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Like, that's a celebration I wanna see. Puts on the oven mitt, opens the oven, pretends to take a pizza out, then all the kids have a pizza party. I'm in. I've changed my mind on them. They are ok in my book.

I think the regret is not being able to stand around in your underwear in the school parking lot. It turns out that the authorities frown on that if you are not an umpire.

Here is my brand new retrofit from @Umpiresrock74. Its Wilson plates with a planform for the Riddell Power Medium padding. This is very light and fits just like the Riddell I had a few years ago. Its complete with Fidlock buckles. I am beyond ecstatic about this CP. I am switching the harness out for an Umplife. If anyone needs a retrofit I highly recommend Michael.

I am scheduled to do opposites on same day next week....LL 9-10 first , then a Men's Rec League for a night cap. Will be interesting to see who whines more?

You don’t have to stretch but you do need to have hands apart and then put them together.

Thank you @834k3r and @Coach Carl for being serious and answering the OP. Otherwise people would just think we're a bunch of quacks.

How did the third baseman miss it? Did he duck?

Did it strike a chicken in the process?

It was called that when I first started umpiring HS baseball more than 30 years ago. Never know anyone who had a problem with that verbiage until you started posting here. And, ducking was "never"allowed (as a way to get out of the requirement) in any of the areas (not that it was many, or particularly widely spread) I officiated. (not to say that some official might not have ruled it that way, but that it was not an appropriate judgment.)

As many of you know in my Swan Song email, I've been doing this for 20 years, with a large gap in between (1996-2009). My last ejection was in 1995, and yesterday was number 2, ... yes, 2, and my first HS EJ. And,.... don't start with "if you only have 2 ejections you've been missing opportunites, you don't manage the game well, ...blah, blah, blah" .... Anyhow ..... bottom 5, 3-2 count, very nice pitch that catches the inside corner. I ring him up as he steps towards first because he thinks it's ball 4. He comes back, picks up his bat, and DRAWS A LINE! I look and think to myself "well, ... there it is!" BOOM! This one was a gift 😆

Tell the truth, you were probably like Desmond Doss and thinking "just one more, Lord. Give me just one more." [apologies for my dark humor. Its a slow day.]

The coach is allowed to remain on the field, provided his doing so does not delay the warm up. I don't see why it matters where he stands. But this is a bit below level behavior, and surprising. The HS baseball in my area has pitchers who will be entering the draft, and we'd never see this.

My admonition to my players was they'd be getting splinters on their ass. My admonition to their parents was "well, I can't bench YOU". Here's the paradox. Partly - many people are still in the "stick and stones" mindset, and still believe verbal abuse isn't abuse...and that it's OK. Some even think it's their noble right. You also have a large number of ignoramuses in our "free countries" (and I speak of both Canada and the US) that truly believe our freedom of speech applies everywhere (not just government) and that it literally means I can say whatever the F*#K I want to whoever the F*#K I want, with no F*#King consequences. And then, if the day comes when an umpire snaps and beats the ever living SH*# out of a coach NOBODY will have the balls to say the coach had it coming...or, less severely, at least understand what may have led to the assault. (ie. the last straw) Ump goes to jail, and nobody learns why it happened...so it's going to happen again. I've said something similar the last 480 high school/university shootings that have happened. I can GUARANTEE you that the guy who walked in there and pulled the trigger on his classmates over and over again was bullied...and in many cases by the very people he murdered. And instead of acknowledging that simple fact people get their panties in a knot that I'm victim blaming...or "well, I got bullied in school and I didn't shoot anyone". I'm not justifying the murder, nor am I saying the victims deserved it. I'm applying a very real context that nobody wants to deal with. And all that hand-wringing does is serve to ignore the very real fact that words have meaning, and that they have consequences. And sometimes the consequences far outweigh the crime...but most of the time that's because nobody imposed more appropriate consequences early on. Yes, those who are bullied (and a LOT of umpires are bullied) react in different ways - they fight back, they go into a shell, they kill themselves, they quit, or they LOSE IT. And people still think "names will never hurt me".

Anticlimactic, I know. but I was perfectly fine with 4 kids touching 4 bases. It was also nice to see my partners waiting and watching for touches before sprinting off the field

You have guys point the ball live? NICE!

