Bone Head Call

[bigsig]

I made a real bone head call last week. Please tell me how you would get out of this one.

Bases loaded with two outs. Fly ball hit to F4, I call an "infield fly, with 2 outs! To make matters worst, the BR stops running to first and the ball is dropped!

[IRISHMAFIA]

Edited to read: Assuming there was no further play, put the BR on 1B and move all runners up one base from their location at the moment you ruled IF.

Shame on the D for not catching the ball.

I agree with Steve as far as bailing anyone out, but if everything stops, the umpire, no matter how humbling, must make a ruling.

[AtlUmpSteve]

Shame on everyone; I don't bail anyone out on this play.

Shame on bigsig (sorry, dude); blew the rule, BUT he didn't make the defense miss the ball, nor did he make the runner stop. Runners need to know the game situation (outs, the counts) no matter what is incorrectly indicated by an umpire, and play accordingly. When someone makes a play, I will rule on it; if that play has BR out, then BR is out.

IMO, no jeopardy attached. DMU, DMD, DMC, and DMBR.

[LLPA13UmpDan]

Wow Do you guys signal each other when there is a possible in field fly situation? I know we do, and then if the INF doesnt exist, we "wipe" it off by rubbing our arm. This way you dont forget about if it exists or doesnt exist anymore

[mcrowder]

Let's not jump too hard on bigsig - he admits he made the error.

However, coaches and players are still responsible for knowing the situation. In most games, with 2 outs, the coaches will have been reminding runners to run on a fly, and would be yelling run, run, run. I think the only player actually placed at jeopardy here is the batter. Infield fly is not a dead ball, so action after the umpire error should be taken into account.

I don't think I can answer what I would do without knowing what happened after the ball dropped. I can see protecting the batter... but if F4 made a play elsewhere successfully, there's nothing to fix. If F4 made NO play, I'd simply wait to see what happens.

[blu_bawls]

bigsig,

I did this early in my career in a 12 or 14U game. Almost exact same situation. One parent went nuts and I had to toss him.

This is one of those errors that doesn't change the facts that the team didn't catch the ball so what happens on the field stands.

Now I just give the signal for one-three seconds before I say anything (if I do).

[CelticNHBlue]

Don't kick yourself too hard. I almost made this mistake earlier this year. I called, "Infield Fly" when I realized the situation. However, I could at least back out of it by explaining that I was just declaring the play at hand, after all, it was a flyball in the infield.

IMO, the only way you can put someone on base here is if you verbally declared them out and you feel that they stopped running because you did so. In that case, you have put that player in jeopardy to be put out and would have to award a base, in this case the BR to first. Anything less, either in your call, or in the reaction of the players to your call, I have to let the play stand because you did not impact their actions.

[MNBlue]

Originally Posted by LLPA13UmpDan

Do you guys signal each other when there is a possible in field fly situation?

I'm so anal, that when I'm working 1 man, I signal myself so I don't do something I don't want to do. It may look silly, but it works, and I haven't inadvertantly called or neglected to call an IF for quite some time.

[scottk_61]

Don't sweat making a mistake,
I did the same basic thing one time in a Mens SP Natl Qualifier.
Called the IF and immediately realized that I had made a mistake.
The defense made no effort to play the ball and the runners all touched home including the BR.

I had to take some grief from the defensive team but I told them I blew it.
I also said it was thier responsibilty to know the situation and play accordingly.

We ended up with the runs scoring the defense mad and me with egg on my face.
Of course for the rest of the tounament, I was the ump that was given all sorts of things to "help" me keep track of the number of outs.

Hey, mistakes happen. Just hopefully not too often.

Learn from what happened and move on or you will miss the next play.

[HawkeyeCubP]

Originally Posted by MNBlue

I'm so anal, that when I'm working 1 man, I signal myself so I don't do something I don't want to do. It may look silly, but it works, and I haven't inadvertantly called or neglected to call an IF for quite some time.

Funny - so do I - always have. It certainly helps me in my routine, and is not all that different from my signaling my partner in 2-person who isn't paying attention.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by HawkeyeCubP

Funny - so do I - always have. It certainly helps me in my routine, and is not all that different from my signaling my partner in 2-person who isn't paying attention.

Except you can do it quicker whne it's just you.

I've given the IF signal to an ump on the next field, who then had a hard time explaining his laughter.

[LLPA13UmpDan]

Originally Posted by MNBlue

I'm so anal, that when I'm working 1 man, I signal myself so I don't do something I don't want to do. It may look silly, but it works, and I haven't inadvertantly called or neglected to call an IF for quite some time.

1 man crew? Looks like you need some more umpires. I would never do it by myself, unless i really had to. The guys are right, dont kick urself hard on this. Its a flub up, but its no worse then what i almost did in a champion ship LL softball game. Im behind the plate. I hold up the count 2-1. Ball right down the middle...i take step back and ring the batter up but before after i say "strike" i look at my indicator, then make my mechanic and call strike 2. Everyone was laughing. I could tell the guy doing 2nd was laughin the hardest.