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Todd Tichenor, Holcomb, Kan., indicates a runner has been awarded second base.The "elastic power" rule allows umpires to award bases, declare outs and make otherdecisions not specifically covered in the rules.

58 I REFEREE November2o14

Editor's note: Thefollowing is an excerptfrom Baseball: Gamelntellegence, abookpublished by Referee.To purchase the bookgo to the RefereeTraining Center atreferee.com or call800:733 6100

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oi:['[lffi ::r.'J],ii'.r#i:'events that do not have direct rulescoverage. Retired AL umpire JimEvans agrees that baseball seems tohave more of those opportunities tharany other sport. He also beLieves thatumpires will not always find adequateexplanations to help rectify problemswhen an umpire has erred.

In the early days of the game,the rulemakers took a wait-and-seeapproach. \A,/hen something out of theordinary occurred, the umpire woulddo whatever he thought was fairand rules would later be changed toaddress the situation.

One example is the rule regardinginterference at the plate by a retiredrunner, which emanated from anumpire's on-the-spot decision in an1887 American Association game. Onan infield grounder that was booted,a runner scored from third and therunner on second tried to score. R3hung around the plate and seeing histeammate would be out, he shovedthe catcher, preventing a tag. In themelee that foilowed, the runner on fustalso scored. However, umpire WesleyCurry deciared, "Obshuction," calledR2 out and disallowed R1's run -baseball had a new rule.

Surprisingly, the "elastic clause"(NFHS 10-2-3g; NCAA 3-6b; pro 9.01c)

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which gives umpires, especially theumpire-in-chief, authority to rule onsitnations that are not covered by rr;Ire,did not appear in pro rules until 1953.

Evans sees a clear need for a rulesuch as 9.01 (c) to enable the umpireto make a mling on the spot that fairlyadministers the "spirit of the rules."Evans said, "Those'on the spot'ruiings should be made with commonsense and in the best interest of fairplay. It is critical that the umpire has athorough working knowledge of therulebook so that he does not create aruling that is already covered in thebook."

The NFHS and NCAA agree sucha powerful rule must be used carefully.The rule does not allow rules to becreated or lgnored at an umpire'swhim. It is not intended for umpiresto set aside book rules for what they'dprefer. The rule can only be appliedto those points that are not coveredin the book. "An umpire must notonly know what is in the rulebook,but he must also know what is not inthe book," Evans said. "Otherwise, hemight make a ruling that contradictsan existing rule."

During Evans' professional career,he encountered the elastic clauseevery two or three years. Those oddhappenings were usually put into theinterpretation manual the followingyear, but not every play or situationthat occurred found its way into theofficiai rules.

According to Evans, an exampleof a 9.01 (c) situation is the rulestipulation of the penalty of a one-baseaward when a player uses detachedequipment to touch a pitched ball.There has always been a provision fora batted ball (three bases) and a thrownball (two bases), but no provision for apitched ball. V\4ren they encounteredthat situation, umpires invoked theelastic clause and awarded one base.After that, it was explained in theinterpretation manual, but did notmake it into the rulebook until recentiy.

A glaring misuse of the elasticclause, for example, wouid be to awardthree bases for a batted ball that goesbeyond a very deep fence. "He wouldhave easily had a triple," claimed theprep umpire who actually did thatseverai years ago.

A rare use of the elastic clause atthe major league level was made in anApri12007 game between Clevelandand Baltimore. In the top of the thirdiming, with runners on first andthird and one out, Baltimore's RamonHernandez sent a liner to center field.Grady Sizemore made a sprawlingcatch and threw to first to get MiguelTejada for the inning-ending doubleplay. Before Tejada was put out,however, Nick Markakis tagged upand scored from third.

The run shouid have counted. Theplay was a time play and not a forceplay. However, plate umpire MarvinHudson waved the mn off withoutprotest from the Baltimore bench. Inthe bottom of the sixth, crew chiefEd Montague called the press boxand told the official scorer to giveBaltimore another run. Montague'sdecision gave Baltimore a3-21ead in a

game it eventually won,7-4.Although the decision to count

the run did not affect the outcome ofthe game, the Indians contended thatBaltimore lost its chance to get therun back when it did not protest thecancellation of Markakis' run beforeErik Bedard threw his first pitch in thebottom of the third inning.

