Good ole home town honesty
 

I was home last night and was watching the TRI NATIONS CUP going on up here in Kitchener, Ontario. Its a preliminary tournament to the Olimpics this summer in China. The 3 teams are Australia, Japan and Canada.
Last night's 2nd game was between Japan & Canada. Score was 0 to 0 going into the 3rd with team Canada batting. B1 hit what appeared to be a home run over the left center fence, it appeared to mjust clear the fence rail on a semi line drive arc. While the HOME town fans are all up and cheering , F9 & F8 for Japan are pointing at the fence at what apeared to be a hole just under the top rail.
Out comes the Japenese coach along with the interpretor to talk with the 2nd base ump who had given the homerun sign from about mid outfield. After about a minute of conversing with the ump they finally talked the ump into going to the fence where the talked for a few more minutes. Thru the camera you could see the ump saying and signalling homerun then a bunch of the spectatores who were sitting in their seats right behind the fence got up and started talking with the group on the field thru the fence. You could actually see them point to the hole and nodding their heads that yes the ball passed thru the hole.
Then the camera sort of focuses on the ump and you sorta see his head sag realizing what is about to transpire. Does he stick with his initial call or does he reverse it and rule a ground rule dble. You have the interpretor standing there listening to the fans who say yes the ball passed thru the hole and she is passing all of this onto the players.
Well the ump changed his call to a GRD, now out comes the Canadian coach and there is another 3 minute conversation then she turns and struts on back to her 3rd base coaching box.
Under the same situation would any of you guys changed your call or would you have stuck it out?

By the way, next batter hit a 2 run shot well over the fence basically the same area.

I would like to think that it would not happen in my game. I would have
caught it during the walk of the field and had it corrected. :D

If you are sure you were wrong.
Spectator comments are not necessarily sure evidence.

Even if the home team fans were saying that the home team should only get a GRD instead of a HR I would not change the call unless a replay in my mind told me that there was a very good chance that what I initially saw was wrong.

Did they ever fix the hole? Did they or could they do it right away? In this type of play can the umpire(s) hold up the game until the hole is fixed?

If I had solid information from a reliable source that I may have missed something, I'd be willing to consider changing my call. I don't know if I would take the word of spectators, but let's say it's a outfielder who admits the ball tipped off his glove and over the fence, knowing full well that it will be a 4-base award. That kind of honesty should be respected, and I believe that kind of confession should be taken into account when reconsidering a call.

If I could change a clearly wrong call to a good call... definitely maybe.

To be honest I don't know if the diamonds were checked prior to the start of this mini tournament, but I would assume so. ( course you all know what *** u me means.) These were all Level 5 umpires, 2 of which are going to the games in China.
The outfield fence in this park are made of a material that resembles a vinyl, plastics type. They are very light and are made to be adjustable, depending on who's using the field, Ladies fastball, men's fastball or slo-pitch. They are about 10 years old and they say the sun is breaking them down. Last year during the men's ISF Worlds a pitcher actually put a ball thru one section while warming up.
As per the sit mention in the opening post, they are not sure if the batted ball just went thru a weak spot in the fence or if there was actually a hole there according to a local sports enthusist.
Some one has said that there is plans in the works to purchace a different type of fence for this complex within the next 2 years.

Who cares if they were checked. You dont go check home run fences and have them repaired before the game unless the wind is blowing them down. A hole in a fence is a non issue.

You never walk the field before the game?

Rarely. The only time Ive ever had a home run fence fixed, which consisted I think of some rope and duct tape, was because the wind kept blowing a section down. I'm not wandering around the out field. Thats lame.

While lame, it's what I do for a big game. I can clear up most situations in advance, and it shows the coaches that I care enough about their game that I start things as prepared as possible.

For most of the league games I call, I don't really need to do that unless there's been a big downpour. The leagues around here are so gun-ho about getting games in, they sometimes overlook big safety issues. If I've got a safety issue on the field, I won't let the game continue until it's fixed.

a hole in the home run fence is not a safety issue.

If I show up for a game and am doing the equipment check and my partner is wandering around the outfield having holes plugged in the home run fence, i am going to be irritated and know what kind of smitty I am working with.

Hole in a fence is a ground rule, not a repair issue.

This wasn't a safety issue.

If the hole was there before the game started, it might have helped for the umpire to have been aware of it, but it was not a safety issue.

I know it's not a safety issue, but if you spot it in advance, then you're aware of it in advance, rather than being surprised when all of a sudden, "oh, there's a gap."

It was probably a one-in-a-million shot, but well... Looks like we have a winner.

I'll take 50/50 odds straight away of getting it right on a 1 in a million shot anyday. And its a lot less time and energy pregame wandering around the outfield. :D