To Appeal or Not to Appeal
Quiz 1
In nearly every two-umpire game, one of the coaches will ask one of the umpires to “get help from your partner”. Some of the situations are “appealable”, while others are not. At the pro camp, one of the MLB umpires told me that he went for help from his partner only 3 times in 28 years (and he still regrets 2 of them). He also lamented that he saw the umpires huddle three times in one game. This is likely where coaches are getting the idea to appeal every close call.
After each of the plays below, assume that you made the call, but are asked to “get help from your partner”. What should you do in each?
1. The batter check swings and the plate umpire calls “ball”. The catcher asks the plate umpire to get help from the base umpire.
2. The batter check swings and the plate umpire calls “strike on the swing” (or more properly “yes, he went”)? The catcher asks the plate umpire to get help from the base umpire.
3. The plate umpire calls “foul” on a ball that was clearly fair? The offensive wants the plate umpire to get help.
4. The plate umpire signals “fair” on a ball that was clearly foul? The defense wants the plate umpire to get help!
Quiz 2
1. The batter hits a grounder to the shortstop, who then throws over to first. The batter-runner touches first base before the ball is caught by the first baseman, but the batter-runner is called out by the base umpire? The offense wants the base umpire to get help from the plate umpire.
2. The batter hits a grounder to the shortstop, who then throws over to first. The throw from shortstop to first base pulls the first baseman off the bag. The first baseman swipes at the batter-runner and appears to touch the batter-runner before he gets to first base, but the base umpire calls the batter-runner “safe”? The defense wants the base umpire to get help from the plate umpire.
3. The batter hits a grounder to the shortstop, who then throws over to first. The throw from shortstop to first base pulls the first baseman off the bag. The first baseman swipes at the batter-runner and appears to miss the batter-runner, but the base umpire calls “out on the tag”. The offense wants the base umpire to get help from the plate umpire.
Quiz 3
1. The throw from shortstop to first base pulls the first baseman’s foot off the bag, the base umpire calls “out”. The offense wants the base umpire to get help from the plate umpire!
2. This happened to me last week in a varsity game – the plate umpire (me) calls “strike two” on a ball that was likely out of the strike zone (hey, we all miss a few). The 3rd base coach called “time” and asks me to get help on the pitch. What would you do?
3. This also happened to my partner in that same game last week – the base umpire calls the runner at first “out” after a real nice pick-off move by the pitcher. The 3rd base coach asks the base umpire to get help from the plate umpire on the pick off. What should the base umpire do?