He can do either. If he returns to third he would not be subject to being out on appeal for not retouching after a catch and would only be out if he strayed from the base and was tagged. If he attempted to score he would be out if F3 got up from the ground and threw to F2 who tagged him before he touched HP. He would be safe if that throw was late or F3 never got up. After that he might be out if the defense knew he did not retouch and appealed him not retouching and the umpires saw that he did not retouch.

If they were half as good as they think they are, they'd be twice as good as they really are.

Men's Rec and it's not even close... ~Dawg

Even though the PU might have broke “procedural protocol” and allowed a dead ball appeal, does that invalidate a Live ball appeal? I’m not condoning it if he did, nor am I campaigning for NCAA (and OBR, by extension) to do dead ball appeals. … although… 🤔 … isn’t video replay review a form of dead ball appeal?

Rule 8-2-6 c. Dead Ball. The dead-ball appeal may be made: 1) Once all runners have completed their advancement and time has been called, a coach or any defensive player, with or without the ball, may make a verbal appeal on a runner missing a base or leaving a base too soon on a caught fly ball. The administering umpire should then make a decision on the play. 2) If the ball has gone out of play, runners must be given the opportunity to complete their base-running responsibilities before the dead-ball appeal can be made.

Lock this thread already. Use chicken wire if you have to.

Traditional Defender Mask Play Pack Pro Set with Mask, Accessories & Backpack (force3progear.com) For $127.98: Traditional Defender Mask ($199.95)* Pro Harness ($34.95)* Sun Shield ($29.95)* Bat Backpack ($89.95)* *if purchased individually Use the CODE: BIGSAVE60 Force3 must be comparing promo prices to a @wolfe_man retirement sale

@Murphy25 to answer your question, no that is not a balk. It is a "don't do that". "Time" is the correct call. If the player deliberately continues, then...well...eject. But, ... 10U. So some discretion is probably in order. This exact topic has been discussed in other threads here.

That's a big bowl of bunk. Your state organization's by-laws dictate what is an official contest under their purview. I would bet dollars to donuts your state organization heavily emphasizes that you are an independent contractor. As such, your state organization cannot call you to grill you about a game that is not under their jurisdiction. As for a subpoena in a personal injury case, please explain how an umpire is responsible for an injury beyond allowing unsafe playing conditions. The schools still agreed to contract you, an independent contractor, for their school event - whether that is calling a baseball game or chaperoning prom. Barring any grossly negligent behavior on your part ("No coach! This is not a sanctioned game, so I am not stopping the pitcher from driving nails into the ball! Yes, coach, he can use a broadsword for a bat."), you have no more or less liability than you did 20 minutes ago. You might make the big boys on your state alphabet angry with you, but a judge is not going to say, "Not guilty . . . wait, what? They had eight players? Well, in that case, I sentence you to hang . . . hang . . . HANG!" You may not be covered under your state org's insurance during that game. That's all.

In TN I had a coach pushback on the "only 2 kids out swinging". I called him over with my lineup card out and said, "Ok Bob, that is the rule you do not want me to enforce. Now, I am going to walk over and ask Tom what rule he is choosing to not have me enforce today". He cocked his head, turned to the dugout and said "only 2 out guys". Problem solved.

I think it is you that is missing the point. It is obvious, to me at least, that the runner has two options: Legally slide directly into the base or run/slide in a direction away from the defender. If the runner doesn't do either of those things and they are in the vicinity of the base, then they are in violation. It is pretty simple. Running directly at a defender at the base while ducking, isn't one of those things.

In officiating any sport, we work for supervisors. They have views—sometimes strong views—about proper mechanics. If they tell you to do something a certain way that conflicts with other instruction or training that you've received, I recommend that you do it the supervisor's way for the games you work for that supervisor. To do otherwise would risk those assignments in future. As for the "that's nothing + safe signal" mechanic, it was part of my training in pro school (I don't recall it taught specifically for a batted ball through a fielder, but in general). The rationale for it is that we are making a call, and our job is communicate. Verbalizing and signaling communicates the no-call. That said, for some levels of youth ball, whenever an umpire verbalizes something, some players will stop and look at the umpire. That might be what "Bristol" is saying, that the cure is worse than the disease. Maybe so, for those levels. But we can use other/additional tools: we can modulate or lower our voices to be less distracting, add "play on, play on!" or the like, and continue to communicate after the initial ruling. For me, communication is like chocolate: more is generally better, at least to a point.

