Who calls time

[chally]

At the risk of sounding stupid:

1st year unp, LL minor game, 2 man system, I'm U1. Batter hits double and slides safe at second. F6 has ball in glove waiting for R2 to stand up. R2 says nothing. OC yells "call time, call time" R2 still says nothing. After several seconds PU calls time.

Question is who has the responsibility to call time? R2 or coach? If coach calls time does he get charged with a conference?

[CoachJM]

chally,

Only an umpire calls time.

Players and coaches may request that he do so.

If a coach or player requests time and the umpire grants his request, a conference is only charged is he has a conference.

JM

[chally]

Thanks JM. Got it on the umpire only calling time. So either R2 or coach may request for time in this sitch?

[chally]

And can either U1 or PU call time at their own discretion?

[lustersilk]

Yep, any umpire may call time.

[Dragon29]

chally,

Let me add something to this. First, you should know there are others on this forum who may disagree with me, so make of my advice what you will.

In the sitch you posted, if I'm U1 & R2 requests Time, I say, "No." I say it nice and loud so he knows his request was not granted.

Why would I do this? Because F6 still has the ball and is near R2, so we are not in 'relaxed action.' An umpire should not call 'Time' unless all play or imminent play has ceased. I'm not going to deprive the defense of an opportunity to get an Out. Once F6 throws the ball back to F1 you can grant Time, but I'm betting if you ask the player, "Do you need Time now?", he'll say, "No."

Do not assist the offense with this. Players need to learn how to stand up on the bases without disengaging. That being said, if it gets silly (R2 lying on the base; F6 just standing there w/a glove on him) I let it go for a few seconds and then tell them to get moving. If F6 still doesn't get it by then, I'll call 'Time' just to get the game moving again.

YMMV

[bnumpire]

To add to what Dragon said, there is a team in my area that uses such an opportunity to pull the hidden ball trick if the Runner or OCes aren't paying attention. By calling time, you take away from the defense.

[heyblue26]

All umpires have the authority to call time. Dragon has said it very nicely and explained it well and CoachJM also I might add.

[Richard_Siegel]

Also, when you call time DO NOT say, "My Time." Since only the umpire can call time in baseball it always "your" time. "my time works for other sports where a time-out must be given to a team when the request it as opposed to an "official's time-out that is not charge to either team. Saying "my time" just makes you appear less then well-trained. A well-trained umpire always says "Time!" not "Time-out" and not "dead ball." Just "Time!"

And for goodness sake, never say "Time in!" when you mean "play!" I've seen that done and it makes me cringe!