Hidden Ball Trick

[johnnyg08]

don't see the hidden ball trick very often...in fact 1 time in probably 1,000 games.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

don't see the hidden ball trick very often...in fact 1 time in probably 1,000 games.

But the question was - why do you "likely" have time if F6 (or F3) visits F1?

[johnnyg08]

Well, if a player requests time to go talk to his pitcher, I will almost always grant time to allow him to talk with his pitcher.

If he doesn't request time, I will leave everything live. So if a play is "on" and he has been coached properly, he wouldn't request time, I would leave the ball live and see if they properly execute the play.

[MD Longhorn]

Well sure... but that doesn't jibe with "If F6 was going to have a conference w/ F1...likely, time would be called ". Most likely, it would not have been... and nearly all of the time before an attempted hidden ball, it would not have been.

[truspartan]

Well, personally I think it's a bush-league play anyway so I'm going to keep an eye on this particular team and anytime there's a meeting of the infielders I'll just call time ... that will force the pitcher to take the ball to the mound

[Adam]

Originally Posted by truspartan

Well, personally I think it's a bush-league play anyway so I'm going to keep an eye on this particular team and anytime there's a meeting of the infielders I'll just call time ... that will force the pitcher to take the ball to the mound

Wow.

[asdf]

Originally Posted by truspartan

Well, personally I think it's a bush-league play anyway so I'm going to keep an eye on this particular team and anytime there's a meeting of the infielders I'll just call time ... that will force the pitcher to take the ball to the mound

Talk about a game stopper.....

You sound like a partner that grants a time out request so the shortstop can throw the ball to the pticher after a base hit....

[MD Longhorn]

Guys ... he's a coach, not an umpire. He says so in the first post. Nothing wrong with what he said. (Although I'd rather see you teach your team to be aware so that it doesn't work rather than resort to time outs).

[truspartan]

Originally Posted by asdf

Talk about a game stopper.....

You sound like a partner that grants a time out request so the shortstop can throw the ball to the pticher after a base hit....

It's not like it happens all the time so it wouldn't be a game-stopper per se. Truth be told, I'll coach the runners to wait until the pitcher takes the mound to take their lead ... that's the right thing to do ... that's the smart thing to do.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by truspartan

Well, personally I think it's a bush-league play anyway so I'm going to keep an eye on this particular team and anytime there's a meeting of the infielders I'll just call time ... that will force the pitcher to take the ball to the mound

As an umpire, I am not going to grant you time just to protect your base runners.

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by truspartan

Well, personally I think it's a bush-league play anyway so I'm going to keep an eye on this particular team and anytime there's a meeting of the infielders I'll just call time ... that will force the pitcher to take the ball to the mound

Excellent. You've found the solution to the problem that I've seen just once in 20 years of umpiring.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by truspartan

Well, personally I think it's a bush-league play anyway so I'm going to keep an eye on this particular team and anytime there's a meeting of the infielders I'll just call time ... that will force the pitcher to take the ball to the mound

What you meant to say, coach, is that you will request time, not call time.

[truspartan]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

What you meant to say, coach, is that you will request time, not call time.

Yes, that is what I meant My players do understand that you don't get time until the ump gives it to you. Sometimes the ump gives it too early to a requesting coach and that really peeves me...but what can you do other than politely ask that they wait until the play is stopped/over/etc

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by truspartan

Well, personally I think it's a bush-league play anyway so I'm going to keep an eye on this particular team and anytime there's a meeting of the infielders I'll just call time ... that will force the pitcher to take the ball to the mound

Just tell your runners to stay on the base whenever you see this type of meeting.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

Just tell your runners to stay on the base whenever you see this type of meeting.

Yup. The hidden ball trick cannot possibly work against runners who have been properly coached to remain on the base until the pitcher toes the rubber.