About Protests

How The Protest Committee Makes Its Decisions

Determine if the correct procedures for filing a protest were followed.

• Were the umpires notified that the game was being played under protest before the next pitch was delivered or before a runner was retired?
• If a game ending play, was the protest filed in accordance with JCJBL rules?
• Was the scorebook signed by the umpires?
• Were the protest filing deadlines met?
  • 48 hours from game time to the Area President
  • 96 hours to the Protest Committee

Determine what happened.

• Get the protesting coach's view from the protest report. If something has to be clarified, call the coach and interview him/her.
• Get the umpire’s view. Call them, talk to them and see what they have to say about what transpired.
• Get the opposing coach’s view. Call and interview him/her.
• The Protest Committee can, and will, interview any interested parties (witnesses if you will) if we think it's necessary. In most cases, these protests are not a "cut and dried" interpretation of the rules. In fact, they almost never are. The Committee will, based on its investigation and experience, come up with a "most likely scenario" of events. That is, the best guess as to what really happened. The rest of the committee's decisions will necessarily have to be based on how we thought the events unfolded.

Determine if the protested decision was specifically covered by JCJBL, AABC, USSSA, or The Official Rules of Baseball, and which set of rules takes precedence.

• When dealing with youth baseball, and with players and coaches who do not make their living playing the game, some strange and uncovered events are certainly a possibility.

Determine if the protested decision was actually a violation of the rules.

• Even if it was, there are many rules in baseball, that have no specific penalty. Remember, if a protest is upheld, the best you can hope for, in general, is that the game be replayed form the point of protest. We do discuss the issue in committee, but we can, and often do, consult others with baseball experience greater than ours.
• If there was a violation of the rules, did it have an adverse effect on the protesting teams chances of winning the game?
• When we consider this, we have to consider the situation (score) at the point of protest. Although we can consider the play following a protested call, we cannot go very far forward into the game to project the results. A few key points here:
  • Were any runs taken off the board, which were not quickly replaced by normal play?
  • Were any unjustified runs given to the opposing team?
  • Were any additional outs recorded, that reduced the number of potential batters in an inning?
  • Were any valid outs not given to the opposing team, which allowed them more than their fair share of batters in an inning?