Dead Ball or a Foul Ball Out

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by BretMan

Man, that's a long speech. That's like the Gettysburg Address of plate conferences.

Some of it will probably just confuse them more than they already are. And some of it is flat-out inaccurate.

If a player raises her hands, then picks up the ball, it indicates to the umpires the ball is not dead? No, not if I saw it with my own two eyeballs and and decided it was already dead first. Then it doesn't matter what the player does. All that indicates is that she picked up a dead ball.

I quit saying anything about "raising hands" in my plate conferences a long time ago. Raising hands has nothing to do with any playing rule or umpire mechanic. I see it as more of a coaching issue than an umpire duty. We're going to call it dead if we see it go into a dead ball area and we're going to keep it live if we don't. Raising hands isn't going to change that. Let their coaches tell them how to react if they're chasing a ball near the boundary lines. We're going to our same job regardless.

No one said raising one's hand kills the ball. The pre-game IS for the coaches to direct the players. And what if you don't see it, tough shit for the defense?

I have no problem letting the know to raise their hands if they cannot cleanly field the ball due to it leaving LBT (and BTW that IS part of the ground rules and any effects which apply) and/or being obstructed by a fence or whatever. It doesn't mean the umpire is stopping the play, it just means that there is something that needs to be verified by the umpire prior to ruling it a dead ball. Reason is because if they feel they HAVE to play the ball, telling the umpire after the fact that there was an issue, not much the umpire can do about it at that point.

If the umpire does not have the ability to check the status of the ball, and not all gaps/obstructions are clearly visible from 50 yards away, how can I verify the defense's claim?

If all the fields were completely enclosed and maintained at a 100% level, this would very, rarely be an issue, but that just is not the real world.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

No one said raising one's hand kills the ball. .

A point I always make if covered during pre-game or a team's question.