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I did not hear the story directly from the umpire it happened to so cannot verify its truth, but I was told we did have parents locally that filed a claim against an umpire for a damaged bat. The umpire tossed the bat out of the way and it hit the chain link fence. Parents said it had broken the bat and filed a claim for damages. |
I had a catcher recently where on every batted ball she tossed her mask into the left side batter's box right where I was going. I finally explained to her that the ump will always go that way on a batted ball so would she please stop tossing her mask in my path. She said she didnt know and she stopped. :rolleyes:
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I've never seen (while umpiring or observing umpires): A) A thrown ball hit a discarded bat. B) A runner or fielder trip over a discarded bat. C) A play affected in any way, positive or negative, by a discarded bat (other than, of course, the batted ball hitting a bat or a discarded bat hitting a batted ball ... which is surely outside the scope of what we're talking about here) I do want to ask ... which of these problems have you seen happen that you and your association is trying to avoid by moving the bat? Quote:
A) Umpire missed SOMETHING while either moving to the bat or reaching for the bat (and yes, this can be fixed with increased training) - "something" includes more than one obstruction, one obviously missed base that I and everyone but him saw - that one resulted in an ejection eventually, one ball that was thrown out of play and the umpire incorrectly ruled where the runners were when the ball was thrown. Probably others in this category that I don't definitively recall right now. B) One threatened lawsuit that was settled. Bat was expensive. Player's father claimed bat was broken when the umpire tossed it aside into the pole of the fence. He didn't throw it hard - but it was enough to give at least a shred of validity to the possibility that the player's father was right. The league paid for the bat. C) One innocuous discarded bat was picked up and thrown aside, hitting an on deck batter who was behind the umpire watching the play. (Worse on this one, there was never any potential play at the plate - no runners on, typical single to right - no need at ALL for the umpire to even think about the bat ... but he did.) D) One discarded bat was picked up and tossed, landing on and breaking the snap on a discarded catcher's mask. |
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I don't buy the "broken equipment" argument. A player can take 500 hits at batting practice and drop/toss the bat every time they get a hit in a game and they want to blame the umpire for the broken bat? These are the same cheats and liars who want their entire 2002 Honda Accord painted when they get into a fender-bender. |
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A thrown ball hit a discarded bat a couple of times. A fielder (catcher) trip over a discarded bat. Runners trying to avoid a discarded bat several times. So therefore "C)" is true. If they have time I quite often see either catchers move a bat or a scoring runner grab the bat. I have also seen professional umpires move or even pick up a bat. Because they have 3-4 umpires on the field they sometimes have more time to do this than a PU in a one-man or two-man game so it may or may not be practical for a smaller crew to do so. |
Since there is no requirement to discard the bat, maybe there should just be a rule which makes in INT any time the discarded bat affects a play or player.
And yes, I am being facetious, but OTOH, why would this be a bad idea?. |
I've been hit by a thrown ball and a batted ball; I've tripped up both runner and fielder; I have never been intentionally moved by anyone during a live ball, nor have I ever been accused of interfering with a play.
What am I? |
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A base? |
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It's gotten to the point where umpires should do nothing but call the game like automatons and then leave. We cannot show emotion, we cannot engage in friendly conversation with anyone, we cannot touch the ball or bat or mask for fear of someone perceiving it as favoritism. When did softball become so anal when it came to umpires being caring? When I umpired baseball my first ten years or so, we would do things that nobody would bat an eye about. During between-inning warm-ups, if the catcher missed a pitch, the plate umpire would reach into his/her bag and toss another ball to the catcher, not make the catcher go back to the backstop and get the loose ball. The same was the case on foul balls down the line; the plate umpire would give the catcher another ball, and the loose ball would eventually get tossed back in to the umpire. On a play where the catcher would toss his mask off, the plate umpire wouldn't think twice about picking it up after play ended and handing it to the catcher. Same with the bat on a foul ball when the batter would run down to first and then come back. That kind of stuff is verboten on the softball field. And I really don't know why the powers-that-be make it that way. Do we really have to be less human than our baseball counterparts? Is it really that harmful to the game? Does it take that much away from the professionalism of the umpire? I just don't get it. |
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And I don't think it is the "powers that be" decide that as a control decision, but as a reaction to the players, coaches and parents. Again, JMHO |
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