Ruling

Question
Had a situation this past weekend.  Batter gets a base hit.  Coach requests a courtesy runner and enters the player.  The player being run for was actualy the left fielder, not a pitcher or catcher, however the umpire didn't catch it and we wanted to see if they would reenteer the original batter for the defensive half of the inning.  The player that was run for entered the field and was not reentered.  We objected to the illegal substitution and argued the original player should have been removed from the game.  The ruling was that they would issue a warning only.  I think they were wrong.

Answer
Hi Jeff,

If this is FP and being played by ASA rules (so no local crappola involved) you can't have a CR for anyone other than the pitcher or the catcher so my answer is based on that.  

I would hope the manager did not use the CR words to the umpire or they should have not allowed that, and the umpire should make it clear if the manager was doing that it was a substitution.

In any case the player going in would be a substitute for the runner, not a CR.  After the 1/2 inning was over now the original player goes back in to play defense w/out reporting the re-entry.
All you have is an unreported sub and there is no penalty in this particular case and the US is now legally in the game.  Since the player has used their re-entry if they leave the game again they are done.

Mark