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Read other letters about this article
I'm a little tired of the letters accusing players of cheating for not correcting the umps' incompetence for them. Come on people. It is not cheating to take first base when the ump tells you to go there!
We can all agree that the ball hit the bat, that there was a phantom tag in the Stros-Cards series and -- except for a few skeptics like King -- that Josh Paul caught the third strike. But it's the ump who makes the calls and, as long as that is the case, that's got to be the end of the discussion. It is the ump's job not to be taken in by a good sales job. Where does it all end? Should the catcher say: "thanks for the called strike 3 but that pitch was a bit outside." Or is it cheating for the catcher to frame the pitch.
There is no rule against trying to sell a tag or feigning being hit by a pitch and as long as there's not -- which is hopefully forever -- it is not cheating to run to first base when directed to do so.
