I saw it out of the corener of my eye.

[Ump Rube]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Can you see the runner leaving from behind the plate as the pitcher is releasing the baseball. I doubt it. Go try it sometime.

And Kyle...in your games, the runner can't leave until the pitch crosses home plate. Well, duh, that's a whole lot easier to see a runner leaving early. Trying to see it while watching the pitcher release the baseball is foolhardy. Your attention can't be split, and sorry Rich, the human eye does not have the same range as a fly or a lizard. You cannot look directly forward and 90° to the right simultaneously.

And besides, Joe said there was a base umpire!!! That is his call. Why would the plate umpire interject where he doesn't belong? That should be the whole point here: Why didn't the base umpire do his job to begin with, so Joe would not have to argue with the lying PU who said that his runner left early when according to Joe, whose opinion I trust more than the clown behind the plate, he did not.

This might just be fuel on the fire, but from behind the plate the angle to 1B would be a little less the 45°. I agree you cannot split your vision 50/50 on this, but it does allow you to see the movement with your peripheral vision well. But truly getting back to the point, with 2-men this is the BU's call all the way, unless a runner at 2B which might be the PU's depending on 60'/90'. With 1-man do your best to see the movement, which is what is picked up best with peripheral.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Ump Rube

This might just be fuel on the fire, but from behind the plate the angle to 1B would be a little less the 45°. I agree you cannot split your vision 50/50 on this, but it does allow you to see the movement with your peripheral vision well. But truly getting back to the point, with 2-men this is the BU's call all the way, unless a runner at 2B which might be the PU's depending on 60'/90'. With 1-man do your best to see the movement, which is what is picked up best with peripheral.

Yes, you are correct with the angle, and yes, you can detect some movement. But can you accurately call the leaving early while still focusing on the ball that is being released? That is why I said earlier that I'm not calling that from the plate unless the runner is blatantly off the base, as in 3 or 4 steps, where it is obvious. In this case however, Joe said that he was in a position to see both the pitcher and the runner in his direct line of vision, and that the runner actually got a late jump from 1st base, well after the pitcher released the ball. So my big concern is that the PU made the call to "make up" for the ones that the BU (who must be a real dandy umpire...probably playing pocket pool with his Johnson out there) had missed.