WARNING! This is a LONG post!
When I first started posting here a couple of months ago, I was responding to a post about the batter making contact with a batted ball while still in the batter's box. The talk had turned to the difference between the batter running into the batted ball, and the ball bouncing back to hit the batter. I made a comment to the effect that in the overwhelming majority of instances where the ball hits the batter, it happens instantly. I also commented on the extreme scarcity of the batted ball going straight down to the ground and just spinning in place - as had been suggested - as the BR kicks it on her way to 1B. I said something to the effect of, because it all happens in an instant, unless it's very obvious to all, any ump who calls that batter out instead of just a dead ball should watch for the mob in the parking lot. I was greeted with a couple of strongly critical posts about how umpires can't worry about the reaction of the teams or crowd, and just call 'em as we see them and then apply the rule. I always call 'em as I see them, and I almost always see the play that I just described as a dead ball, foul ball, let's throw the next pitch.
My point was that while we must follow the rules, we also must have a feel for the game. From time to time I work with an umpire who's very good, and often experienced and well trained in rules, but who seems to have no feel for the game. Whether that be the level of play (rec league or travel), type of game (fall ball scrimmage or summer tournament), high school varsity or 3 inning low level JV. And most importantly, no feel for the attitude and desires of the teams who are playing. That post brought to mind a play that will live in infamy in my mind as the perfect example of what I'm talking about, and what no doubt left its mark on me as an umpire for decades after the game - and even the memory of that game for others - had passed. Here's the story that formed my position on this so many years ago.
Men's modified fast pitch. Championship game of the Philadelphia Employees League. The league has teams from every department, in this case, Streets vs the Guardian Civic League. Basically, trash truck drivers (mostly Hispanic) vs cops. I've got the bases, and a senior ump with great credentials has the plate. Good game, low scoring, tied in the bottom of the last inning. GCL has 2nd and 3rd, I don't remember the outs. After the hit that set the stage with 2nd and 3rd, the pitcher tells PU he wants to put the batter on to load the bases. PU tells him he has to pitch to the batter. The pitcher gets pissed and starts bitching about it in Spanish, and then just sends that pitch in wildly, hitting way high up and off line on the back of the cage, as it goes rattling around for their catcher to go pick up. When he does it a second time, I get this horrible feeling, just hoping he won't roll the ball in to the batter, because if he does, the PU is likely to call it the illegal pitch that it would be. Third pitch is also a high cage rattler, but the 4th pitch isn't a pitch at all. I guess the pitcher got tired of showing his anger over having to pitch to the batter by throwing those wild pitches, so he lightened up and just rolled the ball in. Yup, he rolled the ball in to the batter to prevent the batter from hitting the ball. PU's arms went up, he yelled "illegal pitch" and motioned for the winning run on 3rd to come in and score. All hell broke loose! They were all screaming and (presumably) cursing in Spanish, and so were their fans! It got really bad really fast, and now the cops are stepping in to do what cops do - break up a riot! Grown men on the Streets team were physically holding back enraged players who wanted to get at the PU. I grabbed the big dope behind the plate and got the hell out of there fast. There was no parking lot, as this was in the city. We each went to wherever we were parked on the street and left. I was younger then and certainly less experienced, but the next time I saw this ump, I asked him why he made a call on a rule that no one else knew was a violation. His answer? "Because it's a rule. And just because they don't know the rule doesn't mean that I dont!"
There is a time and place for everything. I know that. And as umpires, we don't get to pick and choose which rules to apply - nor when to apply them. I get that too. But I maintain that there are umpires who have no feel for the game they're umpiring. Some, hopefully very few, are that way because they just don't give a shirt. But there are others - many more, I believe - who have blinders on, and regardless of the game and the teams who are playing, they're ruling by the book, so help them God. So, in the example I gave, it didn't matter that these were 2 teams full of hard working men, both with hard jobs, who had played for a few months to get themselves playing in the championship game. And it didn't matter to him that this tied championship game wasn't decided by a timely hit for the offense, or a walk by the defense, or even an extra inning game. No, it was decided by a rule that NONE of the people knew. That game should have been allowed to play to its conclusion, where one side knew it had won a hard fought battle, and the other knew it had lost a hard fought battle. Not because 1 of the 4 pitches to that batter was rolled in on the ground rather than thrown in 15 feet up in the air. Either way, all 4 pitches were to prevent the batter from hitting the ball, and the only one that could possibly have been hit with the bat was the one that was rolled in. So the PU was proud of himself for knowing and enforcing the rules, while the Streets team left, forever feeling cheated out of their shot at winning the championship. And the Guardian Civic League, while no doubt happy, left without the exhilarating feeling of a walk off hit, or even a walk with the bases loaded.
In retrospect, I wish I had been a more experienced umpire back then. I'm pretty sure that the me of today would have called time after that first pitch, and knowing what I knew about the PU, I would have explained to the pitcher that he'd better keep the pitch in the air and not roll it on the ground.
Thanks for letting me relive that long ago memory.
