I saw something at a high school game yesterday I had never seen before. Have you ever seen an umpire lose the ball in the sun?

 

Hopkinsville's batter crushes a pitch high in the air down the left field line. It just so happens that the sun sets over the left field fence at University Heights. The ball carries right into the sunlight. I was sitting behind homeplate with glasses on and shielded my eyes and still lost flight of the ball. So did both umpires. The HP umpire slowly walked down the line as the ball headed to the corner. He then cocked his head sideways and didn't make a call either way. We knew he had lost the ball in the sun, as had just about everyone else. They originally gave the batter a home run, but then the two umps conferred a little while longer and called it a foul.

 

It had no effect on the outcome whatsoever, but it was the first time I had seen an umpire lose the ball in the sun.

I saw something at a high school game yesterday I had never seen before. Have you ever seen an umpire lose the ball in the sun?

 

 

 

Similar to the anecdote in the book "The Umpire Strikes Back." The big league ump wrote that when Nolan Ryan's pitches approached 98-100 mph, the ball just seemed to dissolve. He never saw it after it left the hand. His optometrist told him that his eyes just couldn't refocus fast enough to follow the ball. So, the ump would just call the fast ones by the SWAG method.

 

One pitch was called a strike, and the batter said, "Sounded low to me." He couldn't see it either.

Also saw a strange one yesterday in Ryle's JV game. Leadoff hitter for Ryle has first pitch came at his head. As he attempts to get out of the way, the ball hits his ball and rolls a few feet into fair territory. The ump immediately (and incorrectly) throws up his hands and yells "Foul Ball." The hitter, somewhat surprised to see the ball in fair territory, starts to gingerly run towards first. The catcher, seeing the hitter decide to run, picks up the ball and throws to first, beating the runner. The home plate umpire and field umpire and confer and decide - incorrectly in my opinion - to call the hitter out. While it was indeed a fair ball, once the umpire has yelled "Foul Ball", he just killed the play.

 

But, umps are human and mistakes happen. It is the job of the affected team to not let such things affect your overall play and to figure out a way to win nonetheless.

Also saw a strange one yesterday in Ryle's JV game. Leadoff hitter for Ryle has first pitch came at his head. As he attempts to get out of the way, the ball hits his ball and rolls a few feet into fair territory. The ump immediately (and incorrectly) throws up his hands and yells "Foul Ball." The hitter, somewhat surprised to see the ball in fair territory, starts to gingerly run towards first. The catcher, seeing the hitter decide to run, picks up the ball and throws to first, beating the runner. The home plate umpire and field umpire and confer and decide - incorrectly in my opinion - to call the hitter out. While it was indeed a fair ball, once the umpire has yelled "Foul Ball", he just killed the play.

 

But, umps are human and mistakes happen. It is the job of the affected team to not let such things affect your overall play and to figure out a way to win nonetheless.

 

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:I think you mean bat or it would have been dead ball and the batter would have got first if he could have walked that far.:laugh:

 

But you are correct ,once the ball hit the ground and was declared foul, it should have been a dead ball and treated as foul.

 

I guess that hits the ground is in there because if the ball flew over the center field fence. and it was called foul then they could change it to fair.

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:I think you mean bat or it would have been dead ball and the batter would have got first if he could have walked that far.:laugh:

 

But you are correct ,once the ball hit the ground and was declared foul, it should have been a dead ball and treated as foul.

 

I guess that hits the ground is in there because if the ball flew over the center field fence. and it was called foul then they could change it to fair.

 

Yes, indeed I meant bat!! Typing a little too quick, I guess.

 

This is funny. Later in the game, a (different) player swung at a pitch that was way inside, missed it, and it hit him directly in the . . . . well, what you referred to in your post. :lol:

:lol: Ouch!!!

Crappy part of the game, but regular season games don't mean much. The lack of experienced quality officials is a problem in a lot of areas. Not saying the umpire was right or wrong, because I was not there and I know how fans are about their teams.

I don't know about the 55th district, which both these teams are in, but it sure makes a difference in our district, the 56th. We seed for the post season.

The thing I don't understand is how can he call the runner out on the catchers tag if he thought the ball was fouled and dropped. It seems like the foul call was some sort of an after thought.

 

That's the point I am trying to make, except you did it in a couple hundred fewer words than I did. Nice job.

