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Do Away With A?


Sut'n Blue
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A while back someone posted something about maybe getting rid of A and using only B and C in a two man system. I tried searching and couldn't find the reference but I think it's food for thought and might make an interesting discussion. It seems to me the idea might be a good one. Your thoughts?

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Are you all posting this before or after you read Carl's reasons for doing away with "A"?  I'm not saying that I agree with him on his proposal (I don't), but he's a highly educated man who definitely used logic in supporting his ideas.

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Are you all posting this before or after you read Carl's reasons for doing away with "A"?  I'm not saying that I agree with him on his proposal (I don't), but he's a highly educated man who definitely used logic in supporting his ideas.

 

After. In fact, I just had a conversation about this (spurred by an email with him) with someone last week.

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There is NO, ZERO, valid reason or logic for this.

So you're saying NFHS will adopt it next year???

As far as I know, they already have. That book goes into my bonfire-starting bag the moment it arrives.I don't use it but when I have referenced it recently the topics I referred to where in line with other mechanics. Rumor has it that Evans was involved with a rewrite.

Regarding no A position, it's only appropriate for immobile umpires or maybe we should have them rim and PU take 3B. Interestingly, I know of a college assignor that does not want an umpire in "A" to go out on a trouble ball. The speed of the game at that level and the speed of the umpires he uses requires the umpires to pivot or AAA pivot immediately and if they pause to read the trouble ball they will be behind the runner.

In my opinion one of the toughest calls is calling the play at 1B from inside. But if you can't move maybe you should start from there. I can move and I'm staying in "A"

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I don't use it but when I have referenced it recently the topics I referred to where in line with other mechanics. Rumor has it that Evans was involved with a rewrite.

Should have been more clear. FED mechanics could be written by Lance Cokalinski and I wouldn't know, as they aren't taken seriously by anyone in the state I work (although they are the "standard.")

 

Interestingly, I know of a college assignor that does not want an umpire in "A" to go out on a trouble ball. The speed of the game at that level and the speed of the umpires he uses requires the umpires to pivot or AAA pivot immediately and if they pause to read the trouble ball they will be behind the runner.

Maybe he should get some better guys. It's not hard to use pause-read-react if an umpire is at the proper depth and has the physical attributes necessary to maintain a game at that level.

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There is NO, ZERO, valid reason or logic for this.

So you're saying NFHS will adopt it next year???

As far as I know, they already have. That book goes into my bonfire-starting bag the moment it arrives.

I wish I could put it there too. But we will lose playoff games if we don't use High School mechanics.

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When I started umpiring, one of the hardest bad habit to break was to not fixate on the throw from B/C. You still need to watch BR's reach 1B and listen for the ball/glove pop. Every now and then I still fall into this bad habit and immediately realize that I am screwed because I didn't see when BR got to the base. This never happens to me when I'm in A.

 

Though I have no data to backup this statement, I think the percent of correct 1B banger calls would be higher in A than in B. And if that is true, I can't think of any advantage of being in B that would take precedence.

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With all due respect to Carl Childress, here are my TOP SIX REASONS TO DO AWAY WITH 'A'!!!

#6 - From this angle, I can just echo the first-base coach's call.

#5 - What's the "A" position??

#4 - I blew out my knee pivoting.

#3 - I avoid taking heat for a check swing.

#2 - I don't want to get dirt on my white shoes crossing the infield.

And the #1 reason to do away with 'A'...

- From behind the mound, I'm in the ideal position to wipe off the bases.

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With all due respect to Carl Childress, here are my TOP SIX REASONS TO DO AWAY WITH 'A'!!!

#6 - From this angle, I can just echo the first-base coach's call.

#5 - What's the "A" position??

#4 - I blew out my knee pivoting.

#3 - I avoid taking heat for a check swing.

#2 - I don't want to get dirt on my white shoes crossing the infield.

And the #1 reason to do away with 'A'...

- From behind the mound, I'm in the ideal position to wipe off the bases.

You still have to take the heat for a check swing:)

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I like being in A.

 

Love to show off my blazing speed when running from A to C on a possible triple and I get to bang the runner out!

 

Why stop at C?

 

By then I have had enough!!!

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With all due respect to Carl Childress, here are my TOP SIX REASONS TO DO AWAY WITH 'A'!!!

#6 - From this angle, I can just echo the first-base coach's call.

#5 - What's the "A" position??

