Clipping:Explaining the explanation: more on balls as dead
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| Date | Sunday, April 7, 1867 |
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| Text | Despite the fact that every effort was made by the committee to so word every rule as to make its definition clear, it has been found necessary to “explain the explanations” as regards the definition of one or two of the amended rules. This explanation has been given in the “Book of Reference”, but we proceed to comment on the subject here to a brief extent. First, in regard to dead balls. According to the new rule on the subject, every ball delivered to the batsman on which a “balk” or a “ball” has been called is “dead”, and not in play until it has again been settled in the hands of the pitcher, while he is standing within the lines of his position. This dead quality of the ball refers, of course chiefly to the striker, no dead ball being allowed to be used to put the striker out, even if the ball be hit by the batsman, and neither can a dead ball put out a player running the bases; at the same time, too, it cannot prevent a player from making his bases, if he has first ceased to be the striker. Let us give a case in point, and at the same time give young umpires a lesson. The first striker is at the bat, we will suppose, and he has just taken his position to begin the game. The duty of the umpire is, first, to see that the striker places his feet on the line of the home-base, and sufficient far from the base, to the right or the left, as to admit of a ball being pitched over the base, “fairly for the striker”, without going too close to him. This done, the umpire then asks the batsman where he wants a ball, whether “knee-high”–the lowest legitimate ball–“hip-high” or “breast-high”. Suppose the batsman calls for a low ball, then the pitcher is required to send in the ball not lower than a foot from the base “as near as Possible over the base, and fairly for the striker”. If he fails to do this repeated–twice in succession, for instance–then the umpire calls out “ball to the bat” or some similar words of warning. After doing this, if the pitcher send in first, a ball too high or too low, or too far off or too near, and the next ball be one touching the ground, pitched to the wrong side, or over the head of the batsman, then “one ball” must be called, and if the very next be in any way an unfair ball then “two balls”; and if a third is so pitched in succession, then “three balls”; and when the third ball is called, the striker is given his base, even if he undertake to strike at a ball and hit it, and it be caught on the fly; for the ball being a called ball, and therefore “dead”, no player can be put out on it; and yet, being the third ball called, the strikers–and all men on the bases at the same time–is entitled to a base on it. Secondly, suppose a player is on the first base, and the batsman having called for a knee-high ball, and not having one sent to him, “two ball” have already called; and suppose that, getting tired of waiting, he strikes quickly at a ball not sent in as low as he indicated, but near enough to hit foul, and just as the umpire calls “three balls” the batsman hits at the ball and tips it, and the ball be caught on the fly or bound, then the striker is given his base on three balls, the man on the first base takes his second likewise, and the foul ball and the catch is null and void, and not counted; for an unfair ball cannot be struck at fairly, and no dead ball can be hit foul. Umpires should study this rule over in all its bearings, and get thoroughly familiar with the true intend and meaning of the rule, for it is a more important one than a cursory examination of it would lead one to suppose. Remember first, that every balked or called ball is a dead ball, and cannot either put a player out or be hit fairly by the batsman; and unless a ball can be fairly struck at, no foul hit can follow, for it is only when the batsman has the power to hit a ball legitimately that an opportunity is afforded to hit a foul ball. Last season, under the old rules, the anomaly existed of a ball being called a ball for not being delivered fairly, and yet “one strike” or “foul ball” followed immediately after, if the batsman attempted to hit it and either failed to hit it, or hit it poorly. This obstacle to a fair and correct decision, the new rule section 10 has removed. It would take a column to explain the rules as clearly as we wish to do, but this branch of the question will serve for the first lesson to umpires. |
| Source | New York Sunday Mercury |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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