When I first started posting here a couple of months ago, I was responding to a post about the batter making contact with a batted ball while still in the batter's box. The talk had turned to the difference between the batter running into the batted ball, and the ball bouncing back to hit the batter. I made a comment to the effect that in the overwhelming majority of instances where the ball hits the batter, it happens instantly. I also commented on the extreme scarcity of the batted ball going straight down to the ground and just spinning in place - as had been suggested - as the BR kicks it on her way to 1B. I said something to the effect of, because it all happens in an instant, unless it's very obvious to all, any ump who calls that batter out instead of just a dead ball should watch for the mob in the parking lot. I was greeted with a couple of strongly critical posts about how umpires can't worry about the reaction of the teams or crowd, and just call 'em as we see them and then apply the rule. I always call 'em as I see them, and I almost always see the play that I just described as a dead ball, foul ball, let's throw the next pitch.
My point was that while we must follow the rules, we also must have a feel for the game. From time to time I work with an umpire who's very good, and often experienced and well trained in rules, but who seems to have no feel for the game. Whether that be the level of play (rec league or travel), type of game (fall ball scrimmage or summer tournament), high school varsity or 3 inning low level JV. And most importantly, no feel for the attitude and desires of the teams who are playing. That post brought to mind a play that will live in infamy in my mind as the perfect example of what I'm talking about, and what no doubt left its mark on me as an umpire for decades after the game - and even the memory of that game for others - had passed. Here's the story that formed my position on this so many years ago.
Men's modified fast pitch. Championship game of the Philadelphia Employees League. The league has teams from every department, in this case, Streets vs the Guardian Civic League. Basically, trash truck drivers (mostly Hispanic) vs cops. I've got the bases, and a senior ump with great credentials has the plate. Good game, low scoring, tied in the bottom of the last inning. GCL has 2nd and 3rd, I don't remember the outs. After the hit that set the stage with 2nd and 3rd, the pitcher tells PU he wants to put the batter on to load the bases. PU tells him he has to pitch to the batter. The pitcher gets pissed and starts bitching about it in Spanish, and then just sends that pitch in wildly, hitting way high up and off line on the back of the cage, as it goes rattling around for their catcher to go pick up. When he does it a second time, I get this horrible feeling, just hoping he won't roll the ball in to the batter, because if he does, the PU is likely to call it the illegal pitch that it would be. Third pitch is also a high cage rattler, but the 4th pitch isn't a pitch at all. I guess the pitcher got tired of showing his anger over having to pitch to the batter by throwing those wild pitches, so he lightened up and just rolled the ball in. Yup, he rolled the ball in to the batter to prevent the batter from hitting the ball. PU's arms went up, he yelled "illegal pitch" and motioned for the winning run on 3rd to come in and score. All hell broke loose! They were all screaming and (presumably) cursing in Spanish, and so were their fans! It got really bad really fast, and now the cops are stepping in to do what cops do - break up a riot! Grown men on the Streets team were physically holding back enraged players who wanted to get at the PU. I grabbed the big dope behind the plate and got the hell out of there fast. There was no parking lot, as this was in the city. We each went to wherever we were parked on the street and left. I was younger then and certainly less experienced, but the next time I saw this ump, I asked him why he made a call on a rule that no one else knew was a violation. His answer? "Because it's a rule. And just because they don't know the rule doesn't mean that I dont!"
There is a time and place for everything. I know that. And as umpires, we don't get to pick and choose which rules to apply - nor when to apply them. I get that too. But I maintain that there are umpires who have no feel for the game they're umpiring. Some, hopefully very few, are that way because they just don't give a shirt. But there are others - many more, I believe - who have blinders on, and regardless of the game and the teams who are playing, they're ruling by the book, so help them God. So, in the example I gave, it didn't matter that these were 2 teams full of hard working men, both with hard jobs, who had played for a few months to get themselves playing in the championship game. And it didn't matter to him that this tied championship game wasn't decided by a timely hit for the offense, or a walk by the defense, or even an extra inning game. No, it was decided by a rule that NONE of the people knew. That game should have been allowed to play to its conclusion, where one side knew it had won a hard fought battle, and the other knew it had lost a hard fought battle. Not because 1 of the 4 pitches to that batter was rolled in on the ground rather than thrown in 15 feet up in the air. Either way, all 4 pitches were to prevent the batter from hitting the ball, and the only one that could possibly have been hit with the bat was the one that was rolled in. So the PU was proud of himself for knowing and enforcing the rules, while the Streets team left, forever feeling cheated out of their shot at winning the championship. And the Guardian Civic League, while no doubt happy, left without the exhilarating feeling of a walk off hit, or even a walk with the bases loaded.
In retrospect, I wish I had been a more experienced umpire back then. I'm pretty sure that the me of today would have called time after that first pitch, and knowing what I knew about the PU, I would have explained to the pitcher that he'd better keep the pitch in the air and not roll it on the ground.
Thanks for letting me relive that long ago memory.