Blocked out on fair/foul call

[Manny A]

This is really no different than what happens when you are blocked from seeing other things, and you have no help from a partner because you're flying solo.

How often have you had the catcher pop up on a high pitch, and you miss seeing the batter fail to check his/her swing? Or on a bunt in front of the plate, the catcher jumps up to go field it, and you miss seeing the ball hit the batter while he/she is out of the box? Stuff happens.

I didn't read any criticism other than of the constructive variety. You were told to do the best you can to not get blocked. But in those instances where you do, you just call what you feel is correct, based upon your best judgment coupled with the reaction of the players. You cannot use a default argument (it's assumed fair until proven otherwise).

[bluejay]

First... you don't get blocked out. You should be a few steps up the line anyway, and you should anticipate when you see the runner coming in on you and take a step fair or foul. You can't tell us you didn't have time to get anywhere and also tell us that the batter-runner was moving toward the running lane - which is halfway up the line.

M D, perhaps you do not realize how you come across but the above quote from your post seems critical to me. I admit I may be a little sensitive but when someone is asking for help you could give the help with a better tone.

[MD Longhorn]

Text has no tone - you put your own tone into it when reading. Nothing in the paragraph you quoted was critical.

[shagpal]

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Originally Posted by md longhorn

text has no tone - you put your own tone into it when reading. Nothing in the paragraph you quoted was critical.

[Altor]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Text has no tone

Why does my phone beep every time I get one then?

[bluejay]

How about your second sentence where you said "You can't tell us you didn't have time to get any where" I guess you never got blocked out so you wouldn't understand. Now I'm being critical. Look what you started!!

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by bluejay

How about your second sentence where you said "You can't tell us you didn't have time to get any where" I guess you never got blocked out so you wouldn't understand. Now I'm being critical. Look what you started!!

If I have NEVER been blocked, then (2) would be unnecessary advice.

However, the OP said he didn't have time to move, yet the BR moved into his way at the running lane, which starts 30 feet away. That's plenty of time to move SOMEwhere --- just gotta make sure that somewhere is productive. And with BR inside and appearing to move toward the line, a step or so outside probably would have made this call easier for him.

However ... if ANY of that was "critical", well - as umpires I'd expect most of us to have at least a LITTLE thicker skin than that. It wasn't intended to be critical - it was intended to answer the question. Move first, call with the info you have if necessary. Pretty straightforward, and I'm still not sure what advice would have managed to be non-critical.

If he wanted someone to say, "Call fair when in doubt" or "Call foul when in doubt" - either of those are bad advice, he's not going to get either of those suggestions here.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Point #1 - The biggest and best critic an umpire has is another umpire, hopefully a knowledgeable umpire.

Point #2 - It's a word and sentence to which the reader applies any character or infliction.

Point #3 - To answer a question where there was an issue, you need to point out what may have been the issue and how to possibly avoid it.