Montague's report of the incidentmade it clear that the umpirescorrected the mistake in the interest of"getting it right" without an inquiryfrom the Orioles. In fact, that situationis not an appeal play, but simply thecorrection of an error. MLB's statementsaid, "Mindful of (the umpires')obligation that the first requisite isto get decisions correct as the rulesinstruct them, this umpire crew waswithin the authority that Rule 9.01 (c)gave them to correct the game scorervhen they did."

The umpires were not covered bythe "next pitch" rule, since there is norule that states an umpire's mistakemust be corrected by the next pitch.That is an example o{ how 9.01 (c) canbe correctly used.

Sometimes situations occur andumpires would like to use the "elasticclause" to cover up a mistake, butthat's not proper. Take an examplefrom a playoff game in Coiorado inwhich an unusual situation occurreddue to a different type of umpire error.

George Drouches iS the fourth .

man to serve as the nationalumpiring coordinator for theNCAA. The previous coordinatorswere Jon Bible (1990-96); DaveYeast (1996-2009); and GeneMcArtor (2009-14).

6--Number of MLB umpires who listtheir home state as Arizona.

A__Members of Ted Barrett's crewwho hail from Arizona (Barrett,Higley; Alfonso Marquez, Gilbert;and Paul Schrieber. Scottsdale.)

Umpires want to "get thei callright." And. today, more than ever,we are willing to consult with ourpartners rn order to do just that.However, the best way you canaccomplish that is by workingas hard as possible to get yourplays right in the first place. lfyou judge all of your plays, to thebest of your ability. it wiil limit thetimes when you need to ask forhelp. Don't make a habit of askingfor help on every close play.Call all that you can for yourself,accept missed calls and know thecircumstances under which therules prohibit you from changinga call.

"lt's receiving. Framing is what ahigh schooler does to try to trickthe ump. l'm just receiving it asstill as possible and giving theump a good look."

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Jonathan Lueroy'sreaction to people

refening towhat he does as

"framing" a pitch.

$UFCE: SrcFIs: ILLUSTRA|ED

REFEREE November2014 I 59

tn .each,of the following, )lau a!'e . i .

given a situation and at least twopossible answers. Decide whichans.wer or answers aie correit for. ..

NFHS, NCAA and pro rules, whichmay vary. Solutions: p. 81.

1. R1 is on first and attemptingto steal on the pitch. FB makes ashoestring catch of B3's Iiner. F8'sthi,ow,gijes intorthe dugout. .H1 wasfi,vo steps from second when F8released the throw and betweensecond and third when the throwentered dead-ball territory.

a. lf R1 was attempting to returnto first base, allow him the chanceto retouch.

b. R1 must retouch secondbefore proceeding back to first.r c. Sinc€ R.1 .had not retouchedsecond before the ball went intodead-ball territory, he may notlegally retouch first base.

d. With no attempt to retouchgecarid and first legally, H1. may becalled out on appeal.

e. R1 is awarded third.f, B1 is awarded home.

2. Wilh R:t on first and Rg on third,BB hits a ground ball between firstand second. F3, who is playing infront of R1, dives to his right, butcannot make the play. The ballstrikes Fl1. who is past F3. F4 isplaying at "double-play depth,"and'has no play on the ball. R3advances to home, R1 ends up atsecond and BB at first.

a. The ball is dead when it hitsRl,

b, R3 scores.c. R3 returns to third.d. R1 is out.e. R1 must stay at first.f. B1 may stay at second.g. B8 may stay at first base.

3. R1 is on first and R3 i6 on thir.d .

with two outs. R3 gets in a rundownbelween.third and home and Fl3 isobstructed. R1 legally advances tosecond after the obstruction andstarts toward third. As R3 retreatstoward third, the defense retires Rlfor the third out.

a. The umpires correctly leavethe ball live.

b. Play should have beenstopped when obstruction occurred.

c. R1 is awarded second.d. R1's out stands.e. B3 is awarded home.f. R3 does not score since he

didn't touch the plate before thethird out.

g, R3 scores. His awardsupersedes the third out sinceobstruction happened first.

