Ignore or Address?
 

Last night in a high school (FED) game the visiting team was batting with R1 and R2. As F1 came to the set position, the visiting coach (from the 3B box) said, "Step off! He's going!" F1 either didn't hear or ignored the coach's comment and play went on without incident. Should I have addressed this with the coach or just let it go?

Addressed ... um ... WHAT?

What are you going to address? Are you 100% sure he was talking to the pitcher. He could have been telling his runner to "step off" the bag. Unless you are sure that the 3B coach was trying to get the pitcher to balk, I wouldn't go there. sometimes what is said on the field is a fine line for enforcing this rule however, make sure that line is clearly crossed before addressing.

Seriously? The pitcher is in the set, and you think one of the runners needs to be told to step off the bag? The third base coach yelled, "Step off! He's going!" That doesn't sound like an instruction to a runner to take a lead.

I personally don't think there's any gray area here. There's no other reason a third base coach would say this but to cause a balk. Heck, the example used in the rule of calling Time is less definitive in my mind; there could easily be a very legitimate reason for a base coach to yell Time, such as thinking there's a loose ball on the field. But "Step off! He's going!" leaves no wiggle room.

So I would argue that it needs to be addressed, but not necessarily with a lot of fanfare. Telling the coach between innings to knock off that crap should suffice.

Odd.

OK, fine, I'll play along. Let's assume he WAS trying to draw a balk, and walk through it. What's the penalty?

Well, Fed rule 3-3-1o addresses this, and calls for an immediate ejection in the Penalty section. Not sure I would go to that extreme, but that's what's in the book. As I mentioned above, a warning prior to the ejection should handle it.

You could alway restrict him to the bench. I'm sure that would send a very quick message. It is a lot better than an ejection.

Or you could follow the rules and dump him.

I would not say a word because it's obvious that the coach is talking to his runner. However, if F1 balked due to this statement (and in my judgement, that would be the cause of the balk) the coach is going to be seated (FED) or ejected (OBR).

I'm curious, how could he be speaking to his runner?

I couldn't agree more. If you've been around baseball, don't get talked into the "I was talking to my runner" BS.

And if you been around officiating long enough, you don't make calls based upon assumptions.

Manny, I wasn't at the game so I couldn't even begin to understand who the heck he was talking to.

All I said was, "Unless you are sure that the 3B coach was trying to get the pitcher to balk, I wouldn't go there. Sometimes what is said on the field is a fine line for enforcing this rule however, make sure that line is clearly crossed before addressing."

Obviously he must have said it loud enough that you heard it along the eastern seaboard. Therefore you have every right to insert yourself into Umpire99's game. I don't officiate that way.

Or, we could go with umpire99's assessment, since he was there. From the OP, that assessment was clearly that the coach was trying to induce a balk.

Yes, you do, especially with game management.

Ummmm, isn't that what he asked us to do by coming on this board and posing the question?

Umpire99 said:

Sounds like he judged the comment was directed at F1. And I agree with his belief.