Polls: Incidental Contact

In most sports, such as baseball, the referee or umpire is considered in play, part of the playing area. Baseball's positioning of an umpire directly behind a catcher, straddling or right next to a foul line, or on the fringe of the infield grass occasionally results in a ball hitting an umpire or a player/umpire collision. Sometimes that results in interference & a base reward; sometimes, it doesn't. Anonymous writes:

Also from last night, the Giants second baseman Fontenot, while attempting to field a ball up the middle, ran full speed into an immovable object named Bruce Dreckman...Fortenot should have been called for clipping.

This isn't the first time Dreckman has found himself in between the defense and a routine ground ball.

Previous Poll (Tribute Uniforms) Results: Our previous poll, Polls: Tribute Uniforms, asked what should be allowed or not allowed in wearing a patch or other item of apparel as a tribute. Combining your votes on the blog and on our Facebook page, we note a preference for national, standardized tributes (Total Votes: 111):

• National tributes allowed, normal size/color/etc restrictions - 31% - The most popular response allows for full-team tributes for national/global reasons, provided proper decorum is maintained.
• Personal tributes only with league approval - 24% - About 1/4 agree that personal, non-national/global tributes need to receive league permission before they would be allowed.
• National tributes only with league approval - 20% - 1/5 think national tributes should be subject to this league permission only requirement.
• Personal tributes allowed, normal size/color/etc restrictions - 17% - Slightly less than half of those who would allow national tributes that maintain proper decorum would allow similar personal tributes.
• They should always be allowed, no restrictions - 15% - This would mean any uniform alteration would be allowed, as long as tribute is cited as the motivation.
• Tributes only allowed via league directive - 12% - On the other hand, this means only the league would authorize tributes by telling their teams what to wear.
• Tributes never allowed - 5% - A clear minority want to preserve standard uniforms, no exceptions.

Current Poll: Have you ever been hit by a ball or player attempting to make a play (select all that apply)? Have you "pulled a Dreckman"? Discussion point: Could Dreckman have done anything differently to avoid this contact while inside at "B" or was he simply unlucky?

Have you ever been hit by a ball or player making a play?