Asking partner for help...

[Klokard]

Had an interesting one tonight but not at all uncommon. R1... B2 squares to bunt... pitch comes high and tight to a left hand batter. I am PU... all I see is pitch come in...I see the batter make a defensive manuver to get out of way. I hear a distinct "click" but also see the batter shake hand as he bails out. Catcher stood up to catch high and tight pitch which completely blocks my view. I shout "balls dead"... and leave everyone where they are. I bring in my partner who is in B for a quick conference to see if he saw anything definitive. He says "no". I come back, foul ball, strike 2. 3rd base coach chews a little stating there is no excuse to ask for help on that and that I booted the call. He obviously wanted the award of first base. Batter went on to single so it didn't matter in the end. Question,,,was I wrong for asking or should I have made a decision and stuck with it?

[bobbybanaduck]

first off, call TIME. i don't know where this ball's dead thing started or how it perpetuates, but it's obnoxious. now, on to your situation. seeing as you did all you could do in listening and then reading the batter's reaction (which appear to me to point in opposite directions) i don't have any issue with you going to see if your partner has anything to add to what went on. what i would suggest, is that after speaking with your partner, you go directly to the coach/manager that is not going to benefit from your decision. upon reaching him, inform him,

"skip, here's the deal. the catcher stood up in front of me and completely blocked my view of the batter. i heard the distinctive sound of the ball hitting the bat, but, since i was blocked out, i talked with my partner to see if he saw anything that would result in sending your guy to first. he didn't, so we're going with a foul ball because the clink of that bat is all the info i've got to go on cuz i was blocked out."

my reasoning for this is that one of the skippers is going to be pissed no matter what you do. by going over to him and explaining what just happened you are eliminating the scenario of informing him long distance; which in turn is going to result in him arguing long distance. that will be followed by either you approaching him or, more likely, him approaching you to discuss it further. if you do it in the fashion that i suggested above, you have eliminated the intermediate long distance argument that will inevitably take place before the face to face argument.

now, no doubt he is still going to be pissed, but, you have already informed him of what happened, what you heard, what your partner saw, and that you did everything you could to get his guy to first base if he did indeed get hit by the pitch. furthermore, you've already begun the conversation at close range and in a civil tone without the raising of voices simply to be heard from 100 feet away. if he wants to talk/argue a little at close range, he can probably have a bit of slack on his leash. however, if he tries to go ballistic on you, you've got the, "we've done everything we could do to get the call right" bullet in your gun. obviously you'll let him have his say, but, if he begins to overstep use that bullet and get the game moving again.

for a demonstration point of view, have a role playing conversation with yourself in both styles. first try doing it where you meet with your partner then just call a foul ball. now you've gotta talk loud or yell down at him to tell him what you have, or to tell him to stop yelling and just talk to you, followed by getting together with him to discuss after both of your guards are up cuz you've already gotten a little heated.

now try it the way i suggest and see how the conversations differ. role playing is fun.

[bobbybanaduck]

i had a similar situation to this last week in an indy game in nashua, nh. slidercurvething in the dirt to a LH batter. the catcher went down, forward, an in (toward the batter) to block it, and blocked my view of the ball in the process. i knew it hit something, but i didn't know what cuz i couldn't see. i called it a ball. the batter turned around and said it hit him in the foot. i immediately told him, "i was blocked out, but i'll go ask those guys." without anyone asking me to go get help, i called the other 2 guys in, told them what happened, and asked them if they had anything to add. neither of them did. i went back to the plate and told the batter what we had, and the game went on. the skipper didn't even come down to ask what was going on cuz it must have been blatently obvious by our actions. he did ask me the next inning on his way back out to coach third, and i told him exactly what had happened and what was said. his response? "that play sucks. you did what you could." maybe he was just in a good mood. who knows?

[RPatrino]

I had almost the identical situation a couple of weekends ago. Batter squares to bunt, ball is burrowing inside. I lose sight of the ball as it looks to be heading straight for the batters midsection. I hear a sound, and BR crumples to the ground holding his face. I immediately call "TIME" and head out to my partner. I ask him what did he see, and he told me, "Batter squared to bunt, the ball hit the bat and then into the batters face". I go to 3rd base coach/manager and inform him. "I have a foul ball, we have strike one". Not one peep from either team, batter is replaced and we play on.

Good advice from Bobby.

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

Good advice from Bobby.

Agreed.

[Fritz]

Different scenario but curious as to how you would handle this -

2 man crew, I'm PU, partner in B with R1. Pitch comes in high and outside, batter starts a swing and checks. I have a clear view and call "no he did not, Ball!"

DC tells catch to have me appeal to my partner. Catch asks for an appeal and I respond to him and the coach "coach, my partner is in the middle of the field and doesn't have a better angle than I do."

As we settle in for the next pitch, Coach demands I ask for an appeal, says it is his right. I respond "Coach, I already explained why there is no point in doing so, let's play ball."

Coach continues to mutter under his breath, nothing loud enough for me to understand, and we go on without incident.

Would you have gone ahead and asked for the appeal? This wasn't a case of me getting blocked, blinking or in some other way missing the attempt and needing help. Should I have just quickly asked my partner to get his safe call so we can keep the game moving?

[soundedlikeastrike]

Originally Posted by Klokard

Had an interesting one tonight but not at all uncommon. R1... B2 squares to bunt... pitch comes high and tight to a left hand batter. I am PU... all I see is pitch come in...I see the batter make a defensive manuver to get out of way. I hear a distinct "click" but also see the batter shake hand as he bails out. Catcher stood up to catch high and tight pitch which completely blocks my view. I shout "balls dead"... and leave everyone where they are. I bring in my partner who is in B for a quick conference to see if he saw anything definitive. He says "no". I come back, foul ball, strike 2. 3rd base coach chews a little stating there is no excuse to ask for help on that and that I booted the call. He obviously wanted the award of first base. Batter went on to single so it didn't matter in the end. Question,,,was I wrong for asking or should I have made a decision and stuck with it?

Of course it's alway good to make a ruling and stick with it, but of course it's also fine to go for help when it's needed.

Did F2 catch the ball? Did you hose the D outta of "foul tip?"

Heard a noise and saw the batter shake his hand and killed it, that reaction seems like you felt it struck the batter.
Why a foul ball?
HTBT but, what did you think it was? Why did you "call time" (hint, hint) like it struck him?
Instead of "foul ball", like you wound up ruling.

Originally Posted by TxUmp

Why do we umpires persist in perpetuating this total misnomer? It is CATCHER OBSTRUCTION!! Not catcher interference.

Because: 1. (Defensive players) obstruct a "baserunner.)
2 "interferes with a batter".
I've no idea why FED misquotes this..
nor why anyone would bye into it?? (Kidding there, relax..)

OBR:
INTERFERENCE
(b) Defensive interference is an act by a fielder which hinders or prevents a batter from hitting a pitch.

OBSTRUCTION is the act of a fielder who, .........., impedes the progress of any "runner."

As for the dinosaur that promotes "you can't call that from B or C" just that, a dinosaur..

If I "need" help, I have beaten the D to the punch, and my partner is ready (or he will walk his, ah, er, um, self home).

I would announce "No, he didn't go" on a bunt situation only.