Originally Posted by ozzy6900 (Post 747808)

Tell me why we are still debating this "Tie goes to the runner" for the 4th time since last season? Every year we deal with this idiotic myth yet it keeps coming around like a boil on your butt!

There are no ties in baseball because all ties go to the umpire and the umpire always calls the out!

Originally Posted by TwoBits (Post 747751)

Granted, in my last umpteen years of officiating, I have never judged a tie, and doubt that I ever will. However, should the "myth" in the title really be considered a myth?

Originally Posted by IowaMike (Post 747828)

There was a banger at first and the ump called the runner out. The first base coach said "C'mon, tie goes to the runner." The ump told him "You've been horribly misinformed son, ties go to the umpire and I called him out." The first base coach busted out laughing. Some coaches do actually have a sense of humor.

Originally Posted by BSUmp16 (Post 747805)

First - those who say "there are no ties in baseball" are simply reciting a platitude. There are ties everywhere in the known universe and the laws of physics do not cease to exist on the baseball diamond.

In every instance involving 2 different events there are 3 different things that could happen: A occurs before B; A occurs after B; A and B occur at the same time (a tie). Even though there are 3 possibilities, the rules of baseball give you, as an umpire, only 2 choices: safe or out. In THAT sense, there are no ties in baseball.

However, if you define a "tie" as the equivalent of "too close to call", an ESPN study determined that in MLB there is, on average, at least 1 play every 6 games that is too close to call even with the aid of instant replay!

So while you can argue whether the OBR states that ties go to the runner (it does), and you can disagree on how to make the practical decision on the field when a play is too close to call, it is indisputable that there are ties (plays too close to call) in baseball.

As proof positive, check out the last 40 seconds of this video:

YouTube - Goofy "How To Play Baseball" :D

Originally Posted by mbyron (Post 747758)

I don't know what makes an event "random," but simultaneity is possible within the time frame of human perception. Events occurring within about .04 seconds of each other are not discriminable by the human eye.

Originally Posted by ozzy6900 (Post 747808)

Tell me why we are still debating this "Tie goes to the runner" for the 4th time since last season? Every year we deal with this idiotic myth yet it keeps coming around like a boil on your butt!

There are no ties in baseball because all ties go to the umpire and the umpire always calls the out!

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve (Post 747906)

Exactly. There are ties...we just don't call them ties, we call them "outs."

It always reminds me of a story an umpire associate used to tell about this guy who had a banger at 1st base and called, "Two!!!" really loudly. When the puzzled 1st base coach asked what he meant by "Two!!!" the umpire told him, "too damn close to call!"

Originally Posted by Chris Viverito (Post 747843)

All this specificity. All this detail. All this predicate logic. Impressive.

Are you sure that "OBR states that ties go to the runner "?

Originally Posted by Simply The Best (Post 747830)

You may not have judges a tie and perhaps you may never actually expereinced a tie but in terms of sight and sound, and the visceral faults in each, "ties" are a fact of umpiring life.

The question is how to you adjudicate a tie when you believe you have one?

"Reward The Better Play". ;)

Originally Posted by BSUmp16 (Post 747841)

Wow - that's two in a row in which I completely agree with "Simply the Best" Should that make me worried?

Originally Posted by BSUmp16 (Post 747907)

Actually, that was a quote from Jocko Conlon, the great Hall of Fame umpire. Jocko was behind the plate and the count was one ball and one strike. Next pitch comes in, appears to shave the corner of the plate, and the umpire shouts 'Two!' The batter says, 'Two, what?' Ump replies: "Too close to call." Great story.