#4 - I blew out my knee pivoting.

#3 - I avoid taking heat for a check swing.

#2 - I don't want to get dirt on my white shoes crossing the infield.

And the #1 reason to do away with 'A'...

- From behind the mound, I'm in the ideal position to wipe off the bases.

Make sure you keep your base cleaning rag in your ball bag, along with your keys, phone, wallet, and maybe something cool to drink.

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I like being in A.

 

Love to show off my blazing speed when running from A to C on a possible triple and I get to bang the runner out!

 

Why stop at C?

 

I actually had a umpire on a clear triple go across and past "C" to the outside the infield side into the coaches box and take the play...he said " the coach told me nice hustle"..

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I don't think it is an absurd idea... I actually have mixed emotions about it. 

 

In reality the PU is making all the same calls on trouble balls on the left field side, so why can't he make them for the right field side. Also, we only get that advantage with nobody aboard so PU still makes many of those same calls in any situation where there are runners aboard. So it is clearly established that the PU has the ability to make the calls. 

 

On the other hand, the 2 man system has so many shortcomings, to not take advantage of the one opportunity we have to get a better look at one of these trouble balls would be doing the game, and umpiring, a disservice.

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I don't think it is an absurd idea... I actually have mixed emotions about it. 

 

In reality the PU is making all the same calls on trouble balls on the left field side, so why can't he make them for the right field side. Also, we only get that advantage with nobody aboard so PU still makes many of those same calls in any situation where there are runners aboard. So it is clearly established that the PU has the ability to make the calls. 

 

On the other hand, the 2 man system has so many shortcomings, to not take advantage of the one opportunity we have to get a better look at one of these trouble balls would be doing the game, and umpiring, a disservice.

The call at 1B is best done from "A" even though we sometimes have to call it from the inside in 2 man. 

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I think it goes beyond just the trouble ball scenario. Two man for the most part has us set up to be in the best position for the most probable play(s). Wouldn't a ground ball with a throw to first be one of the most probable plays for us to be calling as BU with no one on? There's no doubt from A we get a better position for plays @ 1st.  Why wouldn't we want to be there? 

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This is a pretty crazy concept to me. I don't see what advantage if any you would have by not using "A". I can think of several reasons why not using "A" would put you at a disadvantage though. A few quick ones that come to mind are:

 

1) It's a lot easier to take a play at 1st from "A" than it is from the middle.

2) There's less likelihood that you would affect an infielders throw from "A" than from in the middle.

3) The trouble ball to right field or down the line is easier for a base umpire to get in position to see from "A" than it is for the home plate umpire (there are enough shortcomings in the 2 man system, no need to create more.)

4) You've got a better look at the check swing from a right handed batter from "A". 

 

That's just a quick few that I thought of in about 10 seconds. It was stated above in earlier comments that this idea was suggested by Carl Childress. Now I don't know if it's true or not because I'm not too read up on Carl Childress theories but it wouldn't surprise me if it was one of his. From the few articles about umpiring he's written that I've read I found a lot of them to be kind of out there so to speak. My question is if he has so many theories about umpiring like this one and others that are widely considered to be ineffective or inefficient then why is he so widely quoted in mechanics debates among umpires? I know one of Childress's more well known theories is that the best umpires are the ones that go unnoticed, which doesn't sound too crazy at first and I know many people agree with this but I read this quote not too long ago that was a rebuttal to that theory that really puts it all in perspective. It was a quote from Bruce Froemming who as many of y'all will know up until the 2012 season held the record for the most playoff games worked at the Major League level when he was passed by Gerry Davis. The quote read "One of the really wrong theories about officiating is that a good official is the one you never notice. The umpire who made this statement was probably a poor official who tried to get his paycheck and hide behind his partners and stay out of trouble his whole life. Control of the ball game is the difference between umpires who show up for the players and the managers." I only bring this up because to me doing away with "A" seems to be an effort to try and go as unnoticed as possible.

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I don't know if Papa C said what you think he said, meant it, or has been taken out of context. Perhaps the context of that quote (if it was a quote) came from his book, "51 101 151 Ways To Ruin a Baseball Game". Every one of these ways were examples of umpires getting noticed for the wrong reason. Compared to the Smitty's he wrote about, most competent umpires would appear unnoticed in comparison.

 

Carl Childress is also the guy who publishes the Baseball Rules Difference book series. Few can match his contributions to our vocation.  

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