Get the calls right? Responsibility?

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by Roger Greene
I've been staying out of this so Mike wouldn't acuse me of injecting my "baseball mentality" into the discussion but I'd like to add this thought that I shared with my oldest daughter on our way to call a game yesterday.

Her statemant begain "If I thiink the runner left early..."

My response was "If you think they left early, that's good baserunning. If you KNOW they left early - Make the call."

My point being, If you are going to enforce an obscure rule in a big situation be sure you have a clear cut violation. Don't make an unexpected call without clear and convincing evidence that the violation has occured!

Roger Greene

Roger,

I wouldn't do that unless you actually tried to impose that mentality on us

I totally agree with you assessment that if you have to "think" about it, you probably shouldn't call it. This goes hand-in-hand with not "guessing" an out.

However, I don't think leaving a base early is an obscure rule. If it is, it's probably because umpires are not calling even when they do see it.

This call has been called late in the NCAA Championships two of the past three years in conjunction with the LBR. I've even had it twice in the past year in SP games.