Catcher throws to first on a bases empty ball four.
 

No outs no R. B1 walks and F2 fires the ball down to F3 ahead of the B1. I have only seen this a couple times in youth ball (16U) using FED rules and both times I warned the catcher. I told him if he hits BR with the ball I will eject him for unsportsmanslike conduct. Have any of you seen this? Do you ignore?

A. I haven't seen this **** happen outside of young ballplayers. 16U should know better.

B. Why would you warn the catcher for something that hasn't occurred, and would probably not be intentional?

C. You need to ignore this. If he drills BR, and you feel that it's intentional, then you deal with it. Whatever the defense wants to do with the ball is their business, unless they do something illegal.

Ignore. Why on Earth would you warn him?

There's preventive officiating and there's over-officiating (I guess plain old-fashioned officiating lies somewhere in the middle). Giving a warning here strikes me as over-officiating. The catcher isn't breaking any rule or pushing any boundary of unfair play.

Heck, any player at any position at any point of the game might potentially commit an unsportsmanlike act. That's a lot of potential warnings!

Another thing to keep in mind is that, under FED rules, on a base on balls the batter-runner is not exempt from liability from being tagged out if he overruns first base. Maybe the defense is trying to exploit this odd glitch in the rules and catch the B/R napping if he crosses the bag.

Have I ever seen this? Maybe a couple of times, if that. Certainly not enough times to say it's a common strategy or growing trend.

Do I ignore this? I would ignore issuing a warning, but I wouldn't ignore the ball or the B/R since there is a potential tag play in the offering.

Why does throwing to first on a BOB annoy you so much? Some coaches, mostly at lower levels, but occasionally at HS, will employ this from time to time to ensure the B/R stops at first. Like it or not, it's a legal strategy.

Untie the tightie whities and worry about things that matter.

Wow! And yet another example of umpires making up rules! We have this post and another guy warning a team for throwing around the horn with runners on. Where you people get this stuff? Really! Maybe I am missing something at the rules meetings or in my studying! Again, I am going to say we umpire by the rules written in the rule books and nothing else!

I can see this is going to be an interesting season.

I have to agree, unless you can cite a rule that backs up your call, then DON"T make the call. Thinking that you know the rules, and actually knowing the rules is gonna create a lot of problems for you.

HIT THE BOOKS BABY and you will not only "Walk the Walk" but, before long you will be able to "Talk the Talk." And believe me, after many many years , I am still learning .

I'd just laugh to myself at how stupid that play is.

Sounds like a softball coach is now coaching baseball. This isn't uncommon to do in softball with the short bases and even more common with a runner on third. There is a softball FED case play that states if the batter-runner isn't using the three-foot runner's lane on a walk and if she hinders F3 in catching the throw, she can be called out for interference. Just wondering if this is what is trying to be done in the OP.

isn't it usually the other way around? former baseball coaches moving over to softball. The only softball to baseball transitions i've seen is a baseball coach doing softball for a short while waiting for a baseball spot to open. many coaches like softball since the game's quicker and they don't have to wear the obnoxious uniforms...

When I was a 12 yr old catcher, I probably got 10 kids out on this ridiculous throw.:D

But, it worked...so, why not?