Umpire... grrrrrr!

[REALLY]

Then I guess the next question would be no outs bottom of the last inning tied game why didn't they go after the lead runner...

[dittoz]

Who cares? This is about a changed call...

[wadeintothem]

OOK, sorry.. only had a few minutes to read it this morning. I've given your scenario a good read through.

There is great pressure in a tourney to stay on time as much as possible. Especially on Sunday when 1 field so dramatically affects another field.

There is never enough pressure to cause a cheat the girls though.. If a field runs behind, it runs behind and thats just a lump we take. On the level - I would never want to hear this about our umpires. I know for a fact that no one in umpire administration or tourament administration would ever want that expect that or accept that.


PM Sent to you dittoz.

[dittoz]

Got it - thanks Wade - back atcha...

Cannot imagine this was an attempt to stay on time. I know there was an HB game a week or two back when the Grapes went 12 innings and it REALLY killed the schedule, but this was still well within the time frame - time had expired during the top of the inning and we weren't more than 5 mins past.

I just don't know what this guy was thinking. He really had a dumbfounded look on his face when everyone told him he had called time - as if he didn't realize he'd said something. But to simply say "no I didn't" and walk away... that was a real insult to the 20+ parents and coaches that clearly heard it!

[anonlooker]

We walk the first batter which is never good, then second batter hits a dinker toward 3b. F5 comes in and fields and throws to 1b but the throw is off a bit. F3 comes off the bag and goes down real low to pick the ball off the chalk as BR1 (totally accidental) puts her knee into F3's cheek. Both girls go flying...

Ball stops about 10' away, F3 is down on the field holding her face and BR1 stops on 1b. BU throws his hands up in the air and hollers TIME, likely thinking there's an injury here. About the same time, BR1 sees the ball sitting on the ground and takes off for 2nd, then third, then home, never hearing the umpire. Everyone else is in slow motion. As parents, we're not worried about the runner since BU called time so we're all looking a the injured F3. Then the most incredible thing happens...

BU walks over and picks up the ball, hands it to PU and they start walking off the field! The coaches immediately sense what is about to happen and stop him - he says game over. Coaches say (politely), "excuse me Mr Umpire sir, you called time out. How can the runner score if you called time out...?" Then an even more incredible thing happened... Mr. Umpire says "No I didn't!"

Now as parents, we were all 10' from him when he did this and if we somehow misunderstood his "TIME" shout, the hands in the air were an interesting addition and the coaches who were standing amongst us also heard it, as did our defense on the field. Our coaches pointed all this out to him and he simply stood there with this dumbfounded look on his face and repeated "No I didn't". The PU apparently never heard or saw him, so wouldn't comment, but even the 1b coach for the now-winning team later said he heard it too.

Only thing I can figure is that with two injured players in the dirt, what the concerned parents and coaches thought was "Time!" (what they might expect to hear) was in fact "Safe!", and the "hands in the air" in fact a safe signal.

Heads up to the runner for advancing to score. What I don't get is while she was circling the bases, why it didn't occur to anyone on defense to scoop up the ball and stand in front of the plate? You know, just in case.

Which leads to a question - when should the blue call time in an obvious injury situation? Is it standard to wait until the play is completed? In more severe cases, will (or can) you call time immediately?

[MTR]

Which leads to a question - when should the blue call time in an obvious injury situation? Is it standard to wait until the play is completed? In more severe cases, will (or can) you call time immediately?

Speaking ASA

This was changed a few years back to allow a team to react and provide assistance quicker to a possible serious injury. The umpire can then award any runners the bases they would have reached had the ball not been ruled dead due to the injury.

I think it was a good change since it got to the point of coaches running onto the field during play ignoring an umpire's direction. My problem with this is the inconsistency in which it may be applied and the position it places an umpire in should they not believe the injury to be serious when it is. Most umpires are not trained medical professionals, so erring on the side of safety, IMO, is a good thing. However, one time I did see a coach start arguing with the umpire because he didn't agree with the base award.

[Tucson]

Perhaps someone else yelled "time" and people thought it was the umpire. ?? I have had that happen. Then, the parent or whomever is so embarrassed that they don't own up to it.

I was coaching once against a doofus that I knew really well. My team was batting. He was sitting outside his dugout on a bucket. My batter hit a little dribbler down first base line. He yells "Foul ball!" Everyone freezes. The ball lands fair. 3rd baseman picks the ball up and throws to first. My batter never left the batter's box.

[Coach11]

My batter never left the batter's box.

Oooh....laps for her.

I always stress the importance of running it out, no matter how obvious a foul ball it MAY be.

Two ways anyone can tell when one of my teams is on the field....

(1) Players running out what is obvious to everyone else is a foul ball.

(2) Everyone anywhere near a ball field knows who's "GOT IT"!

[dittoz]

wasn't a fan - I was too close to the dugout and the umpire. Plus, when the hands went up in the air, it clearly sync'd with the time call. Wasn't a "safe" call - hands were up.

Bottom line is, the call was made and he later denied it. Whether by intent or he simply wasn't aware that he had said something in the heat of the moment, the girls went home early as a result. Maybe we would have lost anyway after having 2 runners on with no outs, but it's a lot easier for the coaches to point to failed defense than it is to a failed umpire.

[REALLY]

I'm still trying to figure out this scenario= 14U, No outs, No time, bottom of the inning why are they throwing at the BR2? Worst case if you miss the BR1 at second you still have a force. And to answer your what does that matter if they would have thrown to second then F3 never would have taken the knee to the cheek in the first place and we might not be having this converstation IMHO