Fair or Foul

[Rich]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

I'm in the "never guess an out or a strike" camp.

Yes, I always remember a fly ball down the line above the lights, that had to be a guess.

I've never been in that camp. Why should the offense get the benefit of any doubt?

[chuck chopper]

I'm in the FAIR camp as well.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by Rich

I've never been in that camp. Why should the offense get the benefit of any doubt?

General principle of umpiring and see Manny's post.

Also, why should the defense?

[MD Longhorn]

I think his point was not that the defense should get the benefit of the doubt, but rather that no one should. Make the best call you can, based on whatever information you have - don't necessarily default to either fair or foul if you're not sure.

I don't believe calling it fair and hoping partners had more information later is good strategy either... 99% of the time, they are going to have no help for you on this call - their either have no angle at all or other responsibilities.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

There are two ways you can approach the problem:


1) If you did not see the Ball hit in Fair territory then rule the Ball to be Foul; or


2) If you did not see the Ball hit in Foul territory then rule the Ball to be Fair.


MTD, Sr.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

I think his point was not that the defense should get the benefit of the doubt, but rather that no one should.

Of course, but no smilies in the edit function.

[Dakota]

First, make the best call you can with the information available. If that is foul, call foul and live with it.

If you have a partner, and he is in a position where he could offer some help, the suggestion to rule it fair and then ask for help is a good one, since you can always go back to foul after the fact, but you can't go back to fair once you kill the play. Sure, you can attempt to place runners, but that is always messy.

Or, you could use the "who's fault is it, anyway" rule... if the base coach or a runner is blocking your view, it is foul. If the fielder is blocking your view, it is fair!

[Linknblue]

Guess I should'a said, single man umpiring. I think I'm liking Dakota's solution best........oh well. Thanks

[UmpireErnie]

Similar situation..

We have a complex with two dedicated fast pitch fields and two set up for slow pitch. On a couple of dates we need to use the slow pitch fields for fast pitch. Temp fences are set up which do not quite extend to the foul lines on either side so a dead ball line extended from the end of the temp fence to the side fence.

My feeling was if I had doubt that a batted ball went over the line on the fly or if it bounced just in front I was going to call a double.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

General principle of umpiring and see Manny's post.

Also, why should the defense?

It's not a general principle of umpiring. For example: If you're not sure if the defense pulled a foot at first base, he/she didn't.