fair/foul

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by kylejt

Here's another teaching point for all you rookies out there: When in doubt, call it FAIR. It's far easier to unring that bell, with help from the PU after the fact. It's really hard to undo a foul call.

Bullcrap, call what you think you see and live up to it like Davidson did. I am all for getting it right but, this is one where you have step up to the plate and do your job PERIOD

[Rich]

Originally Posted by jicecone

Bullcrap, call what you think you see and live up to it like Davidson did. I am all for getting it right but, this is one where you have step up to the plate and do your job PERIOD

Exactly. And if you're lucky enough to have an umpire at third in your games, why should the plate guy (who's over 90 feet away and coming out of a plate stance) be thrown under the bus by a U3 who's afraid to make a call exactly as he sees it.

If my U3 called it fair and then came down to me at the plate, the first question I'd ask him is why he's even on the field. May as well work 2-man if I have to make that call.

[kylejt]

You guys are missing my point. Davidson, on the field, made a tough call. All he had to rely on was a bounce before the bag, and the ball coming at him. I've got no problem with him defending his call on the field.

Video showed it bouncing fair before and after the bag. He saw that, and still defend his call after the game. That's where he should have owned it.

As for calling balls fair, if you have a doubt, or get screened on it, that's what you do. That's second semester stuff.

[DG]

Lesson in timing. He threw his hands up foul before the ball landed beyond the bag. I can see defending the call during the game, because it is his to make, but he could have owned up after seeing replay.

[JRutledge]

I think some of you are missing the point if you think he should admit he was wrong. For one there is not a single bit of conclusive evidence. His explanation was spot on. The ball touching the ground has no bearing on the call. The video in no way shows he was wrong. It just shows two places the ball landed. He made a call where his judgment told him the ball was going outside of the bag. The video only allows people who do not understand the rule to make an issue out of it and umpires that have never seen a ball curve in their life.

Peace

[asdf]

Originally Posted by DG

Lesson in timing. He threw his hands up foul before the ball landed beyond the bag. I can see defending the call during the game, because it is his to make, but he could have owned up after seeing replay.

What does waiting until the ball lands past the bag have to do with where the ball was when it passed the bag?

[DG]

Originally Posted by asdf

What does waiting until the ball lands past the bag have to do with where the ball was when it passed the bag?

I believe a ball that lands fair before the bag and fair after the bag is fair ball.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by DG

I believe a ball that lands fair before the bag and fair after the bag is fair ball.

I believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. What does what you wrote have to do with the rule?

Now, do I think he could've hesitated and used that piece to help him with the call? Sure. Does he have to? No. Is there any conclusive evidence the call is right or wrong? No, not conclusive.

[asdf]

Originally Posted by DG

I believe a ball that lands fair before the bag and fair after the bag is fair ball.

1) You cannot tell 100% from the angle on the video that the ball was on the ground in fair territory in advance of the bag.

2) Where it land has absolutely no bearing whether or not the ball is fair.

[Fan10]

Originally Posted by jicecone

Bullcrap, call what you think you see and live up to it like Davidson did. I am all for getting it right but, this is one where you have step up to the plate and do your job PERIOD

An MLB umpire would disagree with you.

Originally Posted by Fieldin Culbreth

After the inning, Culbreth still is thinking about Patterson's line drive. "That one I don't feel great about," he tells me. (Amazingly, according to the MLB report, umpires missed a total of three fair-foul calls all of last season.) "I think I got it right, but sometimes you feel less than great about it."

"I thought you had it right," I tell him. "Was there chalk?"

"No, it didn't hit chalk," he says, "but here's the thing: If you ever have some doubt in your mind, you're better off calling it fair than foul. That's because, if another umpire had a better look and comes in and says, 'No, I had it foul,' then you can just return the base runner and the batter continues to hit. But once you call it foul, everybody stops; so if another umpire has it fair, what can you do? You can't just make up where everybody goes."

Link: SI.com - Writers - My Trip to The Show (Part II) (cont.) - Wednesday March 28, 2007 12:45PM

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Fan10

An MLB umpire would disagree with you.



Link: SI.com - Writers - My Trip to The Show (Part II) (cont.) - Wednesday March 28, 2007 12:45PM

And what if the other 67 disagree with him?

An anecdotal remark from 3 years ago proves *nothing*.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by jicecone

Bullcrap, call what you think you see and live up to it like Davidson did. I am all for getting it right but, this is one where you have step up to the plate and do your job PERIOD

Bob Davidson is the same guy who took back Big Mac's 66th home run because he thought a fan reached over the fence, when the fans were three feet behind the fence restrained by a railing. So, he occasionally calls what he thinks he sees. The foul call was gutsy, irrespective of whether it was right, just like the home run call.

This topic is primarily about this call, but it is really about the average baseball observer's ignorance to the rules. It's a good thing that we have guys like Bob Davidson willing to make highly improbable calls like this so that more people can learn the rules. So if the ball had really snaked like that, and it was actually correct, then a lot of people now know that can happen and how it is ruled.

Very helpful, Bob.