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Plate Meeting


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we to iLEGS.

i= Introduce yourself and your partner(s)

L= Lineups.  Get lineups.  Review ineligible pitchers, starting pitch and catch, number of players present.

E=Equipment "Are all your players legally and properly equipped according to Little League rules".  Wait for a 'Yes' response.

G= Ground rules

S= Sportsmanship...."Lets keep sportsmanship uppermost in our minds here today"

"No questions from home team?"

"No questions from visiting team?"

"Home team take the field!"

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plate ump introduces himself and partner --get the line ups (home team first) --let home team coach go over ground rules--ask any special rules--say good luck to each coach with a hand shake--plate ump does all the talking.  Should not take more than a few minutes.

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we to iLEGS.

i= Introduce yourself and your partner(s)

L= Lineups.  Get lineups.  Review ineligible pitchers, starting pitch and catch, number of players present.

E=Equipment "Are all your players legally and properly equipped according to Little League rules".  Wait for a 'Yes' response.

G= Ground rules

S= Sportsmanship...."Lets keep sportsmanship uppermost in our minds here today"

"No questions from home team?"

"No questions from visiting team?"

"Home team take the field!"

 

That's not bad. My "L" step is faster: DH or no. I don't do LL, so maybe they want more.

 

And I don't see much point in "S": if they've got it, they don't need a reminder, and if they don't got it, then nothing I say is going to conjure it.

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I never ask if they have any questions.

 

"Yeah, I gotta a question. What if ..........." .

 

I've found asking this leads to oddball questions, about something that happened in a past game, and usually extends the conference needlessly. If they've got a question, they'll spit it out on their own.

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In succinct, efficient fashion, it goes:

 

• The Game (We've got a 12U ballgame of 7 innings in length and 2 hours 15 minutes on the clock. It's OBR with our Fed modifications (it's the league we play in, and it's just a quick acknowledgement by the two HC's)).

• The Ground Rules (Enclosed outfield, fence line extended that way, fence line extended that way, gaps there and there, net is dead ball)

• The ABCD's

- - Are All your players legally and properly equipped?

- - Balks (Balks are off, balks are on, or balks are 1 warning, thereafter enforced)

- - Contact (You must slide to avoid contact. I'll take any slide you got provided it is to avoid contact, and we (umpires) will be enforcing obstruction and interference as we see applicable.)

- - Discussions (Coach Alex, Coach Brian, We're going to have a competitive, clean game... Geoff and I have worked together before and we're both approachable, but only by you two gentlemen. I don't want to see your assistant coaches... they're probably over-caffinated anyway. Alright, Coach Brian, have your team take the field!)

 

Why Balks and Contact especially? Because those are the two that will get you the most amount of grief during gameplay. Any other rule interpretation or particular can be ironed out in gameplay, or is covered in the age/experience level we're playing (dropped 3rd strike, infield fly, yadda yadda).

 

Provided the park doesn't have a plethora of variables that have to be discussed (Who put that rolled up tarp _there_? And why is there a tackling sled in right field? (true story) ), I can usually have a plate meeting wrapped up in around a minute.

 

Add. - And the PU should do most of the talking. In our league, however, we play on such a variety of fields that if the BU for this game has had a game on that particular field before, we've been allowing the BU to explain the ground rules, since he/she is more familiar with how the park plays. We've noticed that this has helped some of the less experienced umpires, both PU's and BU's, since it gets them involved (as BU) and doesn't leave them craning their neck and bumbling through that part of the plate meeting (as PU).

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plate ump introduces himself and partner --get the line ups (home team first) --let home team coach go over ground rules--ask any special rules--say good luck to each coach with a hand shake--plate ump does all the talking.  Should not take more than a few minutes.

All good. Short and sweet. I'll only add this. Let your partner introduce himself. I can't remember a time when I as a BU didn't introduce myself. My partner does not need to introduce me. Don't forget the legal stuff. Ask them if their players are properly equipped.

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In succinct, efficient fashion, it goes:

• The Game (We've got a 12U ballgame of 7 innings in length and 2 hours 15 minutes on the clock. It's OBR with our Fed modifications (it's the league we play in, and it's just a quick acknowledgement by the two HC's)).

• The Ground Rules (Enclosed outfield, fence line extended that way, fence line extended that way, gaps there and there, net is dead ball)

• The ABCD's

- - Are All your players legally and properly equipped?

- - Balks (Balks are off, balks are on, or balks are 1 warning, thereafter enforced)

- - Contact (You must slide to avoid contact. I'll take any slide you got provided it is to avoid contact, and we (umpires) will be enforcing obstruction and interference as we see applicable.)

- - Discussions (Coach Alex, Coach Brian, We're going to have a competitive, clean game... Geoff and I have worked together before and we're both approachable, but only by you two gentlemen. I don't want to see your assistant coaches... they're probably over-caffinated anyway. Alright, Coach Brian, have your team take the field!)

Why Balks and Contact especially? Because those are the two that will get you the most amount of grief during gameplay. Any other rule interpretation or particular can be ironed out in gameplay, or is covered in the age/experience level we're playing (dropped 3rd strike, infield fly, yadda yadda).

