Re: _[WORLD-SERIES] Completely indefensible!!!_, Mark Yoder wrote to Terry 
May on 16 Oct 96:
 MY>>> You can't blame the kid for anything.
 MY> 
 TM>> So if a kid breaks the rules, you just dismiss it as "kids will be
 TM>> kids" and pat them on the back, or in this case, make them into a
 TM>> hero? That's a hell of a way to teach kids to respect the law.
 MY> 
 MY> No.  The whole issue here is the umpire's call, not what the kid did or
 MY> didn't do.  Regardless of the situation, the correct call was *NOT* a
 MY> home run.
Agreed.  But that doesn't mean you "can't blame the kid for anything."  The 
umpire blew it, but he shouldn't have even had to make a call.
 MY> Personally, after seeing the replay, my judgement would have been that
 MY> the ball would have hit the wall before being caught.  The fielder was
 MY> *NOT* jumping up when the kid caught the ball three feet over his head,
 MY> and seeing the trajectory of the ball, had he remained flat-footed on 
he
 MY> ground, he would not have caught the ball on the fly.
C'mon, Mark.  I had the play on tape and watched it several times.  When 
Tarasco was stretched all the way out, there was *AT MOST* a foot between the 
top of his glove and the top of the wall.  He had plenty of time to get there 
and get a bead on the ball.  You're telling me he wouldn't have jumped to 
make up that foot or less difference?
 MY> Is there anywhere in Yankee stadium, either posted for fans to read, or
 MY> printed on tickets that says "Fans shall not reach into the field of
 MY> play..."?  I doubt it.
I don't know.  I heard that they have it printed on the back of each ticket 
and they make an announcement before each game that fans interfering with a 
ball in play will be ejected from the game.
 MY> The travesty of the situation is *NOT* that an exhuberant kid reached 
ut
 MY> and touched a ball... the travesty is that the correct call was not made
 MY> by the umpiring crew.
I mostly agree, but the kid is *NOT* blameless.
 MY> I think the cure to all of this is putting a basket (ala Wrigley Field)
 MY> on the fence at Yankee Stadium so that fan's cannot reach into the field
 MY> of play.. they can only reach into the fence basket to grab balls that
 MY> would already be a homerun.
That or boot out of the park anyone that interferes with a ball in play, as 
opposed to making them into a hero.  People would quickly get the message 
that you don't interfere with 'live' balls. 
...  1996 NLCS:  Braves 3 - Cards 3 ... Remember 1968 and 1985!
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