Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire podcast. My name is Daryl, and I will be your host
as we take a look behind the mask, so to speak, sharing stories, insights and experiences
from the unique perspective of the baseball umpire. In this episode, we're going to talk
a little bit about some baseball rules myths and try to help debunk them. If you have any questions,
comments or ideas for future episodes, drop me a line at BlueCrewDiaries at gmail.com. So if
you're ready, grab your indicator and plate brush and let's hit the field.
All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire podcast.
This episode, as you heard in the intro, we're going to do some baseball rules myths. Some of
these I have heard over the years, just wherever. Some other ones of these I've actually heard on
the field while I've been working games. So we're going to go over a little bit of a list of them,
some of my favorite ones, and we're going to add a little bit of truth to them. And yeah,
pretty much overturn the myth, so to speak. One or two announcements before we start that.
As I believe I mentioned in the previous episode, the Eastern Maine Baseball Umpires Association
is hosting a baseball umpire clinic that is going to be on Sunday, January 26th,
2025. For those of you in the Eastern Maine area, it's going to be held at the University of Maine
in the Mahaney Dome, and it should be fairly interesting. We're actually going to be working
with the University of Maine baseball team and helping them get ready for their season, but also
helping to train some new umpires as well. This clinic is for anyone who is currently an umpire
or anyone who is thinking of becoming an umpire and wants to see what it's like.
We, or they, I keep saying we, I will be attending this clinic, but they will actually be conducting
a scrimmage game with the UMaine baseball team. And the umpires at this clinic will be rotating
in and out behind the plate or out in the field during that scrimmage. That's kind of going to be
towards the end of the day. So that should be pretty cool. I've never, up till now, I've never
stood behind the plate and actually had someone in the caliber of an NCAA pitcher throwing towards
me. I've only done Little League, and the highest I've done there is juniors. So it should be a good
day. If you want more information, just go to Google, search for Eastern Maine baseball umpire
association. And on their homepage at the top, you're going to see a link to umpire clinic.
And it's also also right on the homepage. You can click on that. It gives you some of the
information. And there's the registration box down at the bottom of the page for you to register.
Once you register, you should get an email from one of the instructors, you know, stating that they
received a registration and also send you like a PDF of more in depth of what the day is going to
hold. So check that out if you're in the Eastern Maine area and are interested in an umpire clinic.
It will be more or less a mechanics clinic. They're not going to be talking about rules
and stuff like that. So it's pretty much for anybody. If you want to work high school ball,
middle school ball, college ball, Little League, anything. If you are an umpire or you want to
become an umpire, this would be the clinic for you. And the best thing is the clinic is free.
So check that out. Second announcement I have is Blue Crew Diaries now has a Discord server.
Yes, I have jumped on the bandwagon and created a Discord. So I will leave a comment
or I will leave a link probably in the show notes here. Or if you're listening to this on YouTube,
it will be down in the description below. Check it out. I've got, obviously I don't have really
any content on it yet. I have put some stuff in the umpire training channel. Some stuff that I have
found helpful over the years. You know, the links to California District 4 YouTube channel, stuff
like that. But get a bunch of different text channels, get game reports. So if you work a game,
let us know about it. Feel free to subscribe to the server. I don't know if subscribe is
the right word, but you get the idea. Join the server. I've got some equipment discussion forums.
I've got one channel called Let's Get Physical. So if any of you have any sort of physical fitness
routine or pregame, you know, kind of workout or warm up, jump in that channel and tell us what you
do. It could help somebody. I've also got another channel in there for mistakes and learning
opportunities. So if you screw up during a game, let everybody know about it. You know, I mean,
don't, don't go in there shaming other people and whatnot. Just tell us your mistakes and
everybody else can learn from them. So yeah, check out the, uh, the Discord server and subscribe to
that. Also, if you are not already subscribed to the podcast, make sure you subscribe so you do not
miss out on any future episodes. I will be trying to get more and more episodes out.
