MadMax

🤔 How did you (two) possibly let this snarky gem go without a response in kind?? Umpire - “That’s not possible, Coach (drip contempt)… the most that can be scored on any one play is 4 runs.” Other Umpire – “Yeah, don’t you know baseball??”

The plan I’m supplying to @Umpiresrock74 addresses exactly that, @BretMan. I’ve done this replacement on 2 Platinums and 2 Golds so far; on the Platys, it was to reduce the hulking linebacker look, while in the Golds, it was to fix/replace that structured stitch holding the pauldron pad to the torso/vest pad (Wilson’s cheap laziness). On the Platys, I simply re-used the TPU foam flaps that are superfluous and unnecessary on a Schutt-Adams XV. Burned two slots in each one, then looped Velcro thru them to the pauldron plate to hold it. On the Golds, it’s a little more involved, but the end-goal is the same. Because Wilson cheats, and uses (far too) thick sofa cushion foam unilaterally, in the entirety of the vest parts, the shoulder pauldrons don’t cup and encompass your shoulder rounds like they should; instead, they rest atop them. Then too, that structured stitch doesn’t give you any flexibility on repositioning them for an ideal fit. So, I render (kill) that stitch if it isn’t already ripped, and I install a connecting spline from the shoulder arch plate to the pauldron plate. Then, I’ve taken apart cheap, throwaway umpire washboard CPs from the 1980s and 1990s, separated the shoulder pauldron plates from the closed cell foam pad lining it, and used that on these Golds. The result is _dramatic_. Vast improvement. So what I’ll be supplying to Michael to recreate is a two-material foam… danish? I can’t call it a donut… it’ll have a disc of closed cell foam, and a rim of open-cell, spongy foam… so a pershing? 🍩 Whatever… it’ll encompass and cup the round of your shoulder. You’ll be protected, and your shirts will fit so much better.

I emphatically concur with you, @Thatsnotyou. Exactly. A well-regarded colleague disclosed, “There are two types of coaches, those that know (how to approach an umpire), and those that don’t. Those that do, you just insulted. Those that don’t, they’re not going to listen and change their ways anyway.”

Yup 👍🏼 –

In OBR, NCAA, and AZ-NFHS, true. However, the OP has a whiff of NFHS about it. 🍣

Adding to maven & Mac’s answers… Lets pose a different variant to the same question… if an F1 picks and throws towards the F3 (this time) holding R1 on, but throws it cleanly 10 feet over F3’s head… … do we call that a Balk and/or kill it? 🤔

#1 is the prescribed method, with emphasis on that you don’t have to “get help” on each and every “close” play, and certainly not just to “appease” a coach. #3 makes you look indecisive and ineffective; never do this. #4 ( @Velho’s ) introduces too many variables, and is too (much more) reliant on a working relationship between partners. If it needs to be pre-gamed, then it shouldn’t be done. With that said, if two guys who work together a lot do it, I’m not going to ding them for it, such as if two of my fellow Vultures do it. I wouldn’t / don’t do it myself, but I wouldn’t Pooh-pooh them if they did. And that brings me to #2… <sigh>… my windmill to tilt, my hill to die on. While I completely acknowledge and respect the perspective that @noumpere and other umpires have, and concede this … action isn’t something that should be taught, let alone encouraged. However, I endorse its “correct” use, and use it myself, especially for the resulting atmosphere it creates… as I’ll explain. I don’t have an official name for it. Real-time appeal? In-play assist? Prompted answer? A classic example is 2-man, R2, and a ground ball to an infielder with a throw that takes the F3 off the bag… at least his action implies that. You, as BU, get as close as able to 1B, at a “good” angle, and watch for all the components of the play coalesce – the throw is made, the ball’s flight, the ball enter the mitt, the arrival of the BR, and… there’s that movement by F3… and your brain is left with a logic equation: if his foot was on the bag, the ball beat BR (and yes, we have voluntary release / possession), and he’s Out; else F3’s foot was off the base, and BR would be Safe. There are no other visual cues – either way – to affect the answer. There’s one, simple, binary (this is absolutely crucial) piece missing – was his foot on the base, Yes or No? Well, who knows that answer? The PU does (or, should), looking down the 1BL. So why not ask him??? As long as you present it as a binary – yes or no – question, then where’s the problem? “Chris, was his foot on bag??” “Yup!” [equation completed in 🧠] “Out!” All done in-play, in the moment, in real time. None of this calling “Time”, none of this coach coming out to apprehensively ask (or berate) you to “go for help!”, none of this getting together all hush-hush and secretively – which, by the way, does nothing to make the coaches, of either side, more calm; because, most of them think/believe that we (umpires) are “screwing them” when we get into those discussions all huddled around, covering our mouths, and nodding. Transparent. I did something similar just recently, which was best performed in the moment. HS game, “Championship” game of an Invitational bracket. Bottom of 7, R1-R2, 0 outs, tying run at 1B. 3-2 count. Tense. Pitch is swung thru, everyone hears the <<< cling! >>> of the bat, and the F2 has it (the ball) smack in his mitt, “rattle around”, and closes on it. I signal an Out mechanic, both for the catch and the secured (caught) 3rd strike. OTBC starts clamoring… “that hit the ground! That hit the ground!”, to which the OTHC in the 3BCBox implores, “Max! Maaaax! Can you check with your partner as to if that hit the ground?” “Sure! Robb, did that hit the ground?” ”Nope!” “Catch!” 1 out, next batter. It’s that simple! No anxiety, no clandestine, secretive get-together to discuss “whaddiya got?”, no bated breath, no drama (beyond the situation), no theatrics. Done. I concede, you can’t do this all the time. You can’t do this in environments where protocols, and video review are present*. You can’t do this if an evaluator / Assigner is going to dice 🔪 you to ribbons over it. You can only do it if you know / trust who you’re working with, and you yourself know where your partners are going to be and what they’re responsible for on certain plays. This is not a cover for being lazy, or “checking out” of engaging best effort and best practices during a game. * - Funny, I saw Hunter Wendelstedt and Laz Diaz do exactly this sort of call on a play in Minneapolis. Other umpires were with me in attendance, and a couple of them even remarked, “Wow. Hey Max, you’ve done a call like that before, right?”

