One of those days.....

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.

[fitump56]

Originally Posted by UMP25

I do! There's no frickin' way I'm going to bring out a rule book.

No rule books on the field, fully agree. Proves nothing, solves nothing, creates and endless controversy. Let them protst.

[fitump56]

Mess? Yep, Partner, Dump him.

Looks like to me you were trying to do the right thing then did the wrong things.

[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...

[charliej47]

I once had to forfeit a H.S. game because the coach refused to comply with an order I gave him and Ohio and his school backed me of the forfeit. The coach was not asked back the next year.