Fake Tag = Ejection

[blueump]

My real "job" is teaching. Today I ran into the baseball coach from the school district where I teach. Naturally the conversation turned to baseball and he commented that his team will be short handed at a tournament tomorrow because of the ejection of his best hitter/shortstop.

Apparently during the first game of their double header last night the player initiated a fake tag at second base. The field umpire immediately ejected him, which disqualifies him from all the remaining games of that day and the next scheduled day of play (which is a tournament on Saturday). The coach admitted that he knew that a fake tag was not legal in Fed ball but never passed this information on to his players. The player was shocked and confused to why he was ejected, and the coach just accepted the ruling and sent the kid packing. To clarify, this was the FIRST fake tag this kid had attempted all season.

Now to the guts of this posting...this kid had to miss the remainder of the first game and the second game last night, plus the entire day of the tournament tomorrow - because the umpire didn't know/follow the book? What should have happened was a plain old obstruction call and a warning. No "ejection" was warranted unless it happened again!

If you were me, would you tell the coach? Email the AD? Contact the state? I don't know this kid from Adam, so I have no vested interest in it at all. I also have no clue who the umpire was so contacting the local association (if he even belongs to it) is probably going to do no good. I'd just hate to see any player have to sit out 3+ games because an umpire didn't know the rules!

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by blueump

My real "job" is teaching. Today I ran into the baseball coach from the school district where I teach. Naturally the conversation turned to baseball and he commented that his team will be short handed at a tournament tomorrow because of the ejection of his best hitter/shortstop.

Apparently during the first game of their double header last night the player initiated a fake tag at second base. The field umpire immediately ejected him, which disqualifies him from all the remaining games of that day and the next scheduled day of play (which is a tournament on Saturday). The coach admitted that he knew that a fake tag was not legal in Fed ball but never passed this information on to his players. The player was shocked and confused to why he was ejected, and the coach just accepted the ruling and sent the kid packing. To clarify, this was the FIRST fake tag this kid had attempted all season.

Now to the guts of this posting...this kid had to miss the remainder of the first game and the second game last night, plus the entire day of the tournament tomorrow - because the umpire didn't know/follow the book? What should have happened was a plain old obstruction call and a warning. No "ejection" was warranted unless it happened again!

If you were me, would you tell the coach? Email the AD? Contact the state? I don't know this kid from Adam, so I have no vested interest in it at all. I also have no clue who the umpire was so contacting the local association (if he even belongs to it) is probably going to do no good. I'd just hate to see any player have to sit out 3+ games because an umpire didn't know the rules!

Absolutely contact the AD and the state. In most states, umpires have to fill out ejection reports. If his just says, "ejected for applying a fake tag", the kid may get to play tomorrow.

[DG]

You would hope that when the state receives the ejection report they would ask questions and if it was as described advise the AD that the player can play. But here, you have 48 hours to file a report, most do it immediately, but that might not happen. And here, that particular ejection would be considered a restriction to the bench for that game only. Ejections that have more serious penalties are for more serious things, a list of 7. Fighting for example, is one of the 7.

[blueump]

Update - I did contact the AD who forwarded my email to the head of baseball in the state to see if it would change anything. He got almost an instant call back and was told that the MHSAA doesn't want to get into "reviewing ejections of players" and that since the kid was ejected, he must serve the entire suspension.

I'm willing to bet that this kid never tries a fake tag again!

[kylejt]

I wonder why a fake tag wouldn't get you run in a FED game. It certainly might in an OBR based game, as it is considered UC.

Odd.

[David B]

Originally Posted by blueump

My real "job" is teaching. Today I ran into the baseball coach from the school district where I teach. Naturally the conversation turned to baseball and he commented that his team will be short handed at a tournament tomorrow because of the ejection of his best hitter/shortstop.

Apparently during the first game of their double header last night the player initiated a fake tag at second base. The field umpire immediately ejected him, which disqualifies him from all the remaining games of that day and the next scheduled day of play (which is a tournament on Saturday). The coach admitted that he knew that a fake tag was not legal in Fed ball but never passed this information on to his players. The player was shocked and confused to why he was ejected, and the coach just accepted the ruling and sent the kid packing. To clarify, this was the FIRST fake tag this kid had attempted all season.

Now to the guts of this posting...this kid had to miss the remainder of the first game and the second game last night, plus the entire day of the tournament tomorrow - because the umpire didn't know/follow the book? What should have happened was a plain old obstruction call and a warning. No "ejection" was warranted unless it happened again!

If you were me, would you tell the coach? Email the AD? Contact the state? I don't know this kid from Adam, so I have no vested interest in it at all. I also have no clue who the umpire was so contacting the local association (if he even belongs to it) is probably going to do no good. I'd just hate to see any player have to sit out 3+ games because an umpire didn't know the rules!

Poor officiating. He probably needs to read Carl's book on how to ruin a good baseball game ...

There are rules, obstruction and safety etc., but sometimes you just have to be an umpire also. Especially if you know the state has such strict rules regarding ejections.

Thanks
David

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by David B

There are rules, obstruction and safety etc., but sometimes you just have to be an umpire also. Especially if you know the state has such strict rules regarding ejections.

While I agree that in some cases an ejectionable offense can be disregarded, I will never use the state's suspension rules as a basis on whether I'm doing it or not.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by blueump

Update - I did contact the AD who forwarded my email to the head of baseball in the state to see if it would change anything. He got almost an instant call back and was told that the MHSAA doesn't want to get into "reviewing ejections of players" and that since the kid was ejected, he must serve the entire suspension.

I'm willing to bet that this kid never tries a fake tag again!

I understand state associations backing up their officials, but that's ridiculous. The correct answer is: "We'll review the ejection report and take appropriate action."

And then take appropriate action. How sad.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by kylejt

I wonder why a fake tag wouldn't get you run in a FED game. It certainly might in an OBR based game, as it is considered UC.

Odd.

What are you smoking?

[w_sohl]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I understand state associations backing up their officials, but that's ridiculous. The correct answer is: "We'll review the ejection report and take appropriate action."

And then take appropriate action. How sad.

And then they have to review EVERY ejection. They aren't going to set the precedent of having to take the extra step to evaluate whether an ejection should be reviewed or not. Sucks for the kid, but I see their point.

[Rich Ives]

So is there an official rule on the steps to take?

If it says warn then eject and warn was skipped then protest the rule misapplication.

[w_sohl]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

So is there an official rule on the steps to take?

If it says warn then eject and warn was skipped then protest the rule misapplication.

Too late for a protest. I think it needs to be protested before the next play, but definately by EOG.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by w_sohl

And then they have to review EVERY ejection. They aren't going to set the precedent of having to take the extra step to evaluate whether an ejection should be reviewed or not. Sucks for the kid, but I see their point.

Nonsense. As an administrator I can distinguish between a bona fide objection from one of my officials and the whining of parents and coaches.

[w_sohl]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Nonsense. As an administrator I can distinguish between a bona fide objection from one of my officials and the whining of parents and coaches.

I understand that, but then they have every Tom, Dick and Harry asking for their ejections to be reviewed. They don't have time to sort through all of that.

[DG]

I wonder what the point is of sending in ejection reports if they are not going to be reviewed.