I don't think I want to test that theory whether I had my gear with me or not. True story that has happened in the past two weeks. While in a park's parking lot, I was separated from my partners by a couple of spaces and a row (lane between our rows). My slim deficient partner was undressing at a diagonal from me and while keeping his shirt on, he discretely pulled his pants down and sat quickly in his chair. The mother of the family that was sitting in the car next to me, waiting for soccer practice to end (I assume), started saying loudly 'that's disgusting' and he shouldn't be doing it around children, yada yada yada. We were 50 to 75 yards from fields. I could just chuckled under my breath as she went on and on. I was more in shock as he finished putting on his shorts and took his shirt off. Nobody wanted to see that. lol

Well … this was his 8th game. One he ended up solo (what the ever-loving funk?) and one he started with a partner who bailed to go do another game. Two he worked with a partner who he never should have been paired with. So … not much for feedback. He said he tried doing basketball about 8 years ago, but couldn’t keep up with it. I made a comment about the speed of HS basketball and he said, “Oh, no. This was a 4th-5th grade house league.” He had watched a few games, paid the $70, bought decent gear (sorry, @MadMax, he went to the Golden Arches), went to a clinic (or, as I call our local clinics, a beer and bull$#!+ session), and then watched videos online. I don’t know what more you guys want! 🙄 I tried to provide him as much positive feedback as I could, sandwiching in opportunities. He wasn’t all bad, but those coaches were destroying him and it was in his head. He will never be a high level varsity guy, but with some work he could be a competent JV and maybe low-level youth umpire. We were on the backlot (practice field) of the local community college. They had a game on their field and I was hoping we would get done before them. I was going to ask him to go sit and watch part of it to talk about what the umpires were doing and why. Observing is one thing, but if you don’t know why we do what we do …

This is Crucial Question A-Number-1: Does your/that state association draw or take registration fees or dues, especially off new registrants? If “Yes”, I don’t care how much or how little (token) it is, your/that association is a part of the problem. How? How can an organization pull $X off a new recruit, provide nominal-to-no training, provide no gear, provide no uniform, provide no structured support… and deny that that constitutes robbery (or extortion)?? “You gotta pay to play (officiate)”? Absurd. The entire system is broken.

I like what I’ve seen of this guy. Clear, correct directions for pitchers.

When the camp i wanted to attend was cancelled due to COVID and instead offered virtual sessions, I passed and waited for it to resume in-person instruction simply because I both wanted and needed the field and plate work sessions more than presentations and diagrams. For me, it was far more useful to be shown what do do and be told what I was doing well and what small adjustments might work better for me - stuff that simply cannot be shared and conveyed effectively through a screen. Also, some of the diagrams I've seen have enough lines and arrows to be overwhelming and it's much more practical to have a clinician demonstrate where one should be positioned for a particular play and giving attendees the chance to do it for themselves. This is definitely an issue all over. In my state, anyone who registers with the state association to be an umpire for either sport on the diamond is given little more than the rule book, case book - and perhaps a mechanics manual - and left to otherwise fend for themselves. This is definitely not the way to get rookies off to a good start especially when officials registering here for the first time in football or basketball have to pass an open book mechanics test to ensure they've at least read up on the basic principles in those sports. Pre-COVID, my official's association used to offer a floor mechanic demonstration in basketball for new and newer officials. It's a shame something like this can't be offered for those who can't attend a more-encompassing camp for whatever reasons. However, I understand how lack of interest and low numbers of new officials registering for a sport often drives the decision to offer these sessions. That said, I have encouraged a rookie or two I've done baseball games with to attend the same camp I've attended in the past when they showed an interest in improving and learning more. The flip side is officials are now between a rock and a hard place when there's either no game management or a game manager who doesn't want to address unruly fans. I don't envy any officials finding themselves in that position.

Ah! I know where this comes from… Either… He’s done way too much solo work early in his career, or… He’s been instructed* or impressed (by post-game evaluation, or by colleague) incorrectly, with much too much emphasis placed on “getting out from behind the plate… what are ya? Lazy?” * - in this case, likely classroom / zoom meeting session, looking at diagrams or word-salad slides, instead of actually getting out on a field and doing it.

