Stealing Home - Ughhhhhh

[Greenmonsters]

PET PEEVE ALERT!

Stealing home is NOT when a runner scores a run when they decide to advance AFTER seeing the pitch elude the catcher! The runner that does score in this situation is properly said (and ruled by the official scorer) to have advanced/scored on a wild pitch or passed ball rather than being credited with a steal of home. Yes, I readily agree that it is far simpler and easier to say or write "stealing home" or "no stealing home allowed" than it is to say "advanced and scored on a WP or PB" or "no scoring on WPs or PBs allowed", but I can't help it, it irritates me nonetheless. Rant over, sorry!

I'll confess my bias. As an ex-catcher and the father of a current catcher (DD) and ex-catcher (DS) and former coach of other catchers, I believe in the NECC slogan "Thou Shall Not Steal" and have taught my catchers that their objective is to allow 0 steals/passed balls/wild pitches (i.e., a good catcher can prevent all stolen bases, all passed balls, as well as most wild pitches). As such, a run scoring on a WP (of course it wasn't a PB), although still distastefull, is less insulting than calling that advancement a "steal of home".

Catchers take pride in their work and can be most proud when they have nothing to show for it - as in no SB, no PB, and no WP.

 

[CLM265]

OK, take a slow deep breath in and a big exhale. Slowly repeat 3 more times. It's OK.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Stolen base stats are largely worthless unless it's the NCAA. I doubt more than 2 percent of scorekeepers understand the difference or correctly distinguish among those situations at home or any base. Very few rule 'indifference' on stolen bases at second when the defense concedes the base.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Stolen base stats are largely worthless unless it's the NCAA. I doubt more than 2 percent of scorekeepers understand the difference or correctly distinguish among those situations at home or any base. Very few rule 'indifference' on stolen bases at second when the defense concedes the base.

Agreed. And from what I've seen, not all NCAA SBs are equal either!

 

[Greenmonsters]

OK, take a slow deep breath in and a big exhale. Slowly repeat 3 more times. It's OK.

Thank you, breathing (and venting) do help.

 

[JAD]

I think scorers need to differentiate between stolen bases, passed balls, wild pitches, and catcher indifference any time a base runner advances.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I think scorers need to differentiate between stolen bases, passed balls, wild pitches, and catcher indifference any time a base runner advances.

Even those who attempt to differentiate may struggle to get it right. ... Example: Runners on first and second go on the pitch. Catcher drops the ball. Is it a passed ball because the catcher dropped it? Or is it stolen base because they were going on the pitch? Is it one stolen base or two? I'm pretty sure that's a double steal, but I was having a debate with another coach on that recently. ... Then with wild pitches and passed balls, that's very subjective. At the higher levels, you can expect a catcher to stop balls in the dirt in front of them. At younger/lower levels, those plays are pretty tough. It's very hard to get scorekeepers on the same page both objectively and subjectively when it comes to SB, WP, PB, etc.

 

[Indiana]

I agree that the catcher's job is very difficult, especially when a pitcher is facing very tough batters that she is trying to pitch around. Likewise, the scorekeeper's job is very difficult and shouldn't be taken lightly by anyone in the stands who happens to have a pencil handy. Is it tempting to just write "SB"? Yes. Should one? No. Every effort should be made to make an accurate assessment of each and every advancement around the bases, even if it is a youth-ball type of a mess where the temptation is to just write "huge mess, no idea, 20 runs just scored somehow"
GM, if you are talking about college, then I'm surprised at the lack of astuteness from the scorekeeper? I can't imagine a situation in college where a run scored would be a straight steal of home???

 

[Sweet Lou]

I think scorers need to differentiate between stolen bases, passed balls, wild pitches, and catcher indifference any time a base runner advances.

You are correct but how it is ruled really depends on the competitiveness of the league. That is
rec - everything is credited a stoled base
B-travel - unless you have a decent scorekeeper, probably same as rec
A-travel - by12 U and above scorekeeper really should start getting this right
High school - should be consistent with A-travel, that is scorekeeper should get it right assuming they know what they are doing
NCAA - has official scorer for each game right? You'd think they would know the difference at this point.

Oh and if a runner is stealing on the pitch (not after it is by the cacther) it is still a stolen base even if the pitch would have been a PB/WP had the runner not been trying to steal.

 

[CPSBDad]

OK, so lets say it's not a WP or PB, but the pitcher's lack of attention to the runner of 3B who is attempting a delayed steal. If the runner makes it home, even with the pitcher attempting to make a throw, do you award the runner the steal? Going from 10U to 12U the runners were then allowed to attempt a steal of home and a few coaches played the game this way. I saw this done to our 14U team TWICE because the pitcher wasn't paying attention to the runner on 3B.