I've been an umpire for 36 yrs, and something happened the other day that stumped me.
First base is UNoccupied, less than 2 out. Batter swings at breaking pitch that's down and away for strike three, and is stepping toward first as he lunges after the pitch. Catcher blocks ball with his body, and ball bounces out in front of the plate.
The ball is rolling (in fair ground) right inside first baseline, and batter NEARLY steps on the ball. I can still see it, like it is in super-slo-mo...and I'm thinking to myself "what's my call if..."
Batter/runner makes contact with that ball?
Does it matter if the ball is in fair or foul ground?
Do I have to judge the batter/runner's INTENT?
Lucky for me, the ball never touched the guy; so I didn't have to make any decision.
My instinct says "play on" UNLESS I judge that the runner delibrately kicked the ball away from the catcher, but my partner thinks we ought to have killed the ball and rung up the out.
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