The three-umpire crew wasassigned to a field it had not workedbefore and none of the umpires walkedthe perimeter to familiarize themselveswith the field. The outfield fence wasa single fence that varied in height. Atthe right-field foul pole, the fence wasfour feet high and in right center itabruptly rose to eight feet to protect atennis court.

From the plate area, the eight-foot portion could conceivably beviewed as two fences. Since it wasonly one fence, a batted ball has toclear the fence to be a home run.Any ball hitting the fence remainsin play. That was discussed as partof the ground rtles in the pregameconference. However, the first-baseumpire apparently misunderstood theexplanation.

And of course, it came into play.With a runner on fkst, a batted ball hitjust under the top of the highest fenceand bounced back. The home team'sright fielder knew the ball was in playand reacted accordingly. The first-baseumpire, who correctly went out toobserve the "trouble" ball, signaledhome run. Both R1 and the batter-

runner saw that home run signal andbegan to trot. The ball was relayedhome and R1 was tagged out after arundown between home and third.The batter-runner ended up on third.

The umpires conferred and decidedto let the out stand. Most surprisingly,no one was ejected. The exactdiscussion that took place is unknown,but the first-base umpire later stated, "Isignaled the home rury but did not killthe ball."

The umpires could have appliedl0-2-3L, which allows umpires torectify their own mistakes when a

runner is placed in jeopardy, butchose not to do so. Since there isrule coverage for fixing an umpire'smistake, the elastic clause would notapply. Because the rule does not statehow a situation should be rectifiedspecifically, one could argue that theelastic clause would be used in makingthe base awards.r -, n,'. . l-). , ,. .l r i. :: t. -, r. ., S, t;l 1{!Jl\,\' l

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Keep Plate MeetingShort, to the PointBv Jolrn Coc;ns

Lfow many times has your plateI Imeeting with the head coachesseemed to be difficult to understand?

The plate meeting is a simplebut yet very important aspect inumpiring. The purpose is to establishthe ground rules to be used duringthe game or series. The usualprocedure is to have the home teamhead coach explain the ground ruleson the first game of the series. If a

crew (or umpire) has been to thestadium or field before or if the gameis being played at a neutral site, theplate umpire or crew chief can givethe ground rules.

There is a specific procedure thatshould be used when going through

the ground rules. Start with thebackstop. Most fields' backstops haveno breaks (backstop is straight andvertical) and played as live should athrown ball hit the screen.

Next, cover the third-base dugout.Things to consider are the top step ofthe dugout, the facing or padding ofthe dugout and any chalked dead-balllines. Continue moving down the left-field line, which may include a tarp orbullpen. Most tarp rules allow playersto lean on the tarp but do not allowthe player to elevate. In other words,keep the players' spikes off the tarp.If the bullpens are located within thefield, determine if they are consideredlive-ball territory. AIso, determinehow a ball is played should it enterthe bullpen.

60 I nfrfnre November2ol4

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Not all plays at ffist @6are routinq,, Tltg'BaseumliirdYfi ust adjust whenthere is a bad throw,moving to see if the firstbaseman keeps his fdof',on the bag $iihile mbking

Read, ReadStep and LeanUmpire Bill Berger, Ventura, Calif.,reads that the throw was offline andtakes a read step with his left foottoward the foul line. Additionally, heleans to see the first baseman haspulled his foot off the bag.

Who's onFirst First?Berger stays with the play, watchingthe runner cross the base and seeingthe first baseman's heel return to thebag. Who touched the bag first?

Sell the CallAfter calling the runner safe, Bergermakes a sweeping motion to indicatethe first baseman was off the bag atthe time the runner crossed the base.Had the call been an out. Bergercould have aggressively pointed tothe bag. saying, "He's on the bag! '

before calling the out.

