Baseball Rules Corner.(improper and unclear signs)(Brief Article)

Improper or unclear signs by ump can lead to confusion

UMPIRES HAVE CONFUSED PLAYERS by using improper or unclear signs or by simply not communicating their call.

Then there are times when there is a complete lack of communication, which can lead to turmoil. This is what happened in the July 18 game played between the Mets and Marlins at Shea Stadium.

The Mets had Rey Ordonez on second and Todd Zeile on third with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning when Kevin Appier hit a ground ball to shortstop Luis Castillo. Castillo threw home to catcher Charles Johnson who ran Zeile back to third. According to official scorer Howie Karpin, "Johnson appeared to have tagged Zeile out before he ever got back to the bag, but third base umpire Kerwin Danley made no call."

Zeile and Ordonez both ended up on third base. That's a no-no. Bases are designed for single occupancy only. The lead or preceding runner, in this case Zeile, always has the fight to the bag. Johnson did the right thing by tagging Ordonez, an unwanted guest

But for some reason, Zeile walked off thinking he was out and headed toward the dugout. Bill Shannon, one of the official scorers at the New York ballparks, said, "At that point no call had been made by any of the umpires. And later the umps admitted that they did not communicate the call to Zeile."

This was the Abbott and Costello "Who's on first?" comedy at its best. But neither Mets' manager Bobby Valentine, nor Marlins' skipper Tony Perez was laughing.