Is the ball dead?

[greymule]

I've had coaches demand, like trial lawyers, whether I had actually uttered the word "time," as if the Supreme Court were going to rule in their favor or something. I tell them, "All I have to do is think time."

Once in girls' FP, after play had stopped, the offensive coach asked to replace his runner (his catcher) on 3B with a courtesy runner. I said, "OK." As the runner was coming out, the catcher/runner left 3B for the dugout. At that moment the defensive coach started screaming for his team to tag the departing runner. They did, and he demanded an out because I had never actually said the word "time." The fans really got on him.

Yes, if your hand goes up, there is time out, and contrary to what some people think, that means time out everywhere on the field.

When I do baseball after a lot of SP softball, I have to remind myself NOT to put my hand up between pitches as I sometimes do in SP.