Foot Outside The Box

[starman]

I was hoping someone could give tell me if I right or wrong about this......

10 year old little lague game and I was coaching 3rd. Batter had 2 strikes.
The pitch was behind the batter, but the ump called strike-three because because the batter had a foot outside of the box.

I argued that there is no penalty for having a foot outisde the box unless the bat touches the ball. The ump tells me that anytime the batter's foot is outside the box, the pitch is a strike.

[dash_riprock]

You were right. The ump had it very wrong.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Where do they get umpires like this? Oh, yeah....the bleachers.

[UMP 64]

[SIZE="3"] OMG!!! Where DO these guys come up with these S**T. It is umpires like this, that ruin it for so many good ones. Please, someone straighten this (ump) guy out. Better yet, trade the ump for a horse and shoot the horse!
Just teasing bout shooting the horse.
Obviously, someone told this guy that was a "rule" from somewhere. Shame on this ump for never having read ANY baseball rule book. Takes too much time.

[justanotherblue]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Where do they get umpires like this? Oh, yeah....the bleachers.

They call them volunteers I think in LL. Most likely he did play ball through HS, so he must know the rules.

[johnnyg08]

yep, continue to beat up on 19 year old umpires who are umpiring either for free or next to nothing...if you're lucky...maybe he'll quit by the end of the season and you'll have to go through the same crap next year when another aspiring rookie gives it a whirl

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

yep, continue to beat up on 19 year old umpires who are umpiring either for free or next to nothing...if you're lucky...maybe he'll quit by the end of the season and you'll have to go through the same crap next year when another aspiring rookie gives it a whirl

Not sure what this is all about. This 19 year old is umpiring for free or next to nothing? Well, you certainly get what you pay for. I don't feel sorry for the leagues that hire these guys trying to save a buck, and I don't feel sorry for people who attempt to officiate without bothering to at least learn a few basic rules and who make up crap as they go along. If he wasn't sure what the rule was, he should have stopped and consulted the rules, or asked one of the probably many people there what the proper ruling was.

Starman wasn't beating up on the guy. He said that the kid did pretty good on balls and strikes. But he does need to read at least some of the rules before going out on the field and ruining peoples' day.

[bigda65]

Starman,

How did the protest turn out??

I hope you did protest.

If you didn't protest you should have, at least he would have learned something new.

[starman]

We did not protest. I am not the head coach, so I told the ump my opinion and let it be. We ended up loosing 6-5.

I kind of wish I did protest, just to make the point to the ump. The ump was about 19 years old. We had him for 4 games in 5 days. He did a good job with balls and strikes and on the bases.

Here is another story about the same ump......

Two days ago, the other team was complaining because our pitcher was going to his mouth on the mound. So the same ump warns our pitcher and we explain to him that he has to go off the mound if he is going to lick his fingers. Then, in between innings, I over hear the ump and the other team's coach still talking about it. I ignore it, until I hear the ump say to the other head coach "I don't know what the penalty should be for that, a walk?". I walked over and told him them that the penalty is a ball, he seemed to beleive me. The issue never came up again.

[DG]

Originally Posted by starman

Here is another story about the same ump......

Two days ago, the other team was complaining because our pitcher was going to his mouth on the mound. So the same ump warns our pitcher and we explain to him that he has to go off the mound if he is going to lick his fingers. Then, in between innings, I over hear the ump and the other team's coach still talking about it. I ignore it, until I hear the ump say to the other head coach "I don't know what the penalty should be for that, a walk?". I walked over and told him them that the penalty is a ball, he seemed to beleive me. The issue never came up again.

There should be no penalty for a 10 year old going to his mouth because 1) the rule was meant for adults and 2) a 10 year old is not likely to be able to throw a spitter. Just tell him to stop doing that.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by DG

There should be no penalty for a 10 year old going to his mouth because 1) the rule was meant for adults and 2) a 10 year old is not likely to be able to throw a spitter.

Go ahead on an load up there, Gaylord...let's see you make the ball dance!

[soundedlikeastrike]

Not sure where they got this guy, but his twin seems to be working in my area: A coach, see's me at work, "hey blue, you umpire, here's what happened." One of my associations umpires, so I'm ready to straighten coach out and splain his weaknesses in the rules arena. This ump is a rookie, I've seen him work several time's, just, I guess never saw him in this particular situation.

This is adult league SP one man. Local industrial league with some very good teams and basically a very competitive well spirited group.

Not that it matters; but final regular season game, H team is 13-0 and stacked, V team is 12-1, you know who gave em their only loss and that was a beat-n....

Bottom of 7 (the last inning) home team down 1, bases juiced 1 out.
GB to F6, 6-4-3 DP 3 outs. V begins celebrating. O coach reaches a bit and say's, hey blue the run counts (R3), umpire says, "yep, R3 clearly scored before the third out"!!!! Dooh!!

I choke a bit, then ask, so, when you protested what was his response?

He's say's "well I wasn't sure, since it was a DP, it didn't seem right but we didn't argue.."

I say's "well, did he offer you a ring or at least to buy breakfast after he scr---- ya that way?"

The first extra inning V doesn't score, bottom, you guessed it, H team pushes across the game winner for the Dubya..

Again we scorn these umpires for not knowing the basics, but I'm telling ya, coaches, it's worth your time to know this stuff, sometimes just the fact you question and threaten or promise to protest, just might get the guy to thinking maybe snap something in the memory banks back into place...amazing...