Hidden Ball Trick

[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).

[asdf]

I hope his request for time out is not automatically granted.

[truspartan]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

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).

Agreed on all accounts I get the feeling that coaches are not liked too much around these parts

Like I said, I started coaching to get my kid into the game. He grabbed on to it and enjoyed me coaching so I stuck with it. This is the first year coaching at this age level where all the exceptions aren't in place like they were for younger kids ... so I'm doing everything I can to understand the rules and it frustrates the heck out of me that our umpires don't know them and everyone stands around after a play not knowing what to do or how to call it.

[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

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by truspartan

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

Funny you say this. One thing that irks me is how often after a walk, the coach yells time and just starts walking toward the pitcher. Nevermind that the ball is live, runners can run, etc.