Re: Here's a good one

Just curious why an "Experienced catcher 7 year starter" would wait for a foul ball to stop rolling. From a defensive standpoint not a whole lot of good things can happen to a foul ball that is still moving if you chase it down and stand over it to watch it.

Umpire is right, The White line is in Fair territory. If catcher touched ball while ball is touching white line well then it is a fair ball. Instead of arguing with the umpire you should have been yelling at your catcher to touch the ball when it was 6 feet away and not to just watch the ball spining and rolling along

Why wouldn't the catcher pick it up when it was foul ? Sure hope there wasn't two strikes on the batter as well.

Sounds like the batter/runner did the right thing and kept running until the umpire made the fair /foul ball call

If the ball was still moving- even spinning in one spot- it had not met the definition of a ball that had "settled" before passing first or second base. It's entirely possible for a spinning ball to kick away at an odd angle, as it hits a rock or digs into the dirt. I've seen it happen myself. If the ball was touching the foul line when the catcher touched it, fair ball would be the correct call.

If that's what the umpire truly saw and judged, then he made the only call he could make. Maybe his explanation was confusing to you or maybe he explained it poorly. Next time, instead of "jumping out and arguing", why don't you try calmly asking for time before approaching the umpire for an explanation. You're more likely to get a better explanation if you take that approach, as opposed to taking an aggressive, argumentive position.

If this umpire really did (in your opinion) "call everything against you" the rest of the game, that is wrong on his part. No umpire should let a single disputed call influence the calls he makes after that. Of course, we have absolutely no way of knowing if this guy was really jacking you over, or if they were just close calls that didn't happen to go your way that day.

Talking with the other umpire for his input is a valid concept- on some plays. This play probably wasn't one of them.

The ball was six feet from home plate and the plate umpire should have been all over that call- right on top of it. The base umpire is, at minimum, at least 60 feet away AND has the responsibility of watching not just one, but two advancing runners on this play. Asking him for input about the ball being, literally, an inch or two one way or the other is unrealistic. If the plate umpire is sure of what he saw, and given the distance and responsibilities of the base umpire, I can't see any valuable input coming from the base umpire.

I've had a lot of times where a coach will ask me to check with my partner at entirely inappropriate times, not because I was blocked out of the play, screened by a player or obviously missed something. They're just not happy with the call and fishing for a second opinion. In those cases, I don't have any problem just saying, "No", when asked to go for help. And it has nothing to do with "courage".

If a coach convinces me that I have a rule wrong, or that maybe there was something I missed on the play, I don't hesitate to either get help or admit my mistake. Doesn't happen very often, but it has before and probably will again sometime.

[highlight]Umpires states " The ball had stopped rolling, but it was still spinning ......... When the catcher reached for the stopped ball it started to re-roll at a 90 degree angle and touched the line, therefore fair ball "[/highlight]

I guess I'm confused. If the ball was touching the 1st base line when the catcher picked it up, then "spinning or not" or "re-rolling or not" is irrelevant.

Fair Ball.

The catcher should not be WAITING for ANYTHING. Once the ball goes foul, the catcher should wack it with her glove. She doesn't have to pick it up. All she has to do is touch it--- and she SHOULD touch it AS SOON AS IT IS FOUL. No exceptions. You wasted your time with the ump. You should have spent it with your catcher.

FstPtchctchrdad:

Still never got an answer to my question why an "Experienced catcher 7 year starter" would wait for a foul ball to stop rolling.

I was the catcher. I didnt wait for the ball to stop moving, I was waiting for it to roll into foul territory as it was still on the line. As soon as it was completely in fould territory I grabbed. The ball was in place (all the way in foul territory) and spinning when I picked it up, not touching the line.

If that's the case. no one here had a better look then you and the ump. no need for us on the forumn to agree or disagree. ?judgment call. ?how many inches was the ball from the line? was your body blocking the umps view when you pick it up? maybe the ump last site was the ball touching the line when you touched it.

I may be reading the post wrong ? Seems that now the coach and catcher have conflicting stories

Sundial - I think you're right.

[highlight]Says coach:
[/highlight]
"Batter bunts - ball goes rolls foul about 6 feet from home plate.
Catcher chases ball down - stops over it and waits for it to stop rolling. (Ball is still in foul territory)"

[highlight]Says player:[/highlight]

I didnt wait for the ball to stop moving, I was waiting for it to roll into foul territory as it was still on the line.

No wonder blue was confused.

And now the coach has deleted his post and disappeared.

I saw that. ?Hey [highlight]FstPtchctchrdad[/highlight][highlight][/highlight] - what gives? :-?

Another umpire bashing gone bad.

Wonder if anyone involved will get in touch with the umpire to apoligize

That's twice in a few days that the original poster deleted their posts. If you start a thread and it doesn't go the way you want, I guess it's ok to just delete it and confuse everyone who comes to read it later. Leave em up!! For the most part, nobody knows who you are anyway. There's nothing to be embarassed about.