Erroneous foul ball call

[MT 73]

Originally Posted by Dakota

But, your example is of a wrong judgment call. The facts are in dispute (did the fielder touch the ball... PU's judgment was no.)

The OP's situation is a misapplication of the rule call (definition of foul ball).

In the OP's situation, none of the facts are disputed. The ball was a fair ball than was inadvertently called foul, not a poorly judged foul.

It was an incorrectly called foul ball.

He did not misapply a rule--he blew a judgement call.
Big difference.
Are you willing to put up a $500 protest fee to have this decided?

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by MT 73

He did not misapply a rule--he blew a judgement call.
Big difference.
Are you willing to put up a $500 protest fee to have this decided?

No need for the snark.

What was his judgment? If a batter is trying to avoid getting hit and accidentally hits a batted ball into fair territory, it is a foul ball? That is a misapplication of a rule.

Or, since the OP says "Of course, this is an oops..." that the PU's judgment was "oops"?

He called foul apparently not because of an error in judgment, but because of an error in opening his mouth.

Any protest would face an uphill climb, but this is not a discussion about "what you you do if you were on the protest committee?", but, what should the umpire do?

I generally agree with the "eat the call" position; I was just pointing out that Andy's situation was different in that there really was an error in judgment in his situation.

[Colo Blue]

Once you call it a foul ball it must stay a foul ball. You will have to eat crow and hopefully not have to eject a coach. You may have to be apologetic and give the coach a little latitude. This is poor judgment and not protestable.

In the NCAA rule 11.5 Note it says: A batted ball declared foul cannot be changed to fair regardless of additional information that might be made available to the calling umpire.

So if you change the call to fair you are now entering into a protestable call. Of course the protest should not happen because you and your partners have the ability to pull out the rulebook, and therefore will not overturn the foul call.

[RKBUmp]

Originally Posted by Colo Blue

Once you call it a foul ball it must stay a foul ball. You will have to eat crow and hopefully not have to eject a coach. You may have to be apologetic and give the coach a little latitude. This is poor judgment and not protestable.

In the NCAA rule 11.5 Note it says: A batted ball declared foul cannot be changed to fair regardless of additional information that might be made available to the calling umpire.

So if you change the call to fair you are now entering into a protestable call. Of course the protest should not happen because you and your partners have the ability to pull out the rulebook, and therefore will not overturn the foul call.

Yes, the NCAA rule book does address it and says it cannot be changed. No other softball rule set I am aware of has the same rule so you cant say it is a rule in any other rule set a foul cannot be changed to fair.

[teebob21]

Originally Posted by Colo Blue

So if you change the call to fair you are now entering into a protestable call. Of course the protest should not happen because you and your partners have the ability to pull out the rulebook, and therefore will not overturn the foul call.

To pick a nit, in NCAA, using proper protest procedure you don't pull out the rulebook until after the protest is lodged on the field, and the protesting coach shows/tells you which rule is being protested.

And hopefully, at that level, you know that a foul ball cannot be undone...but we all forget things from time to time, so it could happen.

[Colo Blue]

True. Consider the Nit Picked.