International Camp Day 2

[Umpire in Chief]

Our day started at 9:30 we had some class room time and discussed appeals, awards on overthrows and catchers interference.

Once again Paul Nauert was the lead instructor and was just captivating when he speaks. The knowledge and passion just came through and I could not help but to be hanging on every word.

We next went to Kennesaw State University to do some cage work (outdoor). We broke into 3 equal groups by last name. My first Cage session was with Brian Reilly. I was the first to go. It was pretty good other than the fact they hadn't calibrated the pitching machine and I called almost all balls. Brian seemed to like my stance and my mechanics, but I developed tunnel vision in not tracking the ball completely to the glove. Brian asked it I could see where he was holding a ball over the low-away corner and I told him barely, but he worked with me to get that one. He also liked my punch-out and said it was strong and aggressive and I used my voice well.

One thing that bothered me was more than one umpire flat out lied to Brian when he asked if they could see either that low-away corner or in one instance a guy was way outside in the slot and Brian stood in like a batter and asked if he could see the pitching machine. There is no way either did, but they said they could. Lying only hurts you they are they are here to help.

Next I went to Paul Nauert's cage. This was being video taped and I cant wait to see the video. I still had some tunnel vision issues. He didn't say anything about my set up or stance either way, but he did correct a number of guys setup and so I'm pretty happy with nothing.

Later we did fungo drills. Now this was a literal laughing stock. As a class, myself included, we had some issues. For me behind the plate, the ball was hit to right w/ nobody on. My U1 goes out I took it like in 2 man running up in fair getting ready to take the runner to second. Oooops, U3 was running in for that.

We came back to the hotel and had a Q&A w/ Jerry Crawford. This was awesome. I won't publish what he said because I don't feel it would be fair because he said these things not expecting them to be on the web, But he was flat out great and hilarious. He was frank spoke his mind and kept us in stitches. This was almost worth the price itself.

The night ended with a charity auction with MLB umpire related items and we raised a lot of money. I didn't win anything, but we'll see what happens tomorrow in the raffle.

[frenchblue]

Great stuff Warren! Keep 'em coming

[midmoump]

Outstanding articles, Warren. I'm really enjoying reading your updates!