retroactive infield fly rule

[AlwaysImprove]

First, for it to be an infield fly the ball has to be catchable with normal effort. How did the ball end up on the ground if it was a pop fly to 3rd base?

And yes, they can call it later if they judged it to actually be an IFF.

Maybe they can, but it is bush to do so. It is also very confusing, and directly counteracts the purpose and intent of IFF. IFF is intended to to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping pop-ups. Calling it after the fact is dufus.

So many umps do not call IFF while the ball is in the air. Smart coaches should teach their kids at 16U/18g levels, if you do not hear IFF called, drop the pop-up and turn two. Then watch the umps step all over themselves as they try to clean up the mess.

So, what games to you umpire?

I have umped a number of games. I have never had a problem calling IFF. Umpires in this area have a regular fee of $1 for blown calls. For instance we had an ump that would often signal safe while calling out, that cost him a lot of $'s. Blowing an obvious IFF is definitely on the list. I have only seen good umps blow this on rare occasion.

I see bad umpires screw this up regularly. The same ones that are unable to call runners leaving early, or call obstruction or interference correctly. The ones that drift during the game.

Anyway, none of that removes the fact that delay calling IFF, while may officially be allowed, it is a dufus move. You have already screwed the pooch. The non-call clearly caused the defense to take a course of action.

Allowing a delayed call seems to allow no calling umps to justify their no call. One of these days a defense is going to put them into a world of pooh when they turn two after dropping the ball. UIC not going to be happy when he has to go out and unwind that mess.

[MTR]

Allowing a delayed call seems to allow no calling umps to justify their no call. One of these days a defense is going to put them into a world of pooh when they turn two after dropping the ball. UIC not going to be happy when he has to go out and unwind that mess.

So, again, you suggest we just ignore the correct call?

No one is justifying anything. Shall we also ignore obvious wrong calls when umpires have a bad angle and don't see a ball juggled on an attempted tag just because an umpire ruled a runner out, or maybe a pulled foot at first or maybe a ball off the batter's foot or hand? Or maybe an outfielder that may or may not have held the ball while she rolled over on her glove?

The hell with it! When the umpire screws up, lets just make her/him eat the call and the hell with getting it right!

[Iluvblue]

No, but when n umpires lack of a call puts one team in a negative situation, you rectify the call to the best of your ability to what would have happend had a clal been made.

Comparing what happened in my scenario to a wrong out /safe call is about as ridiculous as the original call in my scenario. You can easily fix the out/safe call after the fact as the delay in the call doesnt impact a later play.

This lack of any call whatsoever allowed the offensive team to have 2 runners advance that otherwise would not have been able to had the blue made the correct call.

So place runners at 1st and 2nd and move on. No advantage for blues screw up.

and by the way, if the correct call was called when it should have been called ( this is about as easy as it gets for an umpire... isnt it? at least in this particular play) we wouldnt have any issue at all.

[AlwaysImprove]

Allowing a delayed call seems to allow no calling umps to justify their no call. One of these days a defense is going to put them into a world of pooh when they turn two after dropping the ball. UIC not going to be happy when he has to go out and unwind that mess.

So, again, you suggest we just ignore the correct call?

No one is justifying anything. Shall we also ignore obvious wrong calls when umpires have a bad angle and don't see a ball juggled on an attempted tag just because an umpire ruled a runner out, or maybe a pulled foot at first or maybe a ball off the batter's foot or hand? Or maybe an outfielder that may or may not have held the ball while she rolled over on her glove?

The hell with it! When the umpire screws up, lets just make her/him eat the call and the hell with getting it right!

I am sure if you were umping a game and wanted to fix a no call, I would have no problem. You, or any ump that appears to know what they are doing, should fix the call. If runners ended up at 2b and 3b, I would probably have an issue, but other than that fix your mistake.

I am saying there are a lot of umpire crews out there, probably with less experience than you have, that routinely no call the IFF. It is a dufus move. Often they seem afraid to call IFF, like someone might get offended. I think they are underestimating the fire with which they are playing.

A defense picks up the ball and turns two, and then the umps are going to go out and unring that bell. I would then expect those umps to come here and ask why parents, coaches and everyone else at the park loose their minds when an ump is just getting things right.

[MTR]

No, but when n umpires lack of a call puts one team in a negative situation, you rectify the call to the best of your ability to what would have happend had a clal been made.

Comparing what happened in my scenario to a wrong out /safe call is about as ridiculous as the original call in my scenario. You can easily fix the out/safe call after the fact as the delay in the call doesnt impact a later play.

This lack of any call whatsoever allowed the offensive team to have 2 runners advance that otherwise would not have been able to had the blue made the correct call.

So place runners at 1st and 2nd and move on. No advantage for blues screw up.

and by the way, if the correct call was called when it should have been called ( this is about as easy as it gets for an umpire... isnt it? at least in this particular play) we wouldnt have any issue at all.

Or the player could have just caught the ball like she is supposed to do and the runners would still be 1st & 2nd.

As noted, the purpose of the IF is to not place the offense in an adverse situation. Well, the lack of a call didn't. Shame on the defense for not making the play.

I cannot tell you why it wasn't called, I agree it should have been. The LV tournament brought in a lot of outside umpires and maybe this crew was not familiar with each other and the miscommunications caught them in a mistake. However, because the failure of the rule being applied in a timely manner did not affect those it was meant to protect, the resolution is correct.

Of course, you could have a GAGA solution, but I'd rather those lines not be blurred by people making stuff up just to keep everyone happy. When you are ever on the other side of the play, you are going to want the umpires to do what is expected of them, not what they feel is fair in application, but not necessarily in the reality of the game.