Officials’ Corner: Every umpire working baseball or softball has heard it before.

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Officials’ Corner: Every umpire working baseball or softball has heard it before.

“He’s out of the box!

”“She stepped out!”

“Call it blue!”

Usually coming from somebody sitting three counties away behind the backstop with a hot dog in one hand and complete confidence in the other.

The funny part is half the time the batter’s box barely even exists anymore. By the third inning in a softball game, the chalk is usually scattered across the county from pitchers dragging, catchers moving, and hitters digging in. In baseball, especially on lower-level fields, sometimes the lines are faded before the national anthem is over.

Yet somehow fans are absolutely certain they saw a foot leave the box by two inches from 180 feet away.

As an umpire, I’m not just watching for a foot moving. I’m watching timing, position, where contact occurs, whether both feet completely left the box, and if the batter gained an unfair advantage. That’s a lot different than somebody yelling because they saw dirt fly.

What makes me laugh sometimes is how confidently people yell rules they really don’t understand. If I stopped the game and asked them to explain the batter’s box rule in either baseball or softball, most would suddenly get real interested in their popcorn.

The reality is this:

Officiating baseball and softball involves many judgment calls that look easy until you’re the one standing behind the plate trying to process everything happening in a split second.

So the next time somebody screams “HE’S OUT OF THE BOX!” From the bleachers, I usually just remind myself there’s a pretty good chance the only box they can actually see clearly is the concession stand pizza box in their lap.