Rules

Coach’s Appeal

by Greg McEvoy

Fellow Umpires,

When should Umpires consider/accept/reject a Coach’s appeal. There are two basic appeal types:

• incorrect rule application
• judgement call

If a Coach wants to appeal an incorrect rule application, umpires should ALWAYS accept this type of appeal request. The Crew should get together and discuss and then provide their ruling to the Coach.

But…what about judgement calls? Every call we make involves some degree of judgement. If a Coach requests an appeal on a judgement-based call…because it was a judgement call, is this type of an appeal always rejected – NO.

I know we are taught that judgement calls can’t be appealed. That’s not completely correct because not all judgement calls are the same…there can be significant differences in judgement calls. Still, some judgement calls can never be appealed…e.g. ball/strike; but some judgement calls can be appealed.

So….which one is which. Below are example of judgement calls that:

• should not be considered
• should be considered
• might be considered (depending upon given circumstances)