Aha! So this means that there was the previous directive for U3 to sink, line up, and take tag responsibility… … which functions (I can’t, in good conscience, say “works”) in opposition, or counter, to PU conditioning to take all tags of R3 in every other scenario. So I wasn’t just talking out of my arse, or speaking out of turn, or a little boy at the adult’s table, or scoffing at the “Wisdom and Authority” of the CCA Manual when I said, “That’s a stupid mechanic, we (my crew) ain’t doing it.” In fairness and decorum, I only said this after politely questioning it, then raising logical objections to it to consider. 🤨 So, I’ll be pickled… the CCA Manual doesn’t know everything. TTWTM would have realized this happens when you get out on the field and actually do it, and then have evaluators use it as a demerit point – a “ding” – if you don’t perform it. And this is their way of admitting to it. Maybe we can end the POE on rimming, or at least overcome the reasoning (or rationale) behind it. Hope springs eternal.

AZ is 2 hour (maximum), no new. Schools may elect to do 1:50 or 1:45, and the school AD and/or Varsity coach can direct that the JV game ends “drop dead” if the Varsity game needs to be started. Run rules 15 after 4, 10 after 5. $62 for that game. Most of the outlying “perimeter” schools, beyond the Phoenix metro area, send 1 bus, with JV (if they have it) and Varsity softball, and JV and Varsity baseball all on that bus. So, on those, we’ll have up to 4 umpires all in the same lot! Woot! By contrast, the bigger metro schools will do “exchanges”… the JV squads of both bat sports will go to the opponent’s school, while the Varsity squads will be at the “host” school. This gets problematic for us (umpires) because we now have to cover two sites, not just one.

🥱 I gave you the confused reaction face so as to give you ↑ this more appropriate response. Old news. Doesn’t surprise me at all. What does surprise me about New Jersey baseball is that they don’t have a mandatory 15-minute break during the middle (changeover) of the 4th inning, and if the game goes into extra innings, the coaches, umpires, and school representatives have a meeting to (re-)discuss how everyone is expected to conduct themselves. 🤨 Yup. Arizona. … California likely requires helmets, but also states / claims that they cause cancer. 🙄 Hold on, hold on, hollllllllld on. There are plenty of other “major baseball organization(s)” that don’t require base coach helmets. USSSA, TripleCrown immediately come to mind… someone will have to voice up about Little League… If NFHS (still) doesn’t require it in its rules, it’s likely so as to not disenfranchise (less funded) schools who cannot provide base coach helmets, or not imperil the playing of the game based on “less-priority” items… (I’m searching for terms)… … which, of course, is it odds with the “umpire shall wear a navy shirt” rule. What if I cannot locate a navy shirt? What if I cannot afford one? What if I have an allergy to navy? What if I simply forgot it… am I supposed to postpone or cancel the playing of the game because I, as “Umpire In Charge*”, don’t have the codified navy shirt?? * – Which state / city was it wherein the related government board actually held meetings (at taxpayer 💵), discussed, and enacted the removal of all references to “chief” because it implies racism? Oh yeah, this happened. 🤨

It’s not as bad as you think. OBR-MLB doesn’t have this. They’ve got a set, timed interval – The U’s have nothing to do with it. There’s “people” to handle it. There’s a big-a$$ clock counting it down. MiLB might encourage/direct their U’s to “go get ‘em”, but I think, again, these intervals are timed. AFAIKN, the SEC is the only conference in NCAA that is adding timed limits on pitching changes and new-batter intervals: Pretty impressive huh? Ready for this? They even have a 10-run (difference) rule! We’re jell-jelly-jealous! But no worries, NFHS likely will never have this “go get ‘em” speed up protocol mandated, although it will appear as a courtesy extended by umpires who also operate in NCAA. Only NCAA does, and as on-field displayed clocks start to precipitate down from D-1 to NAIA & JuCo (2025?), this protocol won’t be (expected to be) performed, either, as it will be time limited.

Hey! While we’re at it, why not exchange D-ring & metal hooks… for side release buckles? Just a thought… 🤔

You would! Shouldn’t that be Stu-per Glue? 🥸

Sure! Why not? It’s amateur baseball (a JV game at that), and I’m sure your PU partner can recognize that he now has allll F/F & C/NC down both lines, just like if you had R2/R3. No worries! Good on ya! Just do not call “Time!” during a pitch, when you “can’t see”, and the batter subsequently belts a HR.* * NCAA baseball. Bring your poncho, @ArchAngel72! Whee!!

Right. R3 only. Puts U3 at D, U1 at A. { Related, but not relevant: in 4-man, this puts U2 in E (Echo) position } Anyway… I have this sinking suspicion that you’re saying U3 is supposed to not go out to a fly ball to left, not go out down the LFL for F/F & Catch/No-catch… that he’s to sink & work the bag & watch the tag of R3. Is that what CCA (and you, by way of reading said… publication) is outlining? Or am I misinterpreting?