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SCOOBY42
17 Posts |
 Posted - 06/26/2012 : 16:16:40
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| I lost my bracket game this weekend to a good Gwinnett Yankee team. One play in particular caused me to lose a little sleep and i need you all's take on this. We had a call overturned at the plate because my kid did not slide. Now on the play it appeared that that catcher was up the line. To avoid malicious contact my kid avoided the kid and touched home plate without sliding. The intial ruling was safe on the play however, the Yankees coach protested that the kid should have slid. After a brief conference the umpires reversed the call and ruled him out. My problem with that is if my kid decided to make attempt to slide he would have had to literally go through the catcher to gain access to the plate. If this happens there was chance for an injury because my kid is HUGE!!! At what does safety come into play? By the way we lost 7-6! |
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Spartan4
913 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 18:30:57
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| Never really liked that rule, I think it should be based upon the intent or if the hit was malicious. By moving up the line you have taken all the options away from the runner, his only legal option is to return to 3rd or walk into an out. If a catcher knows this rule he just sets up 3 feet up the line for the throw and the runner is screwed either way. Not in favor of rules that change the game, a collision at home is a dangerous play but an extremely rare one. As long as the runner doesn't try to blow up the catcher(not even a fan of that in the bigs) I think it is just part of the game. Players can slide in hard and try to take a catchers legs out and that happens all the time, I don't really see the difference....The runner has momentum but the catcher has all the protective gear. We had a play this weekend where one of our boys ran into the catcher but it was TOTALLY unintentional as the catcher was in front of the plate and when he failed to catch the ball he came back across the plate. Even if our player slides the catcher is taking a fall, opposing fans cried about it but the opposing coach(seems like a good guy) and umpire showed a little common sense. With the size difference it would have been much worse had it been intentional. But I'm sure before too long will start to see who we can sue because a catcher got hit...Opposing coaches, players, parents, USSSA etc. etc. etc.... |
Edited by - Spartan4 on 06/26/2012 19:09:43 |
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bluecup
49 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 20:18:46
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Isn't the rule that the runner must slide or avoid contact? There is no must slide rule in USSSA, it's must avoid contact unless you slide.
http://www.gausssabaseball.com/images/uploads/pdffiles/Rule_Book.pdf
Rule 7.07G
As long as the runner avoided contact with the catcher and didn't jump over him, it should have been ok under USSSA rules, as I read them. |
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coachtony
236 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 23:25:49
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I am not sure if this is the "official" way anyone would present it but I have always heard that the slide is not mandatory, but if he DOES NOT slide there are only 3 other options.... Give Up, Go Around, or Go Back.
I dont know if they teach this in Umpire Training or not but it is what I have been told. Maybe one of the current Umpires can shed some light on this?
--T
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christheump
351 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2012 : 08:21:51
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| Give Up, Go Back, or Go Around. Blue got it wrong. |
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SOGAS
143 Posts |
Posted - 07/01/2012 : 23:15:55
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We had this rule come into play twice this season. Once where the catcher of the other team was up the line about 5 feet. The throw was off the mark forcing the catcher away from the plate and up the line about 5 feet. When the catcher came out he was inside the foul line and my runner was outside the line. The ball was not only up the line but was also high causing the catcher to jump up and back across the line to attemp to catch the ball at which time he jumped right into my runner and got up-ended. He did not make the catch and the home ump called my runner safe, the opposing coach came out and argued the call. The 2 umps conferred and declared my runner out. I went out to get an explanation on the call and the homeplate ump told me that he had to avoid contact. I said that if that was considered the runners fault then that's a play I needed to add into our defense and as I was returning to the 3rd base coaches box, the other coach started demanding that the runner be ejected because he didn't slide. Blue said they were no malicious intent and didnot eject. Was the right call made?
The other occurence was when I had a kid on 2nd, base hit down the 3rd baseline with the runner in motion, left fielder comes up with it and fires home, other coach is screaming for his pitcher to backup home. Runner is coming home and beats the throw by a fraction as the catcher catches it and trys to swipe the tag. However the pitcher reached the area approx 1 foot past the plate about the same time as my runner and a violent collision occured injuring their pitcher. One of the other coaches came unglued wanting our player called out and ejected. Our player never saw the pitcher until about the time he hit the plate and only a 1/4 stride away from other player as both arrived at same time. Umpire ruled safe and their fans got very nasty. The head coach apologized and told his asst coach to let him handle it and turned around to me and said blue made the right call in that there was no intent on the runners part. Was the right call made? |
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LilBigTown
115 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2012 : 09:27:46
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| unfortunatly too many umpires get hung up on the wording of the rule book. As ex Div. 1 official I learned early... BE IN THE CORRECT POSISTION TO GET THE PLAY RIGHT!!! CALL THE OBVIOUS AND YOU WILL NEVER GO WRONG BY DOING WHATS CORRECT...Typically guys that know all the rules inside an out struggle to have good judgement.. strange but very true |
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christheump
351 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2012 : 11:31:02
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quote:
Originally posted by LilBigTown
unfortunatly too many umpires get hung up on the wording of the rule book. As ex Div. 1 official I learned early... BE IN THE CORRECT POSISTION TO GET THE PLAY RIGHT!!! CALL THE OBVIOUS AND YOU WILL NEVER GO WRONG BY DOING WHATS CORRECT...Typically guys that know all the rules inside an out struggle to have good judgement.. strange but very true
Oh how true...... |
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