Umpireʼs Call 7 – Footballs and the Strike Zone by Umpire David (aka ʻThe Docʼ) In this post Iʼm going to cover three things: Footballs Why ʻBlueʼ, Why was that called a strike? 1. Footballs Mea culpa! I was ʻconfidentʼ in telling people that it was against the rules to stop a legally hit baseball […]
Umpireʼs Call 6 – Time Plays by Umpire David (aka ʻThe Docʼ) These situations donʼt occur that often, but more often than you might think. They are tricky, especially if there is only a plate Umpire, for in that situation he/she has no field umpire to follow out an outfield fly hit, or watch that […]
Here are a couple of plays that have recently occurred in the first few games Iʼve umpired this 2016 season. Situation 1 Iʼve touched on this topic before. It addresses the issue of the ʻjuggled-ball actʼ. Infield hit, fielded by player and thrown to first base. First-base-man makes the catch — sort of — […]
I’d like to cover a few points of ‘Umpire’s judgements’ in this posting. It’s been some time since I posted last in ‘Umpire’s Call’, so I’ll try to cover a host of umpire’s judgement situations. As you all know, there are many situations in a baseball game where rules apply and are also subject to […]
General Manager Michael B has posted a query to me about a situation involving what appears to be fielder obstruction, so I thought this would a be a good forum to explain. “A ruling question for you. If a runner on first runs into the first-baseman (1B), who is not fielding the ball, but is making […]
Hello and welcome to Umpire’s Call. This week’s subject is Bases awarded to runners on overthrown balls and the like. This often seems confusing, but needn’t be. DON’T OVERTHINK IT! There are two situations when bases are awarded to the batter-runner or to other runners BY THE UMPIRE: An overthrown ball that goes ‘dead ball’ […]
Hello and welcome to Umpires Call. Here I will be addressing some interesting parts of life as an umpire in British Baseball and some of the rules to our game. Let’s start with the frequently misunderstood ‘Infield Fly Rule’ (the IFR). Here are the key things to remember: The Infield Fly Rule applies when there […]
