As usual, it's not IF the rat objects, it's how he goes about it. Here, he chose...poorly. And you know very well muttering something is not what got him ejected.

I can strongly say I feel the umpire did just fine. But I've been umpiring longer than I ever played.

"Draw a line up there..." I'm still chuckling. :D

I was going to say something here, but I read Matt's post, which covered just about everything I was going to cover.

No, You Lose

The ump ejected the batter after he wrongly asserted that he has as much time as he wants. to my knowledge, it is not an ejectionable offense to misunderstand the rules, or else there be no one playing ball!!!

and besides, in any given baseball game there are about 30 objections to decisions, I think you need to reconsider the umps role in the game. The umps shouldnt be going out of their way to "take the bat out of the players hand", let the players play.

Whats the difference between a batter saying, again I think everyone here knows the batter was incorrect in his rule knowledge, "I have as much time as I want" and a player yelling for an infield fly call when there is 2 outs bc they dont know the rules?

Youre certainly not going to eject the player in the infield fly situation, so why eject the batter???? Either tell him to get in the box, or start assessing whatever penalty is prescribed in the rule book for the batter not taking his stance in a timely fashion. ZERO need to eject at this point in time. You'd have a better argument (albeit still unwarranted IMO) if you ejected when the batter did his "golf swing" warmup.

Then the players should do just that: play. Don't stand around taking as much time as you want.

One player doesn't know the rule and is an ***. The other just doesn't know the rule.

No, it's still you.



Anyone who thinks they can address the umpire, who is generally a grown man, who just happens to be the boss on the field, by yelling at them that they can do what they please after being legally ordered to comply is subject to getting run from the yard in a hurry. If you were an umpire, you would know that, then wouldn't you?

Umpires don't eject players or coaches, players and coaches eject themselves by their actions. By rule, judgment calls cannot be objected to, so I don't know where you get 30 objections. I get my calls right, and very rarely do I have to eject someone. But you tell me what to do, you better get packing, because only one of us will be still in the game, and it won't be you.

Halfway between the belt and shoulders is not 3 inches above the belt on any normal player I know.

Years ago, had a batter walking away after a called 3K. He then stops, turns around and uses his bat to point at home plate. He said "The plate is over there, Blue" I pointed to his dugout and said " The bench is over there!" He then continued to go back to his bench.
His whole bench erupted in laughter, so I didn't dump him. I started to chuckle.

This is true. Sometimes it's more fun not to eject the clown, just turn their whole bench loose on them. It depends on the situation and the overall atmosphere of the game.

There's a quote in this year's CCA Manual that says something about a "well timed sense of humor to defuse situations." I'm at work so I don't have it in front of me but I'm guessing this is what they're talking about.:p

bobbybanaduck:

Thank you for the OBR (Rule 2.00--STRIKE ZONE) definition, but since about 99.999,999% of my games are played using NFHS Rules which R2-S35-A1 states: "The strike zone is that space over home plate, the top of which is halfway between the batter’s shoulders and the waistline, and the bottom being the knees,
when he assumes his natural batting stance. The height of the strike zone is
determined by the batter’s normal batting stance. If he crouches or leans over to make the shoulder line lower, the umpire determines height by what would be the batter’s normal stance."

That means in a NFHS Rules game, a pitch below the knees is not a strike. I only questioned the author of the OP because I was reading his post from the NFHS Rules position.

I have never been a proponent of the "real" low strike, but have been a proponent of the "high" strike. I just don't think a batter should have to use a golf swing to hit a baseball.

MTD, Sr.

Let's not have a big arguement over an inch!

I have tried several times to post a JPG I scanned from Ted Williams book in hitting where he shows what his batting average would be based on the spots. Can't seem to get it done.

But the low strike was Ted's lowest batting average, and therefore pitcher should be rewarded for throwing it there. Ted would bat .400 on pitches over the middle as much as 3-4 baseballs above the belt and in the 300's on pitches above his hands. Obviously, Ted liked the high pitch better than the low.

There is a lesson there. If the pitcher throws a low strike call it, he deserves it. Batters will adjust. If he throws a high strike that don't get hammered call it, because the batter should be able to hammer it.

I have been told I call them low, but everybody knows it too, so I don't get any complaints.

Although I've been told by fellow umpires that I have a higher strike zone (I'll call the pitch at the belt a strike....a lot of guys won't), I still try to get pitches at the hollow of the knee for strikes. If you're consistent with it, no one will say a word.