Fly Ball Coverage SNAFU

[BretMan]

Originally Posted by SRW

Where could you have gone to get a better view of this catch/no-catch?

Maybe off to the side more, to get a little more of a "cross view" instead of being straight on. As it was, I was about even with the left side of the pitcher's circle and maybe 3/4 of the way to the pitcher's plate. That's about as far as I could get before I had to get set to make the call.

Our UIC was out in the right field corner...much farther away, but he had an almost 90 degree angle across the path of the ball and the path of the fielder. He said that he had a catch on the play...and also felt that it was tough to get a better angle when coming out from behind the plate.

Anyhow...we survived this game and made it to the next day. The next day I'm scheduled to work with a very experienced umpire who has done college ball, whom I have never worked with before. We are doing our pre-game and the subject of fly ball coverage comes up.

This is when he tells me that (in two-man) an umpire should NEVER go out on a fly ball unless he has started in the "A" position.

I questioned that. I said that as a practical matter, you might want to avoid going out if you're in "B" or "C", but that it is a permissible mechanic.

He was adamant that "our umpire manual (ASA) says to NEVER go out from "B" or "C".

Not wanting to get off on the wrong foot, I told him that I would not go out from those positions today...but that we both should probably double check our umpire manuals after our games were finished.