Strangest thing an Umpire has said to you?

[Comp]

The original post stated the batter never left the box, and it never said anything about raising her hand. Is it still IP if the batter simply said "Time, please?" but did nothing else?

Why would it make a difference if the batter said time and did nothing else? The pitcher apparently reacted to something the batter did and stopped the pitching motion. But, it is actually also covered in the rules.

NFHS 6-2 ART4 e No pitch shall be declared when a player, manager or coach calls time or employs any other word or phrase or commits any act, while the ball is live and in play, for the obvious purpose of trying to make the pitcher commit an illegal pitch.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Why would it make a difference if the batter said time and did nothing else? The pitcher apparently reacted to something the batter did and stopped the pitching motion. But, it is actually also covered in the rules.

NFHS 6-2 ART4 e No pitch shall be declared when a player, manager or coach calls time or employs any other word or phrase or commits any act, while the ball is live and in play, for the obvious purpose of trying to make the pitcher commit an illegal pitch.

And the bold is the only reason a batter ever requests time???

 

[Comp]

And the bold is the only reason a batter ever requests time???

Why is the batter requesting time after the pitcher has already started motion? If the pitcher has already started, benefit of the doubt is going to the pitcher and I am not going to call an illegal pitch caused by a reaction to something the batter physically did or said to request time.

 

[BStine]

Runner on 1st base. Foul ball over our first base dugout. Next pitch is a single and runner at 1st goes to 3rd base and is standing on the bag. With play presumedly over, we motion to the plate umpire to throw him the ball that was foul. He motions to us to throw it to the catcher. As we are in the process of getting the ball to the catcher, the runner at 3rd breaks home and scores.

Our head coach argued the play was dead and why would he, the umpire, motion for the foul ball from the previous play? Umpire says and I quote "I can do two things at once".

WTF? Needless to say our coach got tossed and had to appeal to the AD just to be able to coach the second game.

Reminds me a bit of something that happened last year in our 9U rec championships. (A bit of background: 9U in our rec league is the transition between t-ball and girl pitch. Half the season uses a catapult-style machine, and then the second half of the season introduces pitching.)

So we're in the championship round, but since we got there via the loser's bracket we need to beat the team we're playing 2 in a row to win. The PU for this game is the head of umpires for the league. He has a reputation as a bit of a hot-head, but is generally a pretty good ump. In this game he is going out of his way to explain his calls to the girls, which I appreciated. 9U is all about development after all.

In the 3rd or 4th inning, we're playing the field. One down and a girl on first. Batter hits it back to the pitcher who fields it cleanly and tosses it to 1B. Ump charges down the line to make the call. He starts to call the runner out, but our 1B clearly bobbles the ball so he changes his call. So far so good. He then stands in fair territory, directly in front of our 1B, and explains why he made the call. During this time, the runner who started on first comes all the way around to score.

When the PU comes back toward the plate, one of the assistants is calmly asking, "She has to go back, right?" I hadn't said anything yet, expecting him to send her back on his own. Ump ignores her and doesn't say anything, so my assistant asks again. Ump responds, "Run scores." This finally wakes me up, "Wait, what? Why doesn't she have to go back?"

"Your player didn't get the ball back to the pitcher."

"Because you were standing in front of her!"

He's getting mad now. Yells, "Call stands!"

"Come on! You were right in front of her, lecturing her on the call! What was she supposed to do?"

Really mad now, "She could have went around! There's nothing wrong with her feet!"

"Really? What 9 year-old would have presence of mind to do that with you right in her..."

"CALL STANDS! One more word and you're gone!"

I'm sure I grumbled a bit, but managed to keep my mouth shut well enough to not get tossed. And even though he raised his voice first, I'm still embarrassed that I responded like I did. But it didn't cost us the game or the series, and he did come over after the game and admit that he was wrong, which also gave me the opportunity to apologize to him directly.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Why is the batter requesting time after the pitcher has already started motion? If the pitcher has already started, benefit of the doubt is going to the pitcher and I am not going to call an illegal pitch caused by a reaction to something the batter physically did or said to request time.

I like your stance on that particular situation, however neither the OP nor the rules are specific about the batter doing it AFTER the pitcher started their motion. I presume you wouldn't automatically call "No pitch" if the batter requests time before the pitcher started their motion (e.g. while pitcher has paused for an unusually long time while in position on her plate). Where do you draw the line?

FWIW, I find it odd the NFHS effect you quoted is under a rule that doesn't involve pitching or requesting time.

NCAA has something similar in 11.2.5 and I presume they're drawing the line once the pitcher has really/simulated taking a signal from the catcher.

I haven't found anything like that in ASA rules - is it in their rules or an official clarification/ruling?

 

[Comp]

Asa 6-10-e

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Asa 6-10-e

I had that one - it's the same as NFHS 6-2-4 and NCAA 10.10.7 with the "obvious purpose" clause. I'm asking for an ASA equivalent to NFHS 7-3-1.Eff2 and NCAA 11.2.5.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Why is the batter requesting time after the pitcher has already started motion? If the pitcher has already started, benefit of the doubt is going to the pitcher and I am not going to call an illegal pitch caused by a reaction to something the batter physically did or said to request time.

They wouldn't be the first batter to get a dust particle in their eye. But, what about the part of the rule that says "for the obvious purpose of trying to make the pitcher commit an IP"?

 

[Comp]

I don't know about other areas but at least in my area we are told if the pitcher obviously stops because of some action by the batter to call it a no pitch situation. I agree, wouldn't be the first batter to get some dirt in their eye, but how convenient would it be to suddenly get dirt in their eye with the winning run standing on 3rd? As I already stated, if the batter does something out of the ordinary and it causes the pitcher to react, the pitcher is getting the benefit of the doubt.

 

[WaSpeed02]

One word, two syllables, "Protest"

Oh, yeah. Our coach had a long talk with the local association director. Let's just say we'll never have that umpire in any of our games ever again.

Another call this guy made: We're in the field, runner on first, and their hitter hits a line drive to right field. Our RF has a cannon and she successfully guns down the runner attempting to take 3B. She was out by 3 steps, wasn't even close. In fact, the play happened right in front of me and the girl never even made it to the bag. LOL The field umpire calls her out immediately. Both teams head to the dugouts and half of their players are warming up taking infield. Our hitters are ready to go. During this time, the other head coach has been talking with the PU. He comes out to talk to the field umpire and engages in what looks to me like an argument between them. Then he pronounces the runner safe and tells our girls to put their bats away and go back out to the field. As I'm sure you know, this is complete insanity. Our coach is beside himself....and in the span of the next 10 minutes, one of our assistants is 86'd by the PU along with a parent. Their crimes? After questioning yet another BS call, our AC calls time and asks blue a question, to which he was given a rude non-reply. Our AC said, "well that's par for the course." That was enough to be sent to the parking lot. A parent (who happens to be a lawyer) yelled, "What are you trying to prove, Blue??". He too, was sent on his way. Then blue threatened to end the game if someone else had the gall to question him.

We've never had any problems with umpires. Our org places a huge emphasis on treating umpires with respect and dignity. In spite of that, this particular individual seemed to have it out for our team from the minute he began umpiring us (he did 2 games and both were horrendous). I pray we never have to experience anything like that again. Bad/missed calls we can handle. Umpires purposefully ruling against us at every turn and allowing the other (drunk and rowdy) team's fans to antagonize a bunch of 12 year old girls?? I can live without that garbage.