Bad call or not you need to let this game go... Its a sign of a good player coach etc. if you let these things go and roll off your back... Tough break but thats the amazing thing about baseball is there is always tommorrow.

 

You are missing my point. The game has been "let go" for more than 10 days. The Wolfe County players understand that "getting hosed" is completely out of their hands, and they have rebounded very well, and are playing pretty good baseball right now.

 

 

Just passing information on, and was wanting to hear other posters comments, and maybe past experiences.

 

 

BTW, one more point. In NO way am I suggesting that this horrible call(and even worse, the way it was handled), cost Wolfe County the game. They led 5-2 late, and could not close the deal. Give the Breathitt County players all the credit in the world. They did not give up, and did what they had to do in order to win, especially the Bobcat player who benefitted from the bad call and given the extra strike. He did what he had to do, and took advantage of it. My hat is off to him. What I will say, is that this horrible call was a CONTRIBUTING FACTOR in the outcome of the game.

Got to remember that coach of Breathitt used to be an umpire in this region for a long time before taking over as coach, and he also still referees with most of them too. So if he questioned that his player foul tipped the ball, they probably went with that without even thinking the play through.

 

 

 

I think you make an excellent point here.

 

 

Everything I posted earlier was as accurate as I saw. Everything I reported, I also asked others who either participated or witnessed the game to substantiate what I have said.

 

 

The next thing I am going to say is something I did not personally witness, but one Wolfe County coach and one fan collaborate on the same story:

 

 

Both told me that after the third out was called and the Wolfe County players were running off the field, the Breathitt County first base coach ran to the home plate umpire, arguing the ball was foul tipped. Coach Napier then came out of the Breathitt dugout to argue, and somehow, the call was changed. I did not personally see this happening, as I was watching the Wolfe County players huddle on the first base line.

 

 

If this were true, then it is surely a shame. At the home plate meeting before EVERY game, the umps remind coaches that ball/strikes and out/safe calls are not to be argued with, nor will they be reversed. If this were the case, then the Breathitt County coaching staff certainly did help reverse a call.

I try to watch as many games as I can and it seems to me that many umpires are very inconsistent with calls in general especially balls and strikes. I like to see a good game where inside and outside corners are called along with knee to letters strikes. I guess that s still the strike zone, but you NEVER know that by the way a lot of umpires call the games now adays. Maybe they should have schools and make it mandatory to attend to be able to call games. As stated before I just wish that there could be a little more consistency in the GAME that we all love so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have no trouble what-so-ever with an umpire accidently calling a dropped foul tip strike three, then IMMEDIATALY changing his call when he realized he made a mistake. To not make the immediate change on his call, then call the batter out on a tag, THEN change the strike to a foul AFTER THE ENTIRE TEAM RAN OFF THE FIELD is just ludicrous.

I could see the story you told happening. The only thing I can't imagine is waiting that long to make a decision. If he felt it was a foul tip, that's fine, but what took him so long to come to that conclusion? Sounds pretty sketchy to me.

 

My sentiments exactly, but I'm afraid that is exactly what happened.

I saw something at a high school game yesterday I had never seen before. Have you ever seen an umpire lose the ball in the sun?

 

Hopkinsville's batter crushes a pitch high in the air down the left field line. It just so happens that the sun sets over the left field fence at University Heights. The ball carries right into the sunlight. I was sitting behind homeplate with glasses on and shielded my eyes and still lost flight of the ball. So did both umpires. The HP umpire slowly walked down the line as the ball headed to the corner. He then cocked his head sideways and didn't make a call either way. We knew he had lost the ball in the sun, as had just about everyone else. They originally gave the batter a home run, but then the two umps conferred a little while longer and called it a foul.

 

It had no effect on the outcome whatsoever, but it was the first time I had seen an umpire lose the ball in the sun.

If both umpires lost sight of the ball, what made them decide it was foul? Just wondering!

Also, not enough $ for the abuse they take.

 

If your an umpire you still gotta know the rules though.

 

I witnessed yesterday a runner on first and two outs. Batter strikes out and the ball goes to the backstop. Batter takes off to first. Plate umpire immediately calls the batter out. Coach of the team that was batting is livid (for good reason). Both umpires confer and play stands. Batter is out, inning over.