Another "Crossed-Up" Catcher

[asdf]

What a wonderful would we live in.....

Umpire Claims Pitcher, Catcher Conspired to Intentionally Hit Him With Pitch (Video) - Daily Blend - NESN.com

[JRutledge]

I saw this on another site. Clearly intentional and I hope it comes back to haunt that catcher.

Peace

[njdevs00cup]

Thanks for posting this. Whether this was intentional or not, it was disturbing to read the number of responses on NESN stating that umpires deserve this.

[Rich]

Well, I never filed a police report when this happened to me, but I did eject the pitcher, catcher, and manager and eventually forfeited the game.

Mine was even more blatant -- it was a fastball to the middle of the chest and the catcher held his glove at the knee and never moved it. And held it there well after I got hit with the pitch.

Good for the umpire, although there's no way he's going to able to prove intent based on that video.

[InsideTheStripe]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Good for the umpire, although there's no way he's going to able to prove intent based on that video.

Beyond a reasonable doubt or based on the preponderance of the evidence?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Good for the umpire, although there's no way he's going to able to prove intent based on that video.

I do not know about that. And he will not have to prove it to anyone, the prosecutor will if they decide to take the case that far or have to take it that far. Maybe the threat of jail, a record or even spending a lot of money might get a plea deal. After all most people never go to trial.

Peace

[RefWEB]

Either that pitcher is throwing marshmallows, or that ump has a serious pain threshold.

Dude didn't even move when he got plunked.

[aceholleran]

This looks intentional to me. I dunno about criminal charges, though. Tough to prove.

ace

[njdevs00cup]

Catcher has plenty of time after the R1 reaches 2B to check on the umpire or call time out to talk to the pitcher about the "cross-up." It looks like when the catcher does nothing but goes back into his crouch the umpire calls time and walks off. For the catcher's own safety, if he had to bail that early to block a pitch because he was crossed up, he'd want to talk to the pitcher. No doubt intentional.

[biggravy]

Totally agree it was intentional. Still, I don't think I walk off and file a police report. Seems most agree it was intentional but I wonder what the rest of you would do? I think I toss the F1, F2, and HC. File a report. I don't think I call the police anymore than a batter would for being intentionally hit.

[jicecone]

I once had a catcher that was wearing a sunvisor on his mask tell me the sun got in his eyes. This was the next inning after I called him out on strikes for the second time in the game. I stood up and told the Coach to "Lose Your Catcher, because he outta here." This was Am Leg ball. He was suspended for the season. Another time I tossed the Coach, pitcher and catcher afterwards. Catcher said "He fooled me with a curve ball". Just the fact that both catchers came up with lame excuse right afterwards was the giveaway.

You do enough games its going to happen.

In both cases I am glad I had good CP's on.

Without a doubt the hit on this umpire was intentional. He should have ejected some people but, you never know how your going to reacte to these situations. Just hope he gets backing from the League and Association, if not then by all means leaving the game and fileing a police report was proper. Im not second guessing anything this umpire did because I have been there and done that, twice.

[kylejt]

What we're forgetting here is where, exactly, this guy got hit. If he was really hurt, he may not have been thinking straight, and just walked off the field without ejecting folks.

My son was 17, when played his last game as a catcher. Two out in the last inning, and he leaned over to glove an outside curveball. The batter nicked it, and it glanced off his neck.

He stood up, and proceded to remove all his gear, and placed it nicely on the plate. Then, he sat beside me on the dugout bench.

"What's up?"

"I'm done."

"Jimmy, go get the gear one"

We figure the blow shut off the blood flow to his brain for a bit. He got checked out that evening, and everything was fine. But baseballs to the body can make folks to funny things.

[RadioBlue]

I agree, as well, it's hard to prove anything from the video. The fact there's a runner on goes against the umpire, but I do not know what the score was at the time this occurred.

But just watching the catcher makes be think this is intentional. The pitch is nowhere near the dirt, yet the catcher crouches and ducks as if he's trying to smother a ball in the dirt. The catcher doesn't even track the pitch with his eyes/head whatsoever.

In 27 years, nothing like this has ever happened to me. I sure hope that it doesn't. I'm not likely to walk off and file a police report, but I am likely to file ejection paperwork (x3).

[Eastshire]

I also think it looks intentional. I also don't think it would be terrible hard to convince people it was intentional.

I see tossing the catcher, after all it's his (in)action that's the cause of this. Why, however, do we assume the pitcher had any part in it? For all we know, the catcher did call for the fastball in and the pitcher threw it in good faith that his catcher would do his job. Likewise with the coach. Unless you'd issued a warning to both teams a la intentionally throwing at a batter I don't see dumping the HC and even then I don't see dumping the pitcher who is an unwitting participant. After all, we don't dump the catcher when the pitcher throws at someone.

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

I also think it looks intentional. I also don't think it would be terrible hard to convince people it was intentional.

I see tossing the catcher, after all it's his (in)action that's the cause of this. Why, however, do we assume the pitcher had any part in it? For all we know, the catcher did call for the fastball in and the pitcher threw it in good faith that his catcher would do his job. Likewise with the coach. Unless you'd issued a warning to both teams a la intentionally throwing at a batter I don't see dumping the HC and even then I don't see dumping the pitcher who is an unwitting participant. After all, we don't dump the catcher when the pitcher throws at someone.

For sure, players with good coaches wouldn't even consiuder this crap. Dumping the coach is usually the correct call and the correct message to send.