Was It Home Run or Not? Umpire, Rule Book Say Yes and That’s That

The Toronto Blue Jays pleaded and protested, but got no sympathy from third-base umpire John Shulock Sunday afternoon.

Shulock was in perfect position to see Brian Downing’s two-out, ninth-inning home run down the left-field line off Gary Lavelle that gave the Angels a 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays. But more important, Shulock knew his rulebook, which may be more than can be said about Toronto left fielder George Bell, Manager Bobby Cox and the rest of the Blue Jays.

Bell and Cox vehemently protested Shulock’s home-run call, saying that Bell, who went halfway over the box-seat fence in a desperate attempt to make the catch and then came back onto the field without the ball, had been interfered with by a fan. So Downing, they reasoned, should have been out and the game should have gone on to extra innings.

But whether the fan had stripped the ball away from Bell or not, it wouldn’t have mattered, anyway. Rule 3.16, Paragraph 4 of the Official Baseball Rules Book, as Shulock pointed out to reporters afterward, made the arguments of Bell and Cox moot.

“Once it goes in there (the stands), it’s the fans’ ball,” Shulock said. “He’s (the player) got to come back out with it, and when you don’t come back with the ball, it’s not a catch, it’s a home run.”

Case closed, right?

Well, the Blue Jays, who ended up losing three out of four to the Angels over the weekend in the battle of American League division leaders, were still seeing red long after Downing had triumphantly circled the bases and the umpires had encouraged the lingering Toronto players to go back to the clubhouse.

Bell, who doesn’t talk to print reporters even when he’s in a good mood, gave the media a stern admonition not to even come close to his locker stall, and then sat glumly down and muttered to himself in Spanish.

Cox made a beeline for his office, tossed a couple of chairs around and then sought refuge in the shower.

Center fielder Lloyd Moseby and right fielder Jesse Barfield were two of the few Blue Jays who were composed enough to talk about the home run.

“I really didn’t get a good view of it, so anything I would tell you would be pure lies,” Moseby said. “But the decision was that it was a home run, so what can I say? The game’s over, baby.”

Barfield: “According to the rules, as I know them, a fan can’t interfere with a play like that. I wasn’t there, but from my vantage point, it looked like George caught the ball and the fan took it out of his glove.” The Angels, understandably, were in much better spirits after their second late, come-from-behind win over the team with the best record in baseball in as many days.

Downing offered some interesting perspectives on his game-winning homer, not just because he hit it, but because, as a left fielder, he is all too familiar with the circumstances that confronted Bell.

“What happened to Bell has happened to me many, many times,” he said. “When you go over the wall and your forearm hits that railing, your natural reflex is to open your glove, and that’s what I was told happened.

“I didn’t hit the ball that well, and I was surprised at how far it went because it was kind of a jam-shot. And even if a fan interfered, it should have been a home run, because we should have a homecourt advantage here.”

Angel Manager Gene Mauch didn’t criticize the Blue Jays for seeing the critical home run with their heart instead of their heads, because he knew exactly how they felt.

“When you’ve been in this game as long as you have, you’ll lose some games like that yourself,” he said, after explaining just what happened on the final play of the game over the phone to Angel owner Gene Autry, who was wondering if the Blue Jays’ protests were valid.

“What I know is that when a player leaves the field for the stands, he’s open game for everyone, including the fans,” Mauch said. “But I don’t think a fan had anything to do with Bell not catching the ball. I think he just hit the wall, and dropped it.”