Babe Ruth protest

[joemoore]

In our in-house championship game, a player on the losing team is thrown out at 3rd in a rundown and proceeds to throw a tantrum, ending with a helmet projectile from about 15 feet against the back wall of the dugout.

Blues see no evil, hear no evil, speak no ejection.

Next batter (same team) is called out on a borderline pitch argues with PU. Immediate ejection. The fun begins.

All subs have entered the game, the player ejected is a starter, no legal subs remain. Manager of the other team insists this is a forfeit, you can't play with 8 players.

But there is a wrinkle -- the league plays with a free fielding substitution. That is a player not in the lineup can play the field for another player who is in the lineup.

Blues decide to allow the game to continue, with the team taking an out for the ejected player when his turn to bat comes up. Of course, they come back to "win" 4-3.

Game is played under protest, there is no protest committe at the game, there will be a meeting tonight to see how they decide.

I think that since they also have a mandatory play rule, that is each player must bat and play 2 innings, they should use the LL system where the opposing manager chooses a sub to replace the ejected player. My son was on the losing (protesting) team, but who wants to win on a technicality. Had they called it in our favor when it happened (and we were winning) I guess I would feel differently.

Any other people have problem with "special" league rules?

[TwoBits]

The problem with special league rules is that nobody thinks of the consequences of such rule.

Examples in the league that I umpire alot in:

In the 11-12 league, the pitcher must be warned two times on balking before the penalty is enforced. What often happens is that the pitcher throws the ball, I yell "time" to warn on the balk, but the batter crushes the ball for an extra base hit. But since we are playing with the FED rule book, balks are an immediate dead ball, so I'm left with know choice but to nullify the hit.

In the 9-10 and 11-12 divisions, they have a maximum 9 run per inning rule. They also have a 10 run rule after 5 innings. If the visiting team is up by 19 or more runs in the top of the fifth, they want the game ended because it is not possible for the home team to get closer to 10 runs even if they score their maximum.

Then there is the ever popular "must slide on close plays" rule which I tell the coaches that it must be a VERY close play for me to call the runner out.

[brandda]

Originally posted by TwoBits
What often happens is that the pitcher throws the ball, I yell "time" to warn on the balk, but the batter crushes the ball for an extra base hit. But since we are playing with the FED rule book, balks are an immediate dead ball, so I'm left with know choice but to nullify the hit.

If you are in a warning situation, why not just wait to issue your warning until after the catcher receives the ball? After all, it's not actually a balk necessitating a dead ball, it's just a warning of a balk.

[TwoBits]

Coaches for the team batting are always right on top of a balk! If they scream balk, then I wait for the catcher to catch the pitch, then I warn of the balk, it will appear as if I let the coach make the call for me.

[brandda]

It does not change the fact that you cannot call a dead ball on a warning. You can only call a dead ball if you are going to call a balk. I owuld just tell the coaches in the pregame that that is how you are going to handle the rule.