Asking for help? What's the deal here?

[blu_bawls]

Asking for help is one of the parts of umpiring that is the hardest to define and even harder for an umpire to gain the knowledge when to do it.

An umpire has to be able to know that he/she may have not made the correct call because they didn't have all of the information and this can be caused by being out of position, being blocked, or making an interpretation without all of the data.

Today I had a play at the plate. As the ball came in and the catcher went to tag the runner, the pitcher moved into my line of sight. I tried to move but she took away my angle.

I didn't see a tag so I ruled the runner safe saying, 'No Tag!" The catcher look at me like I was nuts and I knew that I was blocked and didn't have all of the information I needed to make an accurate call. I assumed she made the tag but not seeing it I couldn't make that assumption.

I went to my partner who was standing between the pitcher/third base and I yelled so everyone could hear me, "My sight was blocked by the Pitcher. Did you see a tag for an out?"

Partner said "Yes." and I changed my call. Third out. Head Coach comes up to us and says, "It was the correct call. I am sorry to see it changed but it is correct."