Home plate appeal costs HS Conn team Championship.

[MikeStrybel]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Gee, Rich. Mike has told you that you need to be retrained.

Off you go, now.

If you still insist that preventing a team from doing something illegal is appropriate in baseball that doesn't involve a tee, then you need the retraining. I never mentoned Rich or any other umpire by name, it seems you are doing a Conrad Dobler.

I just read nine pages of discussion regarding a batter-runner interference call that would be largely ignored by most of the respondees. Hell, most had never even considered it to be interference. If you believe you cannot learn new things or improve then you will never work games on that stage. Those umpires made a tough call, just like the ones involved in this thread's play. They didn't take the easy way out. Call what you see and stop coaching.

[UmpJM]

Originally Posted by MikeStrybel

...

LOL! Keeping players from breaking the rules is not your job. During a live ball you have recourse through rules that prohibit them from leaving the dugout (in both NCAA and Fed!). During a DB, you have no authority to keep them away. None. It may make your job easier, but that's all it does.

In reference to the OP, by putting up your hand and stopping them from advancing you have prevented them from interfering. If you don't consider that an advantage then I suggest a retraining course is in order.

Mike,

While you are correct that FED rules do not prohibit players from leaving the dugout during a dead ball - say, after a home run - NCAA has recently changed this rule, so that now:

d. After a home run, no offensive team member, other than the base
coaches, shall touch the batter-runner before home plate has been
touched. Team personnel, except for preceding base runners and the
on-deck batter, shall not leave the warning track area in front of the
dugout (a recommended minimum area of 15 feet) to congratulate the
batter-runner and other base runners.

Regardless, ALL three codes contain language to the effect that:

..Each umpire has authority to order a player, coach, manager or club officer or employee to do or refrain from doing anything which affects the administering of these rules, ...

When I tell the players to "stay back" - I usually go with something like, "Gentlemen, toes on the grass until he reaches. Thank you." - I am simply instructing the players not to interfere with my ability to see whether or not the player touches so I may properly administer the rules.

I have all the rules support I need to so order them and I am NOT "coaching" them.

JM

[MikeStrybel]

Originally Posted by UmpJM (nee CoachJM)

Mike,

While you are correct that FED rules do not prohibit players from leaving the dugout during a dead ball - say, after a home run - NCAA has recently changed this rule, so that now:



Regardless, ALL three codes contain language to the effect that:



When I tell the players to "stay back" - I usually go with something like, "Gentlemen, toes on the grass until he reaches. Thank you." - I am simply instructing the players not to interfere with my ability to see whether or not the player touches so I may properly administer the rules.

I have all the rules support I need to so order them and I am NOT "coaching" them.

JM

No, John, you are most certainly coaching them. It is no different than telling another player to not do something that would be an infraction. You are telling players to stay back - that is involving yourself in the game. While it may be to allow you a clear look at the plate, it is also crossing a line.

I know that many here subscribe to the theory of preventive umpring. Consider the typical, "Catcher, go tell your pitcher to stop or I'll balk him." You just prevented an infraction from occuring and it made your life easier. You also just gave one team an advantage. Call what you see, not what is convenient.

[celebur]

Originally Posted by MikeStrybel

Bob understood my post just fine. In response to Rich, I provided an anecdote about backing players off the plate. I know Rich to be a good umpire and was merely relating how our best intentions can injure the game. I asked Dave if he could cite a rule that allowed umpires to prevent players from taking the field during a dead ball. I know there is none. So does Bob.

Yes, Bob understood your post. . .AFTER you clarified it with a follow-up post. As for me, I took it exactly like some others did. Actually, with the way you quoted Dave and the context of his post, it came across to me as you challenging his statement (in his context, not yours). That warranted a reply exactly of the sort you got, but you just can't see it, and like a dog on a bone, you won't. It would have served you better to have simply clarified what you meant when others clearly misinterpreted you; instead, you go on and on and on about how right you were and are.