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REFEREE November20l4

DeadrBall AppeiilPlay: With B2 on second

and R3 on third and no outs,87 flies out to right field. Bothrunners retouch and advance,however Fl3 leaves early. Oncethe ball is returned to the infield,the offensive coach, reQueststime to talk to R2 at third base.Meaiiwhili), the defensive ioachyells, "Appeal third base, therunner left too soon." Ruling: lnNFHS, a dead-ball is permitted,so once iime is granted, thedefensive coach's appeal shouldbe ruled upon (8-2-6c). ln NCAAand aro, an appeal ian be madeonly once the plate umpire hasproperly made the ball live (NCAA8-6b; pro 7.10).

ts Thai a Strike?Play: With R1 on fiist, 87 holds

the bat over the plate as if tobunt, but does nol move it. thepitch is outside the strike zone.Buling: ln all three codes, that isnot a strike. ln NFHS and pro, thebatter must make an attempt tohit the ball (NFHS 7-2- 1b. 7.2.1B;pro 2.00-strikelal), tn NCM, it isa strike if the barrel head of thebat passes the batter's front hip.That does not apply if the batterattempted to pull the bat back onthe bunt attempt (2-38 AR).

Ball Four, BalkPlay: With a full count on

88 and H2 on second base.F1 fails to set and delivers ballfour. Ruling: ln NFHS, the ballis immediately dead. The pitchdoesn't count, B2 is awarded thirdand 88 remains at the plate witha full count. ln NCAA and pro. thepitch counts only if R2 is stealingon the play and is not thrownout. BB is awarded,first and R2is awarded third. Otherwise, theruling is the same as in NFHS(NCAA 9-3 Pen. 1; pro 8.05 Pen.AH).

Very Late SwingPlay: H1 is attempting to steal

second. The pitch to 83 is in

the dirl, so 83 does not swingimmediately. However, once theball is past him, 83 waves the batat the ball. Ruling: lf the ball isclearly past, the batter cannot becharged with a strike. However, hecan be charged with interference ilhe hinders F2's attempt to throwthe ball (NFHS 7-3-5c; NCAA7- 1 1 f; pro 6.06c).

REFEBEE November 2014

Move along to the outfield fence.Most places have a scoreboard andbatter's eye that are recessed, whichmeans they are clearly out of play.

Continue by making your waydouryr the right-field Line, whichshould be similar to the oppositeside of the field. Finish your groundrules by explaining how the first-basedugout will be played. Again, thatshould be similar or identical to thethird-base dugout.

lf the game is part of a serjes,

finish the plate meeting by confirmingstart times for the remaining gamesor how much time is needed betweengames for a doubleheader.

Finally, while the coaches mayengage in banter with each other, theumpires should remain professionalthroughout the meeting. One ill-timedcomment puts the entire umpire crewbehind for the weekend.Lrtit L,r';,. ,1,11- p t;1i111ty lt.;tlti,-. |;ttlt!rlfar ritu: u{.{trs cttd htts turrpti:"t:r} L}it:isiott Icollrye basebal! fur four ,!!itrs. :

The Lowdown on Who's UpLiy J.r1'Miner

TThe late Nick Bremigan, formerI major league umpire and umpire

school instructor, devised a simplifiedbatting out of order system forumpires to follow. Essentially, hebroke down the wordy rule into threecourses of action for the umpire:

Batting out of order discoveredtoo soon. That happens when thedefensive team appeals batting out oforder while the wrong batter is stillat bat. In that case there is no penalty.The proper batter is simply brought tothe plate and assumes the improperbatter's cor-rnt.

Batting out of order discoveredat the right time. That occurs whenbatting out of order is appealedimmediately after the improper battercompletes his turn at bat and beforethe next pitch. In that case, the properbatter is declared out and the nextbatter is the batter who follows theplayer just called out.

Batting out of order discoveredtoo late. That happens when a batting-out-of-turn appeal is made followingthe first pitch to the next batter. Thatpitch legalizes the improper batter. Inthat sifuation, no one is called out andthe proper batter is the player whofollows the legalized improper batterin the order.

\t\4ren batting out of order isdiscovered at the right time in NCAAand pro, the proper batter is out andother runners are returned to the basesoccupied at the time of the pitch. The

improper batter, if on base, is removedfrom base and any outs made byordinary play are canceled.

