Give up the Ball!

by Richard B. Siegel

Although you won't find it in a Little League, Inc. rule book, the Official Rules of Baseball, used by professional leagues, contains a neatly succinct set of general instructions for umpires within rule 9.05c. The catch phrase, "Keep your eye everlastingly on the ball while it is in play," is an actual quote from that official rule!

Even though that concept is among the first lessons every umpire is taught. Umpires, nevertheless, get themselves into trouble most often by forgetting to apply that simple maxim. Think of the most common and important calls an umpire must make: safe, out, ball, strike, fair, foul, batter hit by the pitch, runner hit by the batted ball, even a balk. All of those calls are judgments you make on an event that happens where the ball happens to be! Suffice it to say, when you follow the ball, the ball will lead you to the play. If you look ahead to the play you expect, the ball may never get there, and you'll end up looking at nothing while the real play is unfolding behind you.

All that being said, we have to recognize that, in baseball, no "catch phrase," or rule for that matter is applicable 100% of the time. There is always an exception. There's always an "unless...."

There are several important moments when keeping your eye on the ball could get you in trouble. And I have to admit, after being an obedient umpire student and dutifully keeping my eye on the ball everlastingly, it was hard at first to break that reflex and look elsewhere in those few situations when you have learn to:

What happened there? This is a case of the "moving eyes mistake." Think back to "day one" of your umpire training, among those fundamental methods you were taught that day, was probably the edict, "Don't make a call while moving." We learned to "come set" in a stationary and stable position, prior to the play, so that our eyes aren't jiggling at the critical moment the play happens. Moving eyes cannot focus as well as motionless eyes. Additionally, another visual deception that helps blur the catch is the fact that you are following a moving object that abruptly comes to stop.

Without realizing it, as you train your line of sight on that moving ball, your brain unconsciously reckons the ball's trajectory and velocity. Despite the fact that you know the ball will stop moving when it hits the ground or the glove, you're never exactly sure of the precise moment the ball will actually stop. Therefore, you, in effect, fall victim to the visual phenomenon called the persistence of vision. This a "sight-lag" caused by the reaction time you need to realize the ball has stopped moving, and the sudden visual adjustment required to find it. In that brief lag your brain will continue to involuntarily keep your eyes following the anticipated trajectory of the ball. It is during that momentary lag, while you're trying to reacquire focus on the ball, the trap or catch occurs and you miss it!

An analogy to this sensation could be experienced when attempting to visually follow a housefly buzzing around the room. As the insect zips from place to place it makes sudden and abrupt changes in direction. No matter how hard to try to stand still, at each of its zigs and zags, we have to visually try to "catch up" to the fly. At each deviation in its flight path, it seemingly breaks free of our stare. We just can't react fast enough to keep the fly in focus continuously.

So now that we have a theory that explains why we might miss a trapped ball, how do you overcome the problem? You have to:

One warning on using this method. (See, there is always an exception!) If the flight of the ball is on a course that might take it out of play, like a potential homerun over a fence, or a foul ball close to bleachers, you have to stay with the ball. It is more important to see it go out of the field, because the ball might bounce back onto the field. If it should do that, it would have to, of course, be ruled dead. Suppose a batted ball strikes a tree in foul territory and then bounces back into the outfield and is caught by the right fielder. If you were focused on the outfielder's glove on this play, you might turn a dead foul ball into a outfield put out!

Fortunately, the large majority of fly balls stay, that don't immediately streak out of play, usually stay well within the playing field. Once you know the fly ball is on its way to the outfield, you don't have to stare at it anymore. Focus on the spot where your judgment tells you it's going to land and wait for it. Unless an big ugly hawk swoops down and grabs that fly ball in mid-air, it will eventually come down! Give up the outfield fly ball, and go to the glove! You'll never miss another trapped ball again!

