snookered on infield fly

[DownTownTonyBrown]

Originally posted by Dakota

I agree in this situation, it would have been better (IMO) to stick with the IF call, since the only issue was a judgment of ordinary effort.

However, I disagree with this part of your post that I extracted above if you mean this as an absolute. Did you mean this as an absolute?

ABSOLUTELY (of course there is the "Never say never approach and there will always be exceptions, but I am completely serious when I say an umpire must stick with his call - make the right call to begin with and then stick with it and it's consequences.)

The calls an umpire makes on the field affects the actions of the players. It would be totally improper to affect their actions and then say.... "Well, I'm gonna change my mind. - That wasn't really an infield fly... or that ball really was fair - I guess we need to keep playing." The reason is obvious. You can't go back and change their actions that were made based upon your call.

The importance of the calls you make cannot be underestimated. This obviously means that you should treat the judgement that goes into making those calls very importantly also - make the right call. And after it is made you've got to stick with it.