The Official Forum - batting out of turn....

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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Carl Childress
[B]

Quote:

Originally posted by Carl Childress

Quote:

Originally posted by chuckfan1
Hey gang, new to this board. Someone reccommended it to me to check on rules etc. Have umped the past few years as a duty of being a mgr, and this is my first full year "on the clock".
Im learning new things all the time, and continaully trying to improve. Heres one thats got me paranoid. Batting out of turn. Ive read and re-read the book several times, but I cant get it to "click". That is, make total sense in my noggin, so if it happens, I can recall the it instantly and make the right call.
Now I can handle the most basic of this infraction, I think, but is there a quick rule of thumb that I can follow? No matter how big a cluster **** it might become?? Thanks......

Chuck:

There's no penalty unless the batter the defense is gripping about has finished his at bat. So....

The important thing to remember is you have to check only the <i>last two batters</i>. Everybody before that is legal, regardless of how many batted out of order.

The names you want to check are:

Batter Just Finished
Batter Previous

If Batter Just Finished does not follow Batter Previous on the card, then Batter Just Finished is improper and Batter Listed Next is out.

(Note: This has been amended as per Caselli's comment.)

That's the best way to enforce the rules all the gentleman -- and Rita C -- above gave you.

I didn't see it mentioned in any of the replies, but once an "improper batter" reaches a base or is put out during a play. (i.e. still not at bat), only the Defense can appeal that it's an improper batter. On the other hand, either the Defense or the Offense can notice there's an improper batter still at bat and replace him with the proper batter, who then assumes the count, if any.

Jerry

The only problem I've ever experienced with batting out of order has occurred when the infraction is called to my attention but nobody appeals. For example, the offensive coach comes out and informs me that his player has batted out of order. It goes like this: "Blue, number 7 just batted and we skipped over number 6. What do we do?" Now the defensive coach comes out asks what's going on. The offensive coach explains what happened, and the defensive coach then asks me, "Yeah, what do we do?"

With both coaches standing there, I can't very well instruct the defensive coach that he has to appeal. This has happened half a dozen times over the past few years.

I also had this one in a tournament. "Blue, number 4 just batted and we skipped over number 3. They thought it was the lineup from the last game. Can number 4 take her at-bat now?" The defensive coach heard this and simply waited for me to make a decision, so I said, "No, she missed her at-bat."

When no one knows what the heck is going on, it does take an "authority" (the umpire in chief) to "take charge". The easy thing to do (and probably, by definition, the correct thing to do) is to grant the defense the benefit of the doubt. Simply say to the defensive coach, "Coach, I see you notice the improper batter. Either he's "out" and the next proper batter comes up to bat, or "let the play stand" and "x" is up to bat. What do you want to do?

Jerry