Get a better look at tag plays: Keeping in mind the theory you just read above, the very same strategy should be applied when calling a tag play. Suppose there's a play at the plate! Ball and runner are converging at home plate where the catcher is waiting for the throw to arrive and put down a tag. You take up the recommended "first baseline extended" position to see the play. Keeping your eye on the ball, you focus on the left fielder's throw soaring towards home. However, in this situation, keeping your eye on the ball can deceive you when the ball is caught. In the instant that the ball abruptly stops in F2's mitt, your visual "sight-lag" will momentarily lose sight of the ball. In the quarter of a second it may take to find it again, the tag may have happened! You would have missed it!

You can overcome this problem in the same way you now know how to prevent overlooking the outfield trap. You have to:

Clear the catcher on a foul pop-up: Imagine you are the plate umpire and the batter has just popped one that essentially goes straight up. If you hold true to the notion of keeping your eye on the ball, on this kind of play, you are in danger of interfering with the catcher, or risking injury to yourself. So there you are, standing near homeplate, head tilted back staring up in the air watching the flight of the ball. At the same time the catcher is also looking straight up trying to get a bead on the ball. He start drifting from side to side, reacting to the movements of the ball, trying to keep himself under the pop-up. Then at the last moment the ball starts to drift toward you! Knowing that you must get out of the catcher's way, you start to drift to the side. However, as you begin your side step, you have no idea where the catcher actually is. Then bang! You and the catcher collide as he is going for the ball, and you are trying to get away from it! The catchable foul fly falls uncaught. What's worst, this is not considered "umpire interference." The rules don't allow you any legal way to compensate the defense and give the catcher the "out," despite your impeding his attempt to make the catch. It's just a foul ball, an aggravated catcher, and an embarrassed umpire.

Another misfortune that could befall you as a plate umpire if you were to watch the foul ball on this very same play is worse than embarrassment. It is real injury! Let's use the same foul pop-up play. You're standing near homeplate looking up, watching the flight of the ball. About eight feet away, the catcher settles under the foul fly and prepares to catch it. As catcher's are trained to do, he now throws away his mask. You guess it! Unknowingly, he flings the mask right at you. If you're lucky it will hit some part of you that is under protective gear, otherwise, you could be headed to the dentist!

Notwithstanding hindering the catcher or injury to yourself, the most common problem that looking at the ball on a foul pop-up in the homeplate area is the possibility you will not see the catcher's attempt to make the catch. On most youth level fields (60 foot diamond) there is minimal foul ground in the area near and behind home plate. Hence, the catcher doesn't have too much room to chase a pop-up. However, on many senior level regulation sized diamonds there is ample ground for F2 to run around. When the ball comes off the bat and the catcher's first reaction is to whip off his mask and he looks straight up for the ball, that's your cue that you've got a foul pop-up in the "plate area". You can avoid the problems caused by a foul pop-up near the plate if you:

1. Get your mask off and step directly backwards to get away from the catcher.
2. Do not look up at any time!
3. Keeping a distance of about ten feet from the catcher at all times, shadow his movements.
4. Try to stay off to the catcher's side, rather than behind or in front of him. Should he have to dive for the ball, you'll have a better look at a possible bobble or trap.

Around almost every baseball field there is usually chain link fencing, or some type of barrier or backstop that contains the home plate area. A pop-up coming essentially straight down could graze that wall and still be caught by the catcher. Should the ball touch anything but another fielder on the way down, it becomes a deflected ball and it is dead. Unless you are right next to that catcher as he makes a catch near a wall, you may not see a "deflected" ball and rule on it improperly. Remember, when the ball is popped straight up, you can easily avoid exposure to unnecessary injury, and get a better look at the catcher's attempt on the pop-up when you give up the ball.