In NFHS, outs made by ordinaryplay stand after batting out of order ispenalized except any out made by theimproper batter is superseded by theout declared for batting out of order.

Play 1: R2 is on second and R1on first with no outs. It is B3's turn tobat but B4 erroneously bats and hits aground ball to F5. F5 steps on third toforce out R2 and fires to F4 at secondto force out R1. 84 is safe at first. Thedefensive team then appeals battingout of order. Ruling t In NCAA andpro,B3, the batter who should havebatted, is declared out. The outs onR2 and R1 are nullified and they arereturned to their original bases. 84 isremoved from base and returns to theplate as the proper batter. In NFHS,it's a triple play. The outs on R2 andR1 stand and 83 is declared out forfailing to bat in proper order. 84 willlead off the next inning (NFHS 7-1-1,7 -l-2; NC AA 7 -lla; pro 6.07).

Play 2: The batting order is Abel,Baker, Charles, Daniel, Edward, Frank,etc. It is Abel's turn to bat but Charlesbats and hits a double. Abel thencomes to bat and strikes out. Bakerfollows and also strikes out. It is nowCharles turn to bat, but Charles ison second base. \Alhat's the ruling?Ruling 2: Charles is left on secondbase, skipped over in the batting orderand the proper batter is Daniels.) \ ir.- ... . , ,.. titL ,tllt!td\ ittL,L t !-.,:Litttltt !,tui

baseball histarian fra*t Albaul, li"Y. '

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Bye Bye, Last Time Byf lnder the rule known as "lastL./ time by," a runner gets a chanceto correct his error. If the runnerretouches a base or bases whileadvancing to an awarded baseor returning to the original baseoccupied at the time of the pitch,his failure to touch a base whilereturning is corrected under thetheory that touching the base the lasttime by corrects any previous error(NFHS 8-2-6L, 8.2.6H; NCAA 2-51;pro interp, PBUC 6.12 play 7).

Although the rule can beconsidered runner-friendly, thereare limits to how much protection a

runner may receive.In the MechaniGram, Rl- misses

third on his way home on a flyball to right field. R1 attempts to

Helmets Put a Lidon lniuriesB,v Jcffrey $tetrr

f\n Aus. 1,6, 1920. ClevelandL,lsnortltop'Ray Chapman waskilled when he was hit in the templeby a pitch thrown by the Yankees'Carl Mays. But it was 37 years beforeeither major league addressed theissue of protective headgear.

The AL ordered players to wearprotective headgear starting withthe 7957 season. Players were giventhe option o{ wearing helmets orplastic inserts inside their caps. Mostplayers, trading the appearanceof machismo over the protectionoffered by a helmet, chose the inserts.Helmets became mandatory in NFHSand NCAA rules in 1973.

Helmets with earflaps on the sideof the helmet facing the pitcher didn'tbecome prevalent until after Aug. 18,\967, when perhaps the most famousbeanball was thrown. CaliforniaAngels pitcher Jack Hamilton threwa pitch that hit young Boston RedSox star Tony Conigliaro on the left

circumvent the rule by taking anextreme shortcut to third. Eventhough he touches third on his wayback to second, R1 is subject to beingcalled out on appeal. i t

cheekbone. Conigliaro was knockedunconscious and was carried off thefield on a stretcher. He was taken toSanta Maria Hospital in Cambridge,Mass., where it was determined hehad suffered a fractured cheekbone, a

dislocated jaw and a damaged retina.Rule 1.16 in the Official Baseball

Rules provides not only theregulations but some of the historyregarding batting helmets. Playersare required to "use some type ofprotective helmet" while at bat.Those who were active in the 1982season and recorded their objectionto wearing a helmet with an earflapwere allowed to wear a head coveronly.

In 2007 , Tulsa Drillers first-basecoach Mike Coolbaugh was struckin the neck by a line drive andsubsequently died. Shortly thereafter,coaches on the baselines wererequired to wear helmets. Earflapsare not required.i ',1, :, -,', ,'r; R,'l','ri't. ..,'ti('; , tijtlt, i> n

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