Why sell calls?

[Andy]

Originally posted by orioles35
My lesson in selling a call came a couple of years ago. Not a big game, not a pain in the *** coach, but I was BU and had a banger at first. I mean, to this DAY I've never had a closer call. Without hesitation, I made the "out" call and probably vocalized this call as loud as I possibly could. There's no WAY anyone could have possibly known if this runner was out or safe. Then from the dugout I hear "was he out"? I refrained from looking there, as I usually do but quickly figured out this statement was directed at the first base coach, who just shrugged. No one had any idea, myself included. But because I so emphatically made the out call, no one protested and the game went on as usual.

My lesson happened in the Mens 45 & over FP Nationals in 2002. I was the 1BU, play at first, BR out by a little less than a step, I thought it was a pretty clear and easy call, so I gave a routine out call. The offense came unglued!

I noticed that the UIC was watching, so I asked him about it after the game. He said the routine out call on a close play appeared indecisive, so it gave the offensive team more reason to question the call. He told me that had I "sold" that out call, they may have still griped about it, but probably a lot less.