In Reply to: Re the hbp to ed the game. Oregon had no challenges left. They posted by azbruin on May 25, 2026 at 15:14:06
>>Yet,the plate umpire was very demonstrative when Call was hit. I think he kept repeating "I got it, I got it" as he ushered Call to first thus forcing home the winning run.
It looked to me like the ball nicked the underside of the brim of his helmet. That would have made a distinctive noise hence the call.<<
I just woke up, so I'm not sure how coherent this will be, but here goes: First, in the one replay when the announcers stayed quiet so they and we could listen, I'm pretty sure I could hear two distinct sounds. The sounds couldn't have been more than a few hundredths of a second apart. The first would have been the ball contacting Call, and the second was the ball hitting the catcher's mitt.
As to what was hit, after watching all of the replays they showed, and winding my DVR back to watch it a few more times, I don't think it was Call's helmet that was hit. I think it was his uniform at the shoulder.
Here's where I'm throwing in an interpretation: When Call tapped the top of his helmet after the pitch, I DON'T think he was doing that to say that he got hit on the helmet. I think he was doing that to initiate a challenge, assuming the ump wasn't going to make the call that he'd been hit. THAT would explain, IMO, why the ump was trying to calm him down by saying "I got it, I got it."