Can your partner change a judgment call?

[Steve M]

PollyWolly,
Continue to go to your partner on a checked swing every time that a catcher asks - unless you're being mocked by a particular catcher. As PU, your primary focus is on the pitch, not the swing. Your partner - in every standard position - will have at least as good a view (probably better) than you will. You will not do yourself any harm by asking, you will likely get into a more difficult game if you do not check.

In a college game, you will find that you are required by rule to check every time you are asked. I suspect there is at least one other organization that requires this check, but most sanctioning bodies merely strongly recommend that PU check with BU whenever asked on a check swing.

[gsf23]

Great story here on a checked swing. We are playing an amature baseball game in this small town. They only have one umpire to do the game, an old guy named Earl. Anyway, about halfway through the game, a 3-2 count on the batter, our pitcher throws one out of the strike zone, batter checks his swing, Earl, umping from behind the plate, calls a ball. Batter drops his bat and starts heading to first when our pitcher asks for an appeal. Catcher turns around and says "Did he go, Earl?" Without missing a beat Earl replies "Yes he did!!" and rings him up.

Never have seen an umpire make an appeal to himself before.

[TexBlue]

I was watching a game and a similar situation happened. A very expeerienced umpire that I really enjoy calling with was going solo that day. I just happened to be at the field where this happened. Anyway, he is behind the plate and goes into the center of the infield to make a call at 2nd on the hit ball. He rings her up and the offensive coach calls time loudly. Now, this umpire really loves calling the game and has an unusually large amount of patience. This coach talks to him in a voice loud enough for me to hear him from behind the fence. After Manny explains what he saw and why he made the call the way he did, the coach, still in a very loud voice, asks if he can get a 2nd opinion. Without a stutter at all, Manny says "Yes sir, I'll go to first and ask." Manny yells "What did you see?" He trots down to 1st and yells back "Same as you, she's out!!!" Of course, the stands just fell out, laughing quite loudly. The coach, a little red faced, finally grinned, said never mind and went back to the third base coaching box. Gotta tell you, Manny could do no wrong the rest of that game and the folks on both sides were talking to him after the game about how good he did. A little humor settles a lot of probems out there, in the right situations.

Rick

[mach3]

I will ask every time to check w/ my partner on a checked swing (if I didn't rule ir a strike of course *lol* ). No matter where he is positioned.
If he is in a bad position he will not rule it a strike unless he is 100% sure. And I don't have the trouble w/ coaches or players that make a discussion out of why I am not checking. And the other thing is: if I check there is no room for discussion anymore about the call and the coach or player is satisfied, that I at least checked.

And I would go even further, I totally agree w/ a mechanic proposed by Peter Osborn. And I have not had any troubles w/ that mechanic either:

I recommend that the plate umpire not call any check swing a strike unless he is absolutely sure of the call. In my games, I want to avoid gross misses. I have seen numerous plate umpires call little twitches by the batter a strike. The rest of the game becomes garbage for both of us. No one believes us any more.
As a plate umpire, if I am 90% sure (or less) that the batter offered at a pitch out of the strike zone, I make no call. Instead I immediately go to my partner without being asked. My partner may not have had as good a view of it as I did, but one thing is for sure. From 80-100 feet away, the play cannot explode in his face. He may get the call wrong, but he will not have a gross miss. Only one team will disagree with the call. Remember, I would rather miss three calls by a hair than one obvious call.

But I see this as a totally different thing than any other judgement call. If the coach tells me what he did see, and I realize that I missed that point, because my focus shifted away from that, than I ask for the additional infomation.

Raoul