the box. It was late in the game, so the lines were fairly obliterated, but the corners were still intact. The pitcher was serving up creampuffs, so a Dad was telling his kid to step up in the box. The pitch came in fat but started to die so the batter took a giant step and connected. His foot was in my line of vision( cuz we all know we watch the ball and not the batters feet ). Anyway, I was waiving the play dead as I watched the ball sail over the centerfield fence. I looked for a rock to hide underneath, but couldn't find one big enough. I turned the plate over, and strangely enough found instructions on how to umpire, hehe. What I learned was that, yes, it has to be extremely blatant to make this call(which this case was), and also, that when a kid steps up in the box, he's going to get a verbal warning from me. The grief from a call like this is not worth it. So it is best to prevent it in the first place. Lucky for me, the kid had already hit a homer earlier in the game, so I don't think he suffered any permanent emotional scars from having one wiped off the board.
Phil (mostly lurking)