quote:
Why do umpires allow the "in the neighborhood" dbl-play - this one really irks me sometimes(lol)
Not sure what level you are talking about.....at the MLB level with 4 umpires it was commonly known that it was to prevent injury of the fielder from a hard charging "take out"..and remember that these take out slides were made far away from the bases...with no intention of touching the bag.....
Usually the umpire required the ball to have cleanly beaten the runner....and in practice, this was accepted by MLB players and coaches...you'll rarely ever saw any argument from them.....
Now with the advent of HD and super slo motion, even that "neighborhood" play is going the way of the dinosaur....MLB umpires are not anxious to be shown on ESPN missing a call...
At the HS/college level since the take out slide is illegal and we have the force play slide rule, the neighborhood play is/should be rare and can be mostly pinned to bad mechanics rather than a "good enough" standard authorized or endorsed by a sanctioning body (NFHS or NCAA)
Below HS...in youth baseball, where training is not standardized or even some times not even provided, you can see this....as one of many umpires who post here, who are also umpire trainers, I can tell you the neighborhood play isnt taught....
In sub varsity or youth games where they only use one umpire, this clearly happens.....but its more a fact of the angle/distance/only can see so much drawback to having one umpire....
Heres how this can happen....and it did to me in this example....
HS Varsity game, my partner delayed by an car accident on the interstate left me to start the game alone...We do one man games from behind the plate....
2nd inning, man on first, ground ball to shortstop, I came out from behind the plate and make it to the area just left, and in front of the mound when the turn at second is made... ball beat the runner I signal one out and turn and move towards the play at first, and call the out for a 6-4-3 Double play...
Problem is, 2nd baseman took the throw a good foot or more behind the base, not visible from my angle, but highly visible to the first base coach and home fans in the stands...but the DP stands...
There are limitations to what can be seen in 1 and sometimes even in 2 man mechanics.....
This doesnt mean you arent seeing this happen out there, due to the shortage of umpires, there will always be the untrained, uninterested or plain lazy types who shouldnt be doing the job....
Hope this helps.....
