Dropped Ball After Tag
 

FED. R1 is stealing second. The throw arrives ahead of the runner and F4 applies the tag. As F4 is lifting his glove to show that he has the ball, R1's helmet contacts the glove and the ball comes out. BU calls the out. After the inning, BU was asked if he stayed with the out because R1 knocked the ball out after the tage. BU says that he did not see the second contact, but he had the out because F4 controlled the ball throughout the tag. He said that F4 did not have the voluntarily remove the ball from his glove after a tag like he would have had to do after a catch.

Any opinions.

Yes - the umpire was correct.

the varitek play comes to mind here

Thanks
 

Thanks. I agreed with the umpire but the opposing coach said "that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard."

typical

No coach, that award goes to your AD, school board, and/or principal, and was a statement containing at least one of the following - hired, approved, appointed, confirmed, selected, picked, or no one else wanted to be...

I fully understand the confusion, because you have two different sets of obligations on balls in the glove. One for fly balls, and one for tags of players and bases. You've got the voluntary release, and just control. It's not logical, but it is the rule.

A good sales job would have helped him.

You could really go either way on this one (like the varitek play).

It's a hard sell with the ball on the ground...

Amen to that.

I really had to sell a similar call this past weekend, with a BIG "on the transfer" mechanic, with an OUT on either side of it. It worked.

If only baseball was a lucrative industry, there would be more of a devotion to finding competent instructors at the prep level.

Coaches say the darndest things. Had a batter swing at a pitch with 2 strikes this weekend and the pitch hit him in the leg. He runs to 1B. Coach's argument was "but the catcher did not catch the pitch".

Selling the call is key here. You have an obvious out on the tag. Even with good timing, the ball may get dislodged on a secondary empitus on the play. Key being secondary. Come up big with "that's an out on the tag, that's an out." I doubt the HC will challenge it.

The CS&FP rulebook says: "After a 'good' tag for an out, if the fielder voluntarily raises his glove to show you the rock and loses the ball, do not change your call."

And I speak of the "empitus of love."

Ace

Whoa, slow down there, Space Cowboy!:p