re how to speed up games marginally realistic in article bd atlas nafb trw com mspede atlas nafb trw com writes in article r huvinniju jhunix hcf jhu edu pablo jhunix hcf jhu edu pablo a iglesias writes batter and to my amazement the umpire missed it in the years that i played ball this was worst piece of umpiring i ever saw now this sounds like a fun topic in a slo pitch softball game we had the first base dugout one of our players hit a shot down the first base line with the bases loaded the only question was fair or foul ball hits ground chalk flies umpire calls foul we give him the standard didn t you see chalk line his response was it hit the foul half of the line we all started laughing mark pede not bad we had a similar situation slowpitch softball bases loaded weakest hitter at the plate he hits a line drive over the third baseman s head that hooked and hooked and finally landed ten feet in foul ground almost hitting the fence down that side of the field but the umpire called fair ball i was coaching third yelling at evrybody to move up a base the ump s position it was still fair when it passed third base why the other team didn t immediately protest i ll never know we certainly weren t going to argue about it since every body did manage to advance one base safely there was also the time when a batted ball ricocheted off my runner from second base leg fielded by the ss steps on second to force the runner from first and throw to first in time for what the umpire called a triple play protest removed when we won the game anyway clay d
