A first for me.

I have never seen this before and I just wanted to check the official ruling.

Ball four with a passed ball to the back stop. The catcher never moved and reached back for a new ball from the umpire. Not thinking the umpire tossed him a new one. I was about to send my player to second but when the ball was tossed I froze and halt him at first.

First the game was not important so the issue was not addressed until in between innings. The umpire admitted he was wrong and did not realize he did it. No big deal just made fun of him for a minute.

My question if I challenged it or sent my runner what would of happened?

5/31/157:37 AM

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noumpere1,000+ posts

It's not covered in the book, so use rule 9.01(c) (in the 2014 rules).

I would play "what if" and give the runner second -- that's where he likely would have ended up if it had played out normally.

5/31/159:42 AM

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NYSUmpire10+ posts

I believe it would be covered by 5-1-1h. Umpire handles live ball or calls time to inspect ball or for other reason etc.

The proper award is Runners return to bases they had reached or passed when ball becomes dead.

Oh and the umpire looks really silly

5/31/1511:10 AM

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noumpere1,000+ posts

Originally Posted by NYSUmpire:

I believe it would be covered by 5-1-1h. Umpire handles live ball or calls time to inspect ball or for other reason etc.

The proper award is Runners return to bases they had reached or passed when ball becomes dead.

Oh and the umpire looks really silly

The umpire did not handle the "live ball" (it was at the backstop), and I don't see in the OP that the umpire called time.

5/31/1512:17 PM

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NYSUmpire10+ posts

True but by placing another ball in play that is the live ball now. It's a mistake either way and the umpire just has to suck it up with whats there. Not really any other way to address the mistake. Playing "what if" is a lot harder to explain than playing "what happened".

5/31/1512:28 PM

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boom100+ posts

The live ball was at the backstop. The catcher and umpire went through the same motions as if there was passed ball with no one on. Umpire didn't realize what happened until I told him in between innings.

5/31/152:23 PM

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2019Dad10,000+ posts

You have to hand it to the catcher -- his approach was A LOT easier and more efficient than chasing down the ball rattling around the backstop.