Hammer823 posted:RJM posted:I was once tossed from a LL game. An arrogant umpire (who thought he knew the rules and made great calls) made two horrible calls. When he screwed up a ruling (called a runner out for not sliding when there wasn’t a play on him) I calmly walked out to explain there has to be a play for “must slide.” A pitcher running in front of the runner trying to score on a wild pitch doesn’t have anything to do with must slide.
The rule is really must avoid contact. In this case the pitcher created the contact by obstructing the runner.
There is no rule requiring a runner to slide in LL baseball. The runner is out if they "do not slide or attempt to get around a fielder who has the ball and is waiting to make a tag". But there is no "must slide" rule. The only sliding rule is regarding headfirst slides, and players can only do that when returning to a base. If they headfirst slide at any other time they are out.
Like I stated in another paragraph it’s must avoid contact when there’s a play on him. To keep it simple for my players I told them they can’t truck the guy with the ball.
In this case the pitcher ran to the plate on a wild pitch and stood there as the runner crossed. He didn’t have the ball. There wasn’t a play. The pitcher created the collusion. But the details of the rules are irrelevant now given my son is now about to turn 26. The bad call and how I calmly handled it is the story.
The umpire became a LL lifer. I was told he never became even a decent umpire. But through the good ole boy seniority LL network he went in to do every level of the tournament including Williamsport.