T, I’ve / we’ve got colleagues who point the (dead) ball Live without the pitcher being on the rubber; instead, being visibly off of it. One-time mistake? Sure. Forgivable. Repeated pattern of behavior? And, when pointed out, either express naïvety or ignorance? Yeah, we must correct that.

But was it a "highly competitive" JV game?

Wouldn’t the winning run end the game until it doesn’t become the winning run. But yes a verbal appeal can only happen whit a dead ball.

What’s this “24 hours later” stuff? How ‘bout within 24 hours… ? Oo! How ‘bout within 12 to 14 hours?? I’ve worked 3 different rule sets & corresponding skill levels… in the same 14 hour period! And I’m not alone in this… several of us do this… work a 10:00am MiLB ST game, then a 3:00pm NJCAA / NAIA game, then a 7:00pm NFHS game. Or, I’ve done a 11:00am NJCAA/NAIA game, a 4:00pm HS game, then a 7:00pm MSBL/NABA (Adult Men’s) game to finish the day. The change in speeds and skill doesn’t really affect me (us); it’s the distances, especially pitch distance, and then the footwork-distance that is compressed and truncated when working < 12-year old baseball. I don’t know how my colleagues who do softball 🥎 and baseball ⚾️ concurrently manage it. 🫣

You don't think that kid's foot in that video is parallel to start? If we're gonna get down to the 1/2 of a degree of angle, I'm allowing it and I'm gonna say he's not exactly parallel every time, every day.

Since @Tborze and @MadMax may have overlooked some of the words in my post, I shall reiterate that "Home plate is 17 inches wide. Use it as a guide like Tim McClelland did in the Pine Tar game and I'd bet you get a similar reaction" Perhaps I should have included the or ?

You don't have to work a LL game for it to go sideways. I worked a JUCO Super Regional yesterday and the score was 18-1. Visitors put up 7 in the 3rd, 7 in the 6th, 3 in the 7th and 1 in the 8th. Visiting team starter lost the shutout in the 9th. But the good news is the game time was only 2:25.

There's a specific statement in the rule book under appeals to the effect that "If the ball has gone out of play, runners must be given a chance to complete their base-running responsibilities before the appeal can be made."

No foreign substances can be applied to the barrel more than 18 inches from the end of the handle. NFHS 1-3-3 NCAA 1-12-3 OBR 3.02 Home plate is 17 inches wide. Use it as a guide like Tim McClelland did in the Pine Tar game and I'd bet you get a similar reaction. Don't go looking for a problem to try to solve. Use the rules to solve problems not create them (Thanks @JonnyCat)

LL league play, R2, 2 outs. Batter (son of the HC) struck out looking on a ball at the top of the zone to end the inning. As he walked off, he said "that wasn't a strike, dude!" I stared at him as he walked to and entered the dugout. His dad talked to him outside the dugout, told the player it was a strike, and was a strike all game. After the HC met with his team before they took the field defensively, I walked up to the coach and opened my lineup card holder (to make it look like we were discussing the lineup) and told him that his son could get tossed in the future. The HC said "you should have." I said I didn't because he didn't cross any "red lines" (the 3 Ps: personal, profane, prolonged). Rest of the game proceeded without incident. In fact, the HC had his son catch the next inning; player came up to me and apologized. Had the game been FED I probably wouldn't have reacted at all, but I thought it was important to nip the behavior in the bud.

Was the ball in fair territory when it passed 3rd base? Did it pass 3rd base?

Honey, I'm home... I've taken a few years off. Not from umpiring, but from posting online. Lots of life changes over the last few years. I lost my wife of 27 years in 2020 right before covid was sprung on us. I was blessed that we were able to have her memorial before everything shut down. I started dating about a year and a half later and have gotten engaged, moved from my home in Laguna Niguel, rented it out, and moved in with my fiance (Kristin) in Oceanside. We are getting married on July 20th. On the umpiring front, I stopped doing HS last year to focus solely on my college schedule. I work D2, D3, NAIA and JC. It's good to see some familiar "faces" when browsing the site!

Staples Button " Well that was easy"

Why do I see a reenactment of Earl Weaver and Bill Haller (U)?

"That's not 2SF for you?" - Jordan Baker

Can people stop including pictures of their bare feet in these threads?