Provided the park doesn't have a plethora of variables that have to be discussed (Who put that rolled up tarp _there_? And why is there a tackling sled in right field? (true story) ), I can usually have a plate meeting wrapped up in around a minute.

Add. - And the PU should do most of the talking. In our league, however, we play on such a variety of fields that if the BU for this game has had a game on that particular field before, we've been allowing the BU to explain the ground rules, since he/she is more familiar with how the park plays. We've noticed that this has helped some of the less experienced umpires, both PU's and BU's, since it gets them involved (as BU) and doesn't leave them craning their neck and bumbling through that part of the plate meeting (as PU).

Wow, way, way too wordy for me!

You really bring up balks and contact at your plate meetings?

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Here is my plate meeting 

 

Are you both the head coach of your team? 

We got 7 innings or hour 45

Run rule is 15 after 3 or 8 after 4 

We are calling Balks, IFF and drop third strike 

Runners do not have to slide but they do have to avoid contact

If you have any questions or problems during the game will can talk but we will only talk with you not your asst coaches

I ask partner if he as anything to add

Lets play ball

 

 

On a side note if you are the base umpire please dont talk during the plate meeting unless you are asked a question.

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Here is my plate meeting 

 

Are you both the head coach of your team? 

We got 7 innings or hour 45

Run rule is 15 after 3 or 8 after 4 

We are calling Balks, IFF and drop third strike 

Runners do not have to slide but they do have to avoid contact

If you have any questions or problems during the game will can talk but we will only talk with you not your asst coaches

I ask partner if he as anything to add

Lets play ball

 

 

On a side note if you are the base umpire please dont talk during the plate meeting unless you are asked a question.

BEST!

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Here is my plate meeting 

 

Are you both the head coach of your team? 

We got 7 innings or hour 45

Run rule is 15 after 3 or 8 after 4 

We are calling Balks, IFF and drop third strike 

Runners do not have to slide but they do have to avoid contact

If you have any questions or problems during the game will can talk but we will only talk with you not your asst coaches

I ask partner if he as anything to add

Lets play ball

 

 

On a side note if you are the base umpire please dont talk during the plate meeting unless you are asked a question.

 

Avoid or attempt to avoid?

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@Thunderheads – My _opinion_ is that, unless we set the expectation in the plate meeting, Assistant Coaches will try and participate in discussions to either A) outnumber the umpire(s), or B) showcase their specific realm of coaching knowledge and try to outsmart the umpire(s).

 

In my (now) eight years of umpiring, I have yet to eject a Head Coach. I've ejected three assistant coaches, two for trying to outnumber (by way of running towards) my partner while my partner was in a civil discussion with their HC. There are teams that, more or less, put a team polo shirt on each ballplayer's dad and consider them assistant coaches or bookkeepers or equipment managers (bat retrievers... I'm not kidding), all jammed in that dugout. There is no way – _no way_ – I'm going to be engaged in a call / rules discussion with any / all of them at random.

 

I will certainly talk with an assistant coach when appropriate, but I (as the umpire) will be the one initiating the discussion, not the other way around.

 

There was an instance where we (my partner and I) completely put a HC on the back foot. The HC in question decided to relax for this first tournament game of the day, and sent his team's equipment manager up to the Plate Meeting. Guess who we considered to be the HC for the game? Yup. You got it. We figured out who the true HC was after the 2nd inning, but we really caused a crease in his brow when we would only discuss whether or not a swipe tag (attempt) was applied with "the HC" / Eq. Mgr. We had a good-natured laugh about it after the game, but he did say he felt completely hamstrung not being a part of the discussion, and that wouldn't skip another plate meeting for the rest of the tournament.

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You are assuming (1) that the head coach even hears what you are saying and (2) that he will relay this information to his assistants if he did hear you.

 

I give each head coach my name when I introduce myself and about 90% of the time they still address me as "blue."  They don't remember because they aren't listening.  Trust me, the ones that ARE listening already know that we don't deal with assistants.

 

It's superfluous.

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Coaches are not listening to you at the plate meeting. They have other things in their minds to worry about.

 

My plate meeting:

 

Introduce myself and write their names.

Properly equipped.

Ground rules.

Play ball

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I just use LEGS as introductions should be a given.

 

I was taught the S In LEGS stands for special circumstances. ie  We will have a national anthem,  or teams might be doing some promotional stuff in between innings. Anything the umpire might need to be aware of.  Minor league and college teams do some crazy things.     

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Intro

Line/ups

Fix the lineups

Ground Rules

Sportsmanship/Fairplay

Any questions?

 

Nothing else unless mandated by your assoc or league.  I saw in the chain the following :You must slide to avoid contact.

This annoys me to death and causes more arguements than anything.  Contact must be avoided, when sliding you must slide legally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Runners can give up or veer off.  Jesus, Maria,  F-Bomb. 

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For youth baseball, at the plate meeting, I tell the HCs that they are responsible for the behavior of their players, coaches and parents. Most times this cavaet goes without comment. When they do object to being responsible for parents' behavior, I know what to expect and what to do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I never ask "Do you have any questions?" for fear that they do.

 

Well, why not answer them? If it takes 15 seconds or less and makes me "approachable," I'm game. I won't lead a rules clinic out there or extend my usual 30 second coaches meeting beyond 1 minute, but I want to start non-confrontational.

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