Home run - missed the plate!!

[BretMan]

No, I wasn't asking you'd call. I was trying to clarify your own statements (which seem to conflict).

First you said that the runner had to touch the white, then you presented a scenario about "seeing dirt" whereby a runner could touch only the black and you wouldn't call that as missing the plate.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by BretMan

No, I wasn't asking you'd call. I was trying to clarify your own statements (which seem to conflict).

First you said that the runner had to touch the white, then you presented a scenario about "seeing dirt" whereby a runner could touch only the black and you wouldn't call that as missing the plate.

Not what he said (although it's possible that it is what he meant); he said he'd "like" to see dirt. We don't always get what we want, though.

[Tim C]

Sorry, this enire thread made my skin crawl . . .

This would neverhave happened in my game . . . even if I took the BR and lead him to the plate.

Someone is proud of being an OOO.

Let them . . .

The rest of us will work real baseball.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Sorry, this enire thread made my skin crawl . . .

This would neverhave happened in my game . . . even if I took the BR and lead him to the plate.

Someone is proud of being an OOO.

Let them . . .

The rest of us will work real baseball.

I guess this mean you (and Steve) would cheat a defense out of a legitimate appeal? And Steve calls ME a rat? Horse****!

Sorry if you're offended. I'd be offended if you refused to call it so I guess we're even.

And Tim (and Steve) . I've had players miss a base. I've had players miss home. The times they got caught I got after them, not the umpire. Why? Because they missed the base. Their fault.

[umpjong]

Just an observation/thought. If the runner touches only the black part of the plate and you absolutely know this as fact, what advantage has he gained by doing this?

What do you do on a game winning score where you have no idea if the runner touches the plate at all? You may scream and yell at the players but their excitement makes it impossible to see the touch. Can you or would you call him out without having any evidence that he didnt touch the plate?

I personally file this under the "sometimes you have to umpire" tab. As JJ likes to say, "dont go looking for buggers"!!!!!!!!

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

I guess this mean you (and Steve) would cheat a defense out of a legitimate appeal? And Steve calls ME a rat? Horse****!

Hey, I always call you a rat. You're just now getting offended? Perhaps you missed the winking smiley I put in there.

What makes you think a player that touched a visible portion of home plate is subject to being put out on appeal? Not in the real world. Not a legitimate appeal.

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

And Tim (and Steve) . I've had players miss a base. I've had players miss home. The times they got caught I got after them, not the umpire. Why? Because they missed the base. Their fault.

Whenever a player actually does not touch a base, and the defense appeals, I always, 100% of the time, call the runner out on appeal. Any coach who argues vociferously that a players foot only touched the black part of the exposed plate is a total douche, and being a rat would be the least of their worldly troubles.

[Tim C]

"I guess this mean you (and Steve) would cheat a defense out of a legitimate appeal?"

Rich, there really is no hope for you. You truly are a rat (species name: 'ratusamongus').

What you see as cheating I see as "game management."

T

[TwoBits]

Whatever you do, don't bring up the black part of a plate on the softball board. I had a situation I posted a couple weeks ago over there where I mentioned the black part of the plate was exposed, and was told that the field was unplayable in that condition!

[BretMan]

Originally Posted by TwoBits

Whatever you do, don't bring up the black part of a plate on the softball board. I had a situation I posted a couple weeks ago over there where I mentioned the black part of the plate was exposed, and was told that the field was unplayable in that condition!

Just because somebody told you that doesn't mean that it is an official interpretation issued by any sanctioning body.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Rich, there really is no hope for you. You truly are a rat (species name: 'ratusamongus').

What you see as cheating I see as "game management."

T

And denying the truth is called what?

You are truly arrogant.

All your "game management" does is change which team is ticked off at you. It doesn't manage feces.

[jicecone]

If you do enough games, your going to eventually get the question, "Hey Blue , where is your strike zone, can you explain it?".

Legitimate question.

I used to have a partner who always would reply, "It is whereever I say it is!"

You are paid to make professional determinations about strike zones, touching a base or plate and many other decision's. Based upon your experience you are to make the best decision you can.

Were becoming like the freaking media on this forum, always perfect crtics but, useless as human beings in real life.

If after several years of officiating you can't make a professional decision of when a player has touched a plate or not, sell your dam equipment and do the rest of us a favor and quit officiating.

This applies to new officials coming up also.

[Rich]

I don't get this back and forth. Really, I don't.

Either the player clearly missed the plate or he touched it. No umpire worth his position would uphold a missed base appeal on a runner that "might" have missed the plate.

A toe touching the black? To me, he may as well have placed his size 9 right in the freaking middle of the plate.

[jkumpire]

Rich I is not a rat here, and while he is tending to be a little OOO on this subject he has a point.

We do have too many umpires who are not enforcing rules, they are taking the easy way out, and teams will let them get away with it.

IMO, if he hits the black he scores, and in a perfect world the black shouldn't exist to be seen on a field. Rich believes that the runner did not score because he did not touch the plate, and strictly by rule we can all see he has a case, however tenuous you believe it to be.

If he is wanting to go to the mat with a team on an appeal of home because he makes that call, I can live with that. If he has to wack the manager and the player and one or two other guys for it, great. At least he has the guts to make and stick with the call he believes he should make in that situation. As a partner in the locker room I would tell him I disagree with his judgment, but on the field, I'd back him 100%.

Having said all that, I appeal to Rich I here, reconsider. If the black part of the plate is exposed, how can it not be part of the plate on that field? Your arguments about the base are weak IMO, since on any field (except for one I saw this summer where they were half buried), every field has a base that sits totally on top of the dirt of the infield. They don't move, they are anchored from underneath in an exposed position. There is no extra set of edges exposed. Home plates are a different matter entirely.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I don't get this back and forth. Really, I don't.

Either the player clearly missed the plate or he touched it. No umpire worth his position would uphold a missed base appeal on a runner that "might" have missed the plate.

A toe touching the black? To me, he may as well have placed his size 9 right in the freaking middle of the plate.

So, what I think you're saying is, if you need slow motion replay on a 72" HD screen to see he missed it, then he really didn't miss it.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I don't get this back and forth. Really, I don't.

Either the player clearly missed the plate or he touched it. No umpire worth his position would uphold a missed base appeal on a runner that "might" have missed the plate.

A toe touching the black? To me, he may as well have placed his size 9 right in the freaking middle of the plate.

+1

If it's there to be stepped on, I don't care what color it is. Sheesh.