One of those days.....

[jkumpire]

Casebook p.53, 6.2.4j: "Proximity is umpire judgment and is based on whether the fielder is close enough to the base to legitimately make a play on the runner."

So it is a matter of distance and ability to make a play by F3. In this situation he was 20' or more away, was not in the process of making a play, and was in no position to make a play. I stand by what I said, even if it was not to everyone's liking.

Also, with respect, the mother of all mistakes was not going out to get a rule book. It was an error, but it was done for a legit reason with good intentions on my part. The thing did blow up in my face, but I can guarantee you that nobody at the game other than me cared about this, and nobody but us cares about it now. And that may just be the most frustrating thing of all.

Could we lock up this thread now?

[UMP25]

You said FED's standard's were looser than OBR or NCAA. That is inaccurate. Neither OBR nor NCAA has any requirement on F3's proximity. The wording of your OP implied you were referring to OBR and NCAA.

BTW, because I don't do FED ball by my own choosing--I'd rather stick to this world when umpiring baseball--I don't reply with rules explanations dealing with FED. I stick to what I know best, that being OBR and NCAA.

Originally Posted by jkumpire

Casebook p.53, 6.2.4j: "Proximity is umpire judgment and is based on whether the fielder is close enough to the base to legitimately make a play on the runner."

So it is a matter of distance and ability to make a play by F3. In this situation he was 20' or more away, was not in the process of making a play, and was in no position to make a play. I stand by what I said, even if it was not to everyone's liking.

Also, with respect, the mother of all mistakes was not going out to get a rule book. It was an error, but it was done for a legit reason with good intentions on my part. The thing did blow up in my face, but I can guarantee you that nobody at the game other than me cared about this, and nobody but us cares about it now. And that may just be the most frustrating thing of all.

Could we lock up this thread now?

Well, again, I am no fortune teller. When that pitcher goes to make his move to first, ANYTHING can happen. I am NOT in the mind set to award bases when the pitcher is doing stuff right. If I was evaluating you on this situation, I would stand by my way of thinking. But, I wasn't, and you seemingly got away with it.

I am concerned about how you are taking your lumps right now.

[jkumpire]

Thank you, and thanks to all who posted on this subject. I really appreciate it.

The balk conversation here has been real good, to sharpen the focus here. Maybe it was one of those old "you have to be there to see it posts", but F3 is nowhere close to make a play on the pick. IMO it was a balk. The rule seems pretty clear as interpreted in the case book, which is what I went by.

As to "lumps", I was a little boy when I first heard Julie Andrews sing in Disney's Mary Poppins "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down..." It is tough to get ripped, but that is how you learn sometimes. And if you stop learning, well, you start dying. I've made mistakes in front of thousands of people before, so this kind of evaluation is not too bad.

But from another thread, it seems that I am getting off easily compared to Garth getting thrown under the bus...