Touching bases rule

Touching the bag

Excuse me sir do you know why I stopped you. "No I dont officer". You were doing 36 in a 35. "Are you serious officer". Yes I am. You know that lives are at stake here sir. At 35 lives are not at stake but as soon as you hit 36 I have no choice but to enforce the law.

Kid hits a HR in the playoffs to win the game. Umpire says he missed first base and calls him out. Come up with all the scenarios you want and research all the calls from the past you want. You will never convince me that the kid missing 1st base on a hr out of the park should determine who wins the game. That umpire is the kind of cop that stopped the car for 36 in a 35. BOGUS.

Officials in football are told not to call holding when it does not effect the outcome of the play. If a team runs a sweep to the right and the left tackle holds and in the opinion of the official it had no impact on the outcome of the play they are told not to call it. If they called every penalty they saw the game would never end. Thats a fact. If umpires called every game by the letter of the rule book and not the spirit of the rule book no one would want to come watch a game. Constant stoppage of play and converstions between coaches and umpires , arguments and explanations.

Do you believe that this happens. Team #1 is up 10 to 0. Team #1 hits a ground ball to short. Short makes a heck of a play laying out and gets up and throws a seed. Runner just does beat the throw but the umpire calls him out. As a coach of Team #1 do you go out and argue this call? If you are the kind of coach that would you are probaly the same coach that would want that kid called out that missed first base.

I would not want to win on a call like that. The kid earned the HR period. Ignore the ridiculous call and play ball. He did not gain and advantage and its a bogus call. I really dont care if anyone agrees with me or not. Its just how I feel. Do I want umpires to enforce the rules? Yes. Do I want umpires that have no common sense and have no ability to use good judgement that are going to be robots and work by the letter of the law period. NO.

 

Whose to blame is this situation well I think the umpires. I KNOW for a fact it is not a senior in high school. If you were at the game no-one except the South Mech Coach and the first base umpire ever even thought he missed it if he did that is. The head coach of West did not even know it until the 3rd base umpire told him. Needless to say I think this one subject that needs to be dropped becuase players read this everyday and West Forsyth does not need to hang their head in a great season about a call that was made by a gutless umpire. He was there that night to be seen and he was seen by alot of people either that night or the next day in the paper. Snow will not be remember for his great high school career for this but I feel we need to move on and talk about other items of intrust. CONGRATS to West Forsyth for a great year and good luck to South Meck.

Bottom line you dont make that call in that situation!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Season TITANS!!! The CPC is proud of you.

 

great post

 

How is the call by the umpire "Gutless".
Wasnt it the coach of the oposing team that made the appeal ? If thats true then the umpire made the correct call based on the rule book.

why would we want to drop this thread ? It has nothing to do with the particular teams involved. but it does involve Rules , Rule Interpretations and plain ole judgement calls.

 

Coach May is the man!!! :allhail

 

Coach May, Excellent!! You would have loved me as an umpire. But the truth is I represent the overwhelming majority of good officials who use judgment in applying the rules.


CPC...I'm with you on Dusty. He's is a good kid whose high school album is much fatter than this snapshot. He's heading to Lenoir Rhyne (I think), so Dusty will have many more days to smile.

 

It seems that some are insinuating that we did something wrong or unsportsmanlike when we appealed the missed base, and to do so is “off base.”



Coach Bagwell preaches to us all the time about “paying attention to details.” We routinely rehearse watching for missed bags daily, during our defensive drills. At the end of our scouting report meeting on West Forsyth, coach specifically talked about how that missed bases had cost South in the playoffs in previous years. He said, “ I will guarantee you that their will be a game changing play, maybe two or three, sometime during this contest. You have got to be ready to make that play.” He was urging us to “pay attention to the details” once again.



Once the appeal was made and the runner called out, it is irrelevant weather or not the base as actually missed or barely touched. Just like any close play, wrongly or rightly, what is called is all that really matters, regardless of the reality of the situation. Many a time, I felt, and know, that I had beat the throw and still have been called out.



To say that once the ball left the park, we had no play is also wrong. We had the same play that the hitter has when he taps back to the mound. When that happens, he hopes for an error. He still runs to first. If our pitcher throws the ball just wild enough to first and pulls the first baseman off the bag, he is ruled safe. The umpire does not interject is judgment that once the batter weakly hit the ball back to the mound there was noting he really could do so I will still call him out. Once the ball left the park, our one play was to hope and look for an error. While this error is not record as an E in the line score, it was an error nevertheless. That we practiced and then executed that play to record an out should be no indictment on our team or coach. Errors, both offensive and defensive are a huge part of the game.



From that point in the game, the score was tied. They had eight outs left, we had six. We out scored them 2-1 and then 8-0 the next day. That play recorded one of the 21 outs we needed.



West Forsyth was an excellent and strong team, and we had to battle the entire way to beat them and advance.



I am proud to play for a coach that plays with in the rules and spends that extra time in preparing us for any situation.

 

What about the 1st base coach???

I've been waiting to see if anyone would bring it up, but what was the 1st base coach doing during this incident? I have no dog in the fight and have no knowledge who he is, so this question is not personal, but merely intended to be thought provoking. We've debated what the Batter, Umpires, and Head Coaches should or shouldn't have done, but what is the 1st base coaches job in your opinion. Cheerleader? Spectator? Should he have been pointing to the base reminding the batter to touch all the bases? Just interested in your feedback.

Coach May, what do you instruct the first base coach to do?

 

Excellent Point

 

That's a pretty good one basehit.

In all seriousness, thanks for coming on here and giving your perspective. You did a great job of stating your case and stating it very well. We'll get a note to your teacher to give you an "A" on the exam you should have been taking when you came on here instead.

It is apparent that you guys work hard and are well prepared for all the little things. And I've seen you guys get runners for missing first on several occasions on doubles and triples, where in their haste they may have missed first. Congratulations for that play. But many of us do feel that it is not appropriate on a home run that goes out of the park, that is the time instead to tip your hat to your opponent and then try to get it back on the field. At some point the desire to compete and the win-at-all-cost mentality get a little crossed up and go haywire, and in my opinion this is one of them.

Many of us wouldn't want the out that way. Some of us clearly would. Neither is right or wrong, but we certainly feel strongly about our views. We applaud you for doing what you've been taught and for executing as instructed. I have the utmost respect for Coach Bagwell, but I disagree with him 100% on this one. When you hit your next homerun I hope your opponents tip their hat and give you credit for what you've accompplished, but make sure you touch them all going around!

Please post more often. We love to get the players' perspectives.