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It is. I'll be honest, I've never gone to a partner for that. I'll also be honest and say that I do give a point or a fist, but it is more for my mental queueing than my partner. Here is why I don't like discreet signals . . . USA Softball "state" tournament. I have a good partner who I have worked with before, and he is on the plate. In pregame, he asked me not to go out on anything ("The field is small enough and the lights are good, I can get it"). Nobody on, screaming liner between F8 and F9. I am busting butt into my button-hook but can tell this may be an issue. I steal a look and see F9 diving ... quick hit on the ground and into the glove. I give a discreet point down as I am hooking in. "CATCH! OUT!" I turn my button-hook into a loop back to A. Here comes the screaming from the first base coach as he points at me: "YOU CALLED IT NO CATCH!" "Coach, I didn't call anything, but let me go talk to him." (Yes, this is backwards. 99.9% of the time I would have directed him to the umpire who made the call. However, this is my mess.) My partner vehemently states it is his call and it was a catch. Good enough for me (though I disagree). I even go back to the coach with the talk. "Coach, it is his call. He came out from behind the plate, was looking straight at it, and it was his call. I was moving the opposite direction and took a quick peek while I was running and swiveling toward your runner. It's not my call despite what I thought I had, and I wouldn't say I am 100%. He is sticking with it." "BUT YOU . . . " I managed to keep it from becoming an ejection, but it wasn't pretty. Good times, discreetly.

Wow - I opened a can of worms I had no intention of opening. My apologies if I was clumsy enough to be mis-understood. I coached for 10 years at a high level. My son is in his 14th year in the Major Leagues. I umpire in NYC, now in my 16th year. I send a "Rule of the Day" to about 700 umpires mostly in my two associations in NYC but I have people on my email list from 3 foreign countries and about 10 different states. Whenever I write about a call that involves a lot of judgement, I remind us all that we: 1 - get paid to see, then report. If we don't see, we can't let people know what we saw. 2 - there will be times where one umpire's judgement will differ from another's. 3 - we need to judge dispassionately and fairly. For those reasons I often say - Dispense justice as you see fit... Which is what an arbiter does in any sport and in the law. I come to this site a lot to find issues that my umpires need to know about and have nothing but respect for your rules knowledge and the time you put in. Several times in the past, when I could not find an answer to a question asked of me on my own, I've asked it here and have always gotten useful insight which I have passed along citing whichever of you gave me the key to unlocking the problem. No snark intended, and again, I am sorry if it came across that way.

That is not a balk. But if you called a balk you would not kill it yet.

#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?”

Yep, live ball. This is not a balk; it's an error, and we don't kill a play on an error.

@DerekGDS thanks for the info. Well, better to get it right than rush it

Absolutely not! Around here, PU and BU make the same amount per game

Material issues. We had to reject the first 3000 yards of fabric as it didn't pass lab tests for our internal shrinkage and tear strength parameters. It's so late in the season that at this point it will be a limited release that is now slotted for mid-late May (assuming there are no further issues). I expect no more then a few dozen units to be produced for release until Q4. MSRP is officially going to be $100 USD. Available in plate and base only w/ expandable waistband. Fitted is being considered but not planned at this point. Wish I had better news on the availability.

OBR lists no penalty even if we think it’s violating windup regulations. That’s why I think it’s a “don’t do that” if you subscribe to the thought that there is hesitation or alteration here. (Which at this point is opinion) NACAA has shown us video footage telling us it’s an illegal pitch. And we all know too well FED doesn’t want this stuff. I think the bottom line is we differentiate the codes here. Because I for one don’t want to hear “but Nestor does it even more” when I call an illegal pitch in HS or college.

Subvarsity here we have no new inning after 2 hours, drop dead at 2:15, as well as a 15 run rule after 4 innings. We get $65 plus mileage (only one driver per game crew).

"What you permit you promote" "What you don't condemn you condone"

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.

That’s what I mean by unofficial. No action taken. As opposed to action taken, for example, with the second step from the rubber.

Those are definitely the good days! I’ve had a couple like that over the years and they’re something to savor!

It's a shame someone hasn't invented some sort of transceiver with a unit in the bullpen connected to a unit in the dugout which a coach could use to communicate his positional needs direct to his players... This has got developmental opportunity written all over it... ~Dawg

Correct call. The pitching restrictions permit F1 to step and throw to a base (provided it's occupied). When F1 throws to 1B without F3 there, he has satisfied those restrictions. Play on.

TN in my area plays the JV’s at 5 innings or 1:15 drop dead followed by V game to start 30 mins after. Only pays $30 for the JV time frame then $90 for the V. One school in my area plays 2hour JV games w/full $90 V rate. These guidelines set by TSSAA. I had a 65 minute 2-1 final in 5 yday with both P’s dealing. Hardly ever get those but this was actually 2nd one that quick this season.