I've never seen this before

You are very right Rob. Until the pitcher touches the rubber, the ball is still live. And if the pitcher approaches the rubber while a play is still live or a runner is advancing, the ball is still live. I hope the coach was able to get his point across to the clueless ump.
I won't quote the rule book, but there has to be a stop in play and a sort of reset, ie. pitcher goes to the rubber.

Did you say a little lazy ?

Send the runner home.

You gotta love baseball.

Is this another case of umpires not knowing the game?

That is totally ridiculous

It gets worse every year

Coachric:

The ump knew he screwed up as soon as he did it. The coach yelled a bit, but didn't overdo it because everybody knew he screwed up.

The funny part was the lazy catcher whose non-chanlance made the umpire screw up. That's the first time I ever saw laziness pay off for a catcher!

I'm still laughing about it.

And some of us think we've seen it all in ths game, tomorrow's another day, another game.

Lets talk about umpires for a moment. Let me first say that I have a ton of respect for umpires. Most of them do a great job. But what do you thing about this scenario. Last week we turn a dbl play. The runner on first goes into second base standing up and the secondbaseman for us is trying to throw to first. The runner runs right at him and our kid has to throw the ball over his head. By luck the runner is very slow and the ball just beats him because its a rainbow throw. After the dbl play is made the inning is over. I walk over to the field umpire and ask him why he didnt call obstruction on the runner. He tells me that the kid did not obstruct the fielders ability to throw the ball. I told him that he did and he tells me that it was a judgement call. I then tell him as Im walking away that he used poor judgement. He them tosses me for being disrespectfull to him. I never raised my voice. I never cursed him. What do you guys think about that? Some of you might say just throw the ball through the runner and dont try to throw over him. I agree with that just throw the ball and make the runner get down. But the runner was stealing on the pitch and he was right on top of the secondbaseman as he was trying to throw the ball. The runner made no attempt to slide or avoid the fielder. Tell me what you guys think about this. Needless to say I am pissed for being tossed for no reason other than I questioned the umpires judgement. And I have to sit out two games. I will make the calls to the appropriate people to get my point across. BUT IM PISSED.

Hey Coach, easy now. You make a good point about what you saw. But in order for it to be obstruction, the runner at first would have to be safe, well better put, the runner going into 2nd would have had to cause the runner to 1st to be safe. Because your inf adjusted and got the out, there isn't any other call for the ump to make, other than out. Now, based on rules, he could warn the runner about sliding and could have signaled the runner at 1st out before the play at 1st was made.
I agree that most make good calls and do a good job, but the heat of the moment brought out your judgement comment and the ump used bad judgement in tossing you.
Many umps don't think hard when tossing a high school coach, the fact that some have to pay fines and have to sit out 1 to 2 games. It causes way more problems than we see when a coach is ejected.
I just saw a 15 yr old freshman get tossed for what was called bat throwing. The kid hit a pitch low and away and drove the ball to the top of the rc fence and according to the ump, the kid threw the bat when leaving home. The bat layed about 2 feet to the left of home by a rh hitter. The ump went out to 3rd where the kid was standing (triple) and tossed the kid. He's the best player and only cathcer they have. He is also a fantastic kid who wouldn't even talk back to the ump. The kid had to sit out the next game. He politely walked off the field. After the game, the coach and player asked for a better explanation of the rule, and the ump said he didn't have to explain himself.
I would have lossed what few marbles I have left, but they have moved on.

Coach May:

I think Coach Ric's explanation is correct. Obstruction would be the call if the infielder had been unable to make the play. The player committing the obstruction was out on the force out and the runner going to first was out on the throw. Therefore, there was no obstruction under the rule. Had, the runner to first touched first before the ball arrived, the proper call would have been "Obstruction, runner is out at first." As an umpire myself as well as a coach, I would have told you why the rule did not apply in that instance and, hopefully you would not have reacted the way you did. However, even if you would have reacted that way, I would not have tossed you. But, I would have warned you.

Coach Ric:

On the bat tossing, although it may depend on the league, there is a specific rule in general baseball that allows an umpire to "toss" a player for "tossing the bat". The reason for the rule is a safety issue. I have always given a player that "tosses" the bat the first time a warning. The second time he is thrown out of the game. The warning is my own twist on the rule because I think it is a bit harsh to throw a kid out the first time he tosses the bat but the rule allows it. Oftentimes, the thrown bat will hit the catcher on the knee or somewhere else on his body and the fact that it does not go that far away from home plate does not necessarily mean that it was not "tossed".

However, you may get somewhat different opinions from some umpires with far more experience than me if you post these questions on the "Ask the umpire" site.

TW344

Speaking of not seeing...

Bases loaded against us this past weekend in the bottom of the first inning, down 0-1 with 1 out. 0-1 count, and here comes the squeeze. Our pitcher and catcher executed perfectly with an impromptu high outside (right-handed batter) fast ball. Here's where it got interesting.

The catcher, who received the ball outside remember, heads for the third base line. But the batter, in his desparate attempt to make contact has lunged and is now across the plate in the catcher's path. After full-on contact between the catcher and batter, the catcher dives onto a sliding runner who beats him to the plate. Runner is called safe. And from all appearances, the ump did a good job to get into position to make the call.

Of course, our fans explode screaming interference and the catcher and pitcher are immediately pleading their case. The head coach is immediately on top of it, and a quiet, rational discussion ensues. Just when it looks like it's going nowhere, the plate ump confers with the field ump, and the call is reversed. They did it right, and got the right call. But I couldn't help but wonder how the plate ump missed something so blatent.

Last night, I was reviewing video with my son, the catcher. When we got to the squeeze play, we watched it a couple of times, confirming that we had in fact remembered it correctly. ...very obvious interference. Watched it a third time, slowing it down, and I watched the umpire. As he's moving into position and removing his mask, his hat slides down over his face. He quickly acts to get the hat up out of his eyes and clears it just in time to see the runner slide in ahead of the tag. There's no way he could have seen the interference. He made the only call he could see. His vision was temporarily obstructed.

I'm a bit surprised, in retrospect, that he didn't seek help immediately when the interference appeal was made. In fact, he argued his position for a solid three minutes before discussing the matter with the field ump. However, to his credit, he got it right.

isn't there a rule that the runner has to slide into 2nd on such a play?

and, just to nitpick, it would be "interference" on the runner, not "obstruction".

and, good call that it couldn't be interference if you still got the out.

TW, in the case of the bat tossing, no one saw the tossing. The ump may have, but he said that he gave an earlier warning, not to the player, but to the bench. Players on the bench confirmed this. The player who had allegedly thrown the bat was on 2b after a double. So he never actually received a warning. That was part of the coaches beef, but he never got an explanation.

Yes, bat throwing is a very dangerous thing, and if he really did throw it, and there was a warning, there should be a penalty. I was watching a majors game the other day, and the batter let the bat go, and it hit the catcher square in the side of the head. It wasn't intentional, but the catcher was down, and also, I am pretty sure they said he got a concussion. Imagine if it hit an ump in the side of the head where he has not helmet. Ugly.