Hopefully if I come up with more ideas for episodes. So getting into this episode's main topic,
baseball rules myths. I'm sure you've probably heard some good ones over the years, as have I.
So let's start with the first one. That being that the hands are part of the bat. Now we're talking
if the hands get hit by a pitch or something like that,
the way that I've always heard this, this myth debunked is when you go to the sporting goods
store and you purchase a baseball bat, do you get a pair of hands that come with the bat?
No, you don't. You simply get the bat. That's it. So no, the hands are not part of the bat.
So if you take a pitch in the hands, well, more than likely it's going to be a hit by pitch scenario
and you're awarded first base. That's it. The next one is if a batted ball hits home plate,
it is foul. No. And why is that not correct? Well, if you look at the foul lines, both the left foul
line and the right foul line, they come down and continue along the edge of home plate to the point
of the bat. So the bat is not a hit. The bat is a foul. So the bat is a foul. So the bat is a
nose. So you achieve And the thumb, you influence. I also like to try this
Qur'an, if a teapot does go down the plate, why is it呢, the ball goes straight down
It is not foul. Now, if the ball comes off the bat, hits the plate, and rolls
backwards into foul territory off the plate, then it's a foul ball. But if it
comes to a dead stop on the plate, or it hits the plate and rolls into fair
territory, it's a fair ball all day long. Hitting the plate does nothing. Here's
another one. Ball is dead on a foul tip. Now, let's kind of remind everybody what
a foul tip is. A foul tip is not a foul ball. A foul tip is when the bat makes
contact with the ball, with the pitched ball, and the ball is struck sharp and
direct into the catcher's mitt, and the catcher legally catches the ball. That is
a strike. That is not a foul ball. So, therefore, a foul tip is treated as a
live ball. It is a live ball strike. So, anything can happen. Runners can run.
Anything. You know, I love, for those of you who followed Red Sox for years, I
believe it was Jerry Remy up in the announce booth. You know, anytime the ball
came off the bat and went flying up into the backstop, well, there's a foul tip.
No, it's not a foul tip. It's a foul ball. A foul tip is goes straight into the
catcher's mitt and is legally caught. So, not a foul ball. Therefore, not a dead
ball. Here's another one that you tend to see more in Little League. On a third
strike that is not caught, and very, very, very good to distinguish the difference
here, it is not a dropped third strike. Everybody uses that terminology,
dropped third. Oh, okay. You guys playing drop third? Okay, yeah. We'll play drop
third. It is not drop third. It is third strike not caught. And the reason I kind
of harp on this is because dropped third strike makes it seem like the catcher
has to get the ball in the glove and then drop it in order for this rule to
apply. And that is not the case. If the pitch comes in, bounces off the dirt, and
then goes into the catcher's mitt, it is still not a legally caught ball.
Therefore, the third strike not caught applies. It's as simple as that. If the
pitch comes in, bounces off the chest protector of the catcher, and then goes
into the mitt, it's third strike not caught, if it is the third strike. So, very,
very important to make that distinction. So, on a third strike not caught, the
batter is out if they fail to attempt to advance to first base immediately. That
is not true. In little league, now this is kind of dependent on the rule
set. In little league, the batter can run to first base or attempt to advance to
first base pretty much at any time until they either enter the dugout or
enter a dead ball area. So, you could have a batter, third strike not caught,
they turn around, they walk back towards the dugout. They can get right to the
door of the dugout and then go, oh crap, I got to run to first base, and take off
running as long as they haven't entered the dugout or other dead ball area. And I
have seen that before. I've seen batters not realize that they have to run, or
they can run, and they walk three quarters of the way back to the dugout
usually on the third base side, which is funny because now they have further to
run. And eventually they get tacked out by the catcher anyway, or thrown out.
