How do you handle this

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Gulf Coast Blue

Many years ago, I had a partner that went out on every flyball to the outfield. Caught me by surprise the first time he went out on a routine ball........

He also tried to come back in after the catch to help with coverage a few times. Pretty nightmarish for me to be on page 1 and he was on page 1082.

Had a chat with him between innings and he told me that was his job....He got all of the catches in the outfield and the infield was mine.

Also had a chat with our UIC.....

Sounds like a guy from the FL panhandle that I and a few fellow local umpires have dealt with in the past.

[/war story]I was working 1B in a WC championship game in Plant City and we were being evaluated for certification purposes. First inning, ball down LF line, U3 starts out. I come inside, watch BR hit 1B, see the ball just being picked-up by LF and take running into 2B. All of a sudden, U3 appears out of nowhere in the infield. I look at him like, WTF are you doing here? He just smiled. As I move to my position, I look over and see HP making notes. I think, "great, just what I need during an eval." Next batter hits another down the LF line, U3 starts out, I peek to make sure PU moving to holding zone watching R1, turn to see BR touch 1B and take runner into 2B and WTF! Here is that idiot again, damn near standing next to me. I look over my shoulder and my roommate working the plate is laughing his ass off, knowing that I'm gonna be pissed if this guy keeps running all over the field. I look at Henry and he is just shaking his head, making notes.

Following inning, nobody on, hard line drive up the middle going to the fence, I button hook, watch BR touch the base and look for U3 before rotating to home and he is AWOL and there is a throw coming to 2B. He is hanging out just off the line near 3B, so I have to break back toward 2B for a close call. Luckily, the ball wasn't handled well by F4, so a call wasn't necessary.

After calling time, the PU is having a little conversation with U3 who is just smiling his ass off. The whole game went like this. Drove me crazy. I think he thought being involved in as much as possible would reflect well on his eval

[/war story]

That is the problem not knowing what your partner is thinking or intending to do. As the PU, I have every ball until my partner(s) indicate otherwise and, yes, turning your back to the infield is an indication that you have the ball. The only problem is, I've had partners NOT on the line go out on a ball that is. As much as I might want to hang that partner out to dry sometimes, it isn't the teams' fault, so I will not do it. But holding on the line for fair/foul can make it difficult to cover a distant base.

That's why though it needn't be a long, in-depth conversation, it should probably be at least mentioned in the pre-game.