Nothing can happen without the runner! As a base umpire with no runners on, you are supposed to be positioned behind first base in foul territory. As the batter hits a typical ground ball, your instinct is to start moving into fair territory across the foul line, keeping your eye on the ball while taking a position to see the infielder's throw to first from a right angle to the ball's trajectory. However, as you well know, the infielders don't snatch every one that gets hit. Suppose the ball is hit at an infielder and, despite the infielder's best attempt, the ball eludes him and continues to the outfield. The batter is probably going to get to first base safely, so your next instinct is to keep moving toward the infield grass. Here is the moment where the general philosophy that "nothing can happen without the ball," is not actually be the most important thing to consider.

When there is just one runner, the batter-runner, moving on the bases, as we have here, it is just as true to also realize that "nothing can happen without the runner," as well! In this one particular case it is actually more important to watch the runner than watch the ball. Once the ground ball passes by the infielders, you no longer have to be concerned with a catch/no catch call. If the hit is headed down the left field line, your partner's got the fair/foul call. In this situation your most crucial responsibility is to watch the batter-runner touch first base. Then, you must continue to watch him beyond first base as he overruns to see what else he does. The maneuver done here is called the button-hook. It is a tight spin to the left as you pick up the runner in your field of vision, thus turning your back to the ball. In order to do the button-hook right, you must:

The batter-runner might . . .

• fail to touch first base. You must see this in case you are asked to rule on a possible appeal.
• touch first base, but overrun the base and not return immediately. That is another appealable situation.
• continue advancing to second base. You have to "pick him up" and take him there.
• make "the turn" toward second base or just flinch a bit toward second base. If he does this, he is no longer protected. He is in jeopardy of being tagged out before he returns to first base.

Once the batter-runner has committed himself to first base by overrunning it and returning to the base safely, you're priority should now return to the ball. When the runner gets on the bag, turn to the rest of the field and find the ball. At this point, shift your attention to the ball and keep your eye on the ball from now on. Be alert! Even as you slide over to your next proper position "B" with one runner on first base, an "after the play pick-off" attempt might happen on your new runner at first.

Keep in mind that this notion of "giving up the ball" and watching the batter-runner only applies to a very narrow situation: When you are at the "A" position behind first base because no runners are on base. And, the batted ball has passed through the infield and touched the ground. Of course, the are exceptions to this advice, too. One is when the ball is headed down the right field line. Generally you will "go out" to right field for the fair/foul call, in this case your partner's got the runner. Another exception where you should not give up the ball is on the hit to a spot in the outfield where there is a possibility that it may roll under a fence, or otherwise go out of play. You would probably have the better view, than your partner at the plate, in that situation.

A final a thought: "Giving up the ball," is a contradiction to the most intuitive umpiring concepts you probably have been taught. It is a particularly delicate method to describe because to do it right, one actually takes his eyes off the ball for a prolonged amount of time while the ball is in play. I have, and most other writers who have written articles about good umpire techniques universally exhort the rookie umpire to "keep your eye on the ball." It is a good "rule of thumb," and, in truth, if you obediently follow that principle, 95% of the time you're going to be safe. However, in the few special situations I have outlined above, you will assure yourself of a more reliable look at the play. If you study the methods of professionally trained umpires the next time you're at a professional ball game, you'll notice them use this advanced technique. Although it was a little difficult at first, I have since incorporated it into my own umpiring methods and I am very comfortable with it now. As soon as you try it in your next game, you will be sold on it, too.

• To rule on a "trouble ball," fly or line drive to the outfield. Give up the ball when the hit is clear of the infield. Then focus on the outfielder's glove.
• To rule on a tag play. Give up the ball when it is no longer possible another infielder will cut off the throw. Then focus on the infielder's glove who will make the tag.
• No runners on base and the batter hits a ground ball that passes through to the outfield, or pokes a clear line drive to the outfield that will not be caught. Give up the ball, do the button-hook on the infield grass, and continue to watch the runner from the time he attains first base and either returns to first base, or continues for second base.
• A batter pop-up a foul ball that is going fairly straight up and might be caught by the catcher. Back away from the catcher. Give up the ball, take off your mask and keep your eyes on the catcher. He will lead you to the ball, and you will stay out of his way.