Let's see. Next one, going again with the batter, is the batter is not awarded
first base if hit by a pitch after the pitch bounces. That is false. A batter
getting hit by a pitch is a batter getting hit by a pitch. Period. So, I have
seen this. You will see this particularly in minor league, in the
minors little league. You will see pitched balls that bounce off the ground
and then hit the batter. Well guess what folks, that's a hit by pitch. So, as long
as the part of the batter that was hit by the ball was not in the strike zone,
like they're leaning way over the plate into the strike zone, as long as that
doesn't happen, take your base batter. Just that simple. Let's see. The next one,
kind of getting out into the field, and I've heard many many many different
iterations of this, and it is if a fielder holds a caught fly ball for X
amount of time, it's a catch. That is not true. I've heard it as well, you know, if
the as long as the fielder holds on to the ball for two seconds, or one second,
or five seconds, it's considered a catch. No, no. The fielder must have secure
possession of the ball and voluntary release. That is the key phrase here,
voluntary release. So, let me let me do up a scenario for you real quick.
Fielder catches a fly ball, starts to run in, because let's say it's a third out,
starts to jog back into the dugout, and the ball just magically pops out of their
glove and onto the ground.
Legally, that is not considered a catch, and therefore, that batter can still keep
running going around the bases, because they're not out yet. Now, same scenario,
except the fielder stands there, reaches into their glove, pulls the ball out, and
then accidentally drops it on the ground.
That is still considered an out, because the fielder had, there was voluntary
release. The fielder intended for the ball to come out of their glove. That's
why they reached in to the glove to pull the ball out. If they intend for that
ball to come out of the glove, it's still a catch. And in this example, it would
be a, oh, they dropped it on the transfer, it's still considered a catch. So, you'll
see this a lot of times with outfielders, they'll catch the fly ball, and then
they're trying to hurry up and get the ball back into the infield, possibly to
get a runner that is trying to get back to the base, because they hadn't tagged up
yet, or to keep the runner from getting to the next base, whatever it is. And on
the transfer, they accidentally drop the ball, literally. That's an on the
transfer. So, the initial catch for the out is still a catch for an out. So, it has
to have voluntary release. There is no time limit as to how long the fielder
has to hold the ball in the glove. And now, we come to, I was gonna save this one for
last, but I'll do it right now. We've come to probably the most widely known myth
in the history of baseball. I even heard this one, and granted the coach was
joking, he knew the rule, but I actually heard this one in a farm league game
this year. Okay? And that is, tie goes to the runner. I'm sure any of you umpires
out there listening to this have probably heard this multiple times. The
way I always sort of explain this rule is the runner has to beat the ball to
the base. It's that simple. Touching the base at the same time, at the same time
that the fielder catches the ball, it's not beating the ball. You get there at
the same time. Okay? You're still out. You have to beat the ball. You have to get
there before the ball. And one little axiom that I like to use is the only
tie that can ever happen in baseball is a score. And even that, at the end of the
game, there is no tie. Either one team is ahead or they continue playing. But yeah,
there's no tie goes to the runner. If the runner gets to the
base at the exact same time as the ball, the runner is still out because they
didn't beat the ball there. And that brings me to the last one that I have.
