Get the call right

[btdt]

On judgment calls when working baseball on the plate or bases, I see the play, make my judgment and then announce the results. Occasionally my judgment will be incorrect.

I do not announce, I take that back, the runner touched the base two milliseconds before F/3 possessed the ball.

I made my judgment, announced it and move on.

Occasionally ... immediately and before I make a judgment I will ask my partner very loud "was he on the base or was there a tag (on pulled foot or swipe tag).
I receive an answer, typically yes/no he was/wasn't or yes/no on the tag.
I then make my judgment and announce it. It works pretty good.

Reading posts on nearly every subject people are constantly injecting the advice "get the call right".

I would think everyone's intention is to get the call right from the beginning.
The constant advice of "get the call right" always makes me wonder why people automatically assume most umpires intentions are anything but getting the call right.

Getting the rules right is a different subject. Getting the call right is probably everyones goal.

Every rule book I read says " judgment calls are final".

Nowhere have I found in the rules anything pertaining to "all judgment calls are final, unless someone wants you to reconsider and/or get additional input after the fact so your judgment jives with what others want"

Can anyone provide me a rule citation that permits changing judgment calls?

My intention is always to make the correct judgment and after I know I missed one, I analyze what I probably did wrong and make a good effort to not do it again.

My rant is over .... and that is final.

[bobbybanaduck]

what?

[TussAgee11]

bobby - look at at it this way.

As the OP said, it's over.

[bobbybanaduck]

ok.

[jicecone]

Once you gain more experience, you will also gain more confidence in making the correct "judgement call."

At that point, you will also understand that indeed, your judgement is final, and there will not be a need to entertain any discussions, about your judgement. Those "someones" that persist otherwise, well as Carl recently said. AMF.

adios my friend.

If I had a buck for every time a partner thought he seen that the foot was on the bag but wasn't!

[canadaump6]

jicecone, who are these "someones" that you speak of, what did Carl recently say, and what is the motivation behind saying "adios my friend"? Those inside jokes are actually very annoying.

You make a good point that nowhere in the official rules does it say a judgment call can be reversed. Rule 9.02b states that "If there is reasonable doubt that any umpire's decision may be in conflict with the rules, the manager may appeal the decision and ask that a correct ruling be made. Such appeal shall be made only to the umpire who made the protested decision". Rule 9.02c then describes how an umpire should go about making an appeal based on a rules dispute, but neither 9.02b or 9.02c say anything about a judgment call.

I believe the official rules do not mention appealing a judgment call because in theory, the umpire who made the call in the first place is expected to get it right. I cannot even understand why check swings are allowed an appeal, as a capable plate umpire should be able to make that call without help.

Pointing to the plate umpire on a throw to first or tag down the first baseline and saying "was he on?" is a good way of getting help, without actually reversing your call. Some will even say that the base umpire should be able to step into position to see for himself if there was a pulled foot or tag out.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by btdt

Can anyone provide me a rule citation that permits changing judgment calls?

See the NCAA book.

Note that most (all?) of the examples relate to specific occurrences where, for whatever reason, the "non-responsible" official has a better view or sees something not related to the specific judgment that the calling official doesn't see (a ball on the ground during a "tag" for example).

[BigUmp56]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

jicecone, who are these "someones" that you speak of, what did Carl recently say, and what is the motivation behind saying "adios my friend"? Those inside jokes are actually very annoying.

Those "someones" are the coaches and players who consistently complain and argue judgment calls. The motivation behind amf is pretty easy to figure out.........


Tim.

Ask Tim C about his recent adventures with a crew reversing a call!

Lets get a few things straight about "going for help".

First, nobody is "required" to do so. An umpire can live or die by his call, just like he has been able to for 150 years or so! The culture is changing though so that an umpire, who has some doubt in his mind because of his position etc... can now get his crew together, get information from the other crew members, and possibly change his call based upon the information he receives from his partners. I first I was reluctant to go along with this, but after I have seen how when used PROPERLY, this new approach has made a lot of calls that would have been wrong, right. Or, it simply reinforced in my mind that I got it right!!! There IS an up side to this!

Second, NOT EVERY PLAY REQUIRES THE CREW TO GET TOGETHER TO TALK ABOUT IT!!! The CCA manual outlines SPECIFIC scenarios when the crew should get together and talk about a call. I can assure you it is NOT on every tag and force out! The scenarios listed are GOOD reasons for everybody to get together and talk about it and make sure.

Third, this new approach WORKS. Since adopting it properly, it has really cut down on the long arguements about calls made. Coaches are more accepting of calls that the whole crew have agreed upon. Yes, I know for certain that the some calls that are reversed are now the wrong call, but I would say that this new approach has righted FAR more wrong calls than wronged right calls! Easily 50 to 1!!!

Originally Posted by canadaump6

I cannot even understand why check swings are allowed an appeal, as a capable plate umpire should be able to make that call without help.
.

It would appear that you don't see a lot of good curve balls and sliders, or, you don't tract the ball with your eyes properly!

So you are saying that the best umpires around, major league umpires, are not "capable"?

[LMan]

Originally Posted by rei

It would appear that you don't see a lot of good curve balls and sliders, or, you don't tract the ball with your eyes properly!

So you are saying that the best umpires around, major league umpires, are not "capable"?

He's just yanking your chain, rei. Garth left and Tee posts only occasionally now, so he is looking for new targets to annoy. No big deal.

Originally Posted by LMan

He's just yanking your chain, rei. Garth left and Tee posts only occasionally now, so he is looking for new targets to annoy. No big deal.

Unfortunately, I have met others who share his sentiment! And, if you would have seen me the other night, you would thought I would NEVER go for help! LOL

I am more than willing to go to my partner ANYTIME the defense asks in any game. It is easier that way. Some guys though haven't got it through their head that the worst thing that can happen is that their partner agrees with the ball call! I will take any strike I can get!!!!

[canadaump6]

On any pitch, whether it be curves, sliders, or fastballs, I can see both the ball itself as well as the batter's arms, wrists and bat if he makes a check swing. It's one of those calls I feel a plate umpire should not miss in the first place.

[TussAgee11]

Peripheral vision only works so good canada. Do you really think that your wise logic is better than 150 years of what has been proven to work?

Sometimes, you're just too close to the play to tell. Perhaps on a kiddie field when everything moves at 10 mph, PU can get both. But with shaving aged players, sorry, it all happens to fast. I'll do my job and focus on the pitch, my pard can take in the big picture of everything that is happening at the plate much better than I can.