Wednesday, May 08, 2013
When to stop play?
This Jays blogger points out a rule that the umpires could have called following Happ's hit:
(c) When an accident incapacitates a player or an umpire;
I'm reminded of a play with Moises Alou, where he rounded first, and his bone cracked, and it protruded out of his leg. It was terrible to look at. Alou is lying there about 20 feet from f?rom the bag, and 1B Gregg Jeffries comes over to tag him out, but then turns away in disgust (at the sight, not at his own actions). Dave Dravecky broke his arm in the middle of delivery (and he needed it amputed a year or two later) to Tim Raines.
In hockey, they will blow the whistle in even less egregious circumstances than those of above. On rare occasions, the trainer won't even wait for the whistle to be blown.
In sports with whistles, like hockey and soccer, the referee is given wide latitude to exercise discretion, hence blowing a play dead, even though a player is able to skate off the ice a few seconds later. Baseball doesn't have that. The umpire only calls time when there's a natural break in the action.
Should umpires be encouraged to apply their discretion, and will fans be forgiving if they call time at what is soon revealed a false alarm?
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