And that is that the home plate umpire can overrule another umpire. That is
flat-out false. No umpire. Doesn't matter if you're the home plate umpire or if
you're working like a foreman or a fore umpire. Sorry ladies. A fore umpire game. If
you're the crew chief, doesn't matter if you're the most senior umpire on the
field, you cannot overrule the call made by one of your partners. You cannot do
it under any circumstances. Now the original umpire that made the call, they
can, based off of information that they receive from their partner, they can
overturn their call themselves. But only they can overturn their call. So let me
give you an example here that actually happened to me in a game. I was over in
C, the C position over before in between second third base working a little league
majors game. And I forget exactly what happened but a runner took off from
second to third, got halfway, turned around, decided to come back. Now at this
time there was no runner on first. So it's not like the runner on second was
being forced to third. So they turn around, they come back because the ball
was thrown to second. It was initially going to be thrown to third. Then the
runner turned around. Now they're throwing the ball to second. The ball
gets to second. The runner slides
and I call the runner out. Now from what I saw the ball beat the runner. But I
completely spaced on the fact that it wasn't a force. So therefore a tag had
to be made in order to get the out. And the fielder at second base never made a
tag. They just caught the ball and then decided to try to throw to first. I called
the runner out by mistake. I got a little heat from the from the offensive
dugout as I should have. And about a week later the next time I saw that
particular coach he actually came over and apologized for for blowing up on me
in that game. But he had every right to because I made the wrong call. I screwed
it up. I admitted it. I screwed the call up. He had every right to get pissed off
at me and he did. But then later on he apologized. So kind of tells you the kind
of person that he is. And I have a little bit more respect for him now
because he apologized. So good dude. But I screwed up the call. So once all the
action was stopped I called time.
I got with the plate umpire who was kind of my mentor Darren. And at this point I
realized I screwed it up. So Darren and I get together. I flat out told Darren I
screwed that call up. Darren says yeah you did it wasn't a force he had to be
tagged whatever. Alright okay I'll take care of it. I turn around I pointed to
the runner I said runner safe. And that was the end of it. There was one lady who
she was just one of the spectators. She kind of gave me an earful basically
because she didn't understand what was going on and what the actual rule was on
that. So she gave me a little bit of a blowing up but big deal. So I changed my
call. Darren did not change my call. Darren gave me input. I asked Darren for
input. Darren gave me the input. I used that to reverse my original call to get
the call right. So at no time did Darren say hey I'm gonna overrule you. All Darren
said was hey here's the rule do with it what you want basically. And I did but we
got the call right. And one one little tip for you guys regarding outside
influence. In this particular case this lady on the other side of the fence that
was that was jacking me up a little bit. For a little while shortly after I got
out of high school I was believe it or not a professional wrestling referee for
one of the local wrestling companies or organizations if you will. And believe it
or not I know everybody says that wrestling is fake. It is not. It's
choreographed. It is planned out is controlled but it is not by any means
fake. And one thing that I learned from being a referee in wrestling is basically
if it is outside of the ropes on the ring act like it doesn't exist. Unless
there's a manager out there that you know they jump up on the apron and I'm
supposed to interact with them. Obviously I do that but and other than that
spectators and everything if it's outside the ropes it doesn't exist in
my mind. And I use the same thought process on the baseball field. If it is
outside the fence or on the other side of the fence it doesn't exist. I mean yeah
I've I very easily have heard people in the in the stands bitching and moaning
or whatever they're gonna say. You just don't you don't pay any attention to it.
You just ignore it. Because half the time the people in the crowd don't know what
the hell's going on anyway. There are a lot of coaches out there that don't know
certain rules. So if you start getting blown up by somebody off the field just
ignore them. They don't exist. So having said that I will bring this rambling
podcast episode to a close. Again check out the discord server. And if you have
any questions comments ideas for future episodes which I am in great need of
right now. Either leave a comment on the YouTube page if you're listening to this
on YouTube. If not bluecrewdiaries at gmail.com. I did receive a email from a
gentleman a couple of weeks ago after I posted the the last episode episode 7.
And apparently this this individual had umpired back in the day and was now
thinking about getting back into it. And found this podcast to be very helpful.
So I'm I'm thrilled that the the podcast is able to help people. And I really do
appreciate that individual taking the time to send me an email telling me just
how much it has helped. So thank you very much. I really appreciate that. So
everybody else you know drop me a line if the podcast has helped you out in any
way let me know. Because honestly that gives me the motivation to keep going
with this. That is that is my sole purpose with this podcast is to help
others as well as help myself as far as rules and things like that. So drop me a
line let me know what I can do to help you become a better umpire. So with that
as I always say and truly mean thank you all very much for listening and I will
see you on the diamond.