Neighborhood plays

[greymule]

Here's how I call those, though others will disagree. In the case of F4, I don't require that he make a throw. If he's "in the neighborhood" such that I can't tell for sure whether he's touching the bag or not, I assume he's touching. But if I see clearly that he's not touching--maybe straddling the bag with obvious space between the bag and each foot--I don't call the out.

With F3, though many plays on TV appear to show the fielder off 1B, he's usually on at the moment the ball hits the glove. I call that one the way I do a softball runner leaving too soon--it has to be obvious. But if it is obvious, the runner is safe.

That's the way I've called them, and I haven't had too much trouble. Now I'm sure we'll hear some opposing views.