Cheating or Aggressive Base Running?

[MoJo]

Which play is worse. The third base coach asking the 3rd baseman to toss him the ball and then sidestepping the live ball and sending runner home OR the play this guy got fired for?
I think the one this guy got fired for because it involved teaching players to cheat. Both plays deserve punishment.

Both are pretty bad.

Interference by base coach is pretty egregious.

Plenty of opportunities to call an out, eject the base coach and head coach.

Situations like this are 100% bullshit. There is no place for angle shooting or outright cheating.

 

[RiderJake]

After reading the article it seems to me the guy in his mirror only gets the credit -- everybody else gets the blame. He's the real victim here.

"A Malcolm High School softball coach says a social media storm over a controversial play he drew up at last week's state tournament cost him his job."

"Meyer, who does not work at the school and shares coaching duties with another person, said he was technically in charge of the team and took the fall for the play executed during the state tournament."

"Meyer, who played NCAA Division I collegiate baseball, said the play has been around "for years." He learned it himself as a high school freshman in 1989."

"Meyer said he replied to Chvatal via tweet in an attempt to shift the blame from the base runner to himself: "Thanks for noticing a well designed play. Appreciate the shout out."

"The Clippers, who eventually lost to Bishop Neumann 7-6 and went 1-2 in the tournament, practiced the play, Meyer said, but it wasn't executed exactly to plan. 'We have a young girl who got excited,' he said."

"Ultimately, Meyer feels he won't be able to find another coaching position despite leading Malcolm to multiple state appearances over his six years at the helm. Meyer previously coached at Lincoln North Star. 'I love coaching softball,' he said. 'I'll never be able to do that again.'"

Hell, people attach too much importance to social media storms... If Meyer lost his job because of this incident, it wasn't the end of life.

 

[RiderJake]

Both are pretty bad.

Interference by base coach is pretty egregious.

Plenty of opportunities to call an out, eject the base coach and head coach.

Situations like this are 100% bullshit. There is no place for angle shooting or outright cheating.

Absolutely, it's bullshit. And he needs some time away from coaching. Maybe forever, who knows. He'll go to kindergarten as a coach

 

[MoJo]

"Meyer, who played NCAA Division I collegiate baseball, said the play has been around "for years." He learned it himself as a high school freshman in 1989."

A single player/ coach doing this bullshit for 33 years. 33 years of umps, coaches, admin sitting on their hands.
Time to add this play to the rule books, ump training, and rule situation guide.

Pretty easy to adjust the rule of "running bases backward is a travesty to the game" to ....running bases in order of 1-4 o suffer penalty of an out to the player with ejection of coach and player.

It is the time and there is a need for a rule update.

 

[radness]

A single player/ coach doing this bullshit for 33 years. 33 years of umps, coaches, admin sitting on their hands.
Time to add this play to the rule books, ump training, and rule situation guide.

Pretty easy to adjust the rule of "running bases backward is a travesty to the game" to ....running bases in order of 1-4 o suffer penalty of an out to the player with ejection of coach and player.

It is the time and there is a need for a rule update.

Good morning DFP

Apparently they know how to make adjustments to the rules because
Plenty of other rules that have been adjusted

Not certain if there are more tricky sneaky snarky plays being implemented nowadays but they're certainly are more teams which may create more exposure including internet chit chat about it.

 

[Westwind]

I think they call it game management. And they manage the game however they want including the good old Score Based Strike Zone. Managing blatant cheating is beyond their ability. Not their job.

 

[Westwind]

Of course it’s possible that this was all unintended. The over amped runner wasn’t cheating, she was just too excited.

 

[nixxy311]

Of course it’s possible that this was all unintended. The over amped runner wasn’t cheating, she was just too excited.

If she had been one step off the bag it could have been unintentional. Coach shot himself in the foot when he said it was a designed play. Once you do that, you are cheating. This could have been handled way better.

It sucks that we know the ump saw it but can't do anything about it and the other team has to be on the lookout for this stuff.
I know some coaches teach their girls to leave early until they get called out. If you have enough traffic, it's harder for the umps to catch. Luckily most teams have extras in the dugout to watch runners but they have to be paying attention.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I know some coaches teach their girls to leave early until they get called out. If you have enough traffic, it's harder for the umps to catch. Luckily most teams have extras in the dugout to watch runners but they have to be paying attention.

If both teams take the same approach and no benefit is derived it's not cheating by definition.

 

[nixxy311]

If both teams take the same approach and no benefit is derived it's not cheating by definition.

Luckily we always seem to have enough parents who notice it and yell at the umps every pitch
I hate when parents yell at umps but I guess it does make them more aware of it even if it's not really happening.