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GT25Ump

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Everything posted by GT25Ump

  1. I'm going to be a moderator this weekend at a baseball clinic where there will be an Umpire-Coach Panel Discussion. There's been a growing interest in the local high school umpiring community to want to sit down with coaches and get to know one another better and/or try to find out what they notice, or don't notice about umpires and umpiring. Some guys in our local association have put together questions that they might like to see a panel of coaches answer/discuss. Here's some of them, in no particular order: Do you think umpires should ever admit they missed a call? Would you appreciate it? Would it make a difference if it was admission of a missed pitch or a missed out/safe call and/or when in the game it occurred? What do you tell your catchers about having a relationship with the plate umpire? Do you suggest things to say, not say, etc..? Is there ever talk in the dugout during a game about in-game conversation going on between the catcher and plate umpire? Do you keep charts and/or "scouting reports" on certain umpires that you may have on a regular basis and if so, how does it affect your managing of the game? What's the more important things a coach wants to notice about an umpire.....consistency? Hustle? Personality? Pace of play? What are negative things you notice about an umpire? Laziness? Inconsistent zone? Doesn't know basic rules? Amateurish? Showing favoritism/overly friendly towards one team? What are your thoughts on the recently new NFHS rule involving the recommendation of giving a written warning to a coach before an ejection? What are your thoughts on the new NFHS Pitch Count Rule and it's relation to the umpiring? Do you have concerns about umpires with tighter strike zones? How important is an umpire's appearance/body language in determining your opinion of the qualities of an umpire? --------------------------------------------------------------- If any of you were involved in something like this, where you could ask a panel of coaches some questions, what would they be? Or what are some questions that high school coaches should really ask umpires, or simply things they really should want to know about umpires? Would love to see some feedback from different parts of the country, not just our local high school guys. Anything you could add would be great. Thanks.
  2. Just got my rundown from the local guy that attended. Sounded like he picked up alot of items, and that's great! If a person has to come up with things that they'd like to have at the clinic, they would be the following: RULES Handling Situations Don't get me wrong, the clinic provided a boatload of knowledge when it comes to 2-man rotations and assignments and responsibilities and such....and they took care of guys that were trying to move up into the college level.....but if I'm going to spend upwards of $500 and take at least two days off of work, I would hope that there could be more covered than just 2-man mechanics and and rotations and how I properly signal a strike or out. Not saying that rules and/or handling situations (especially for all of those that are just getting into college ball) are a massive oversight...but I would hope that future attendees could get more for their money and time....in my opinion....there's so much more to umpiring than that! And from what I understand, there was ample time to go over those sorts of things. Just my .05 cents!
  3. Keep a look out for Korey Behr. He's our association president and a newcomer to the Mid-American Clinic. We're hoping that he can take in a ton of information and pass along his knowledge to our group.
  4. Try the slot, Hunter, and maybe that pitch wizzes past your head instead.
  5. I wouldn't be surprised if someone has posted this link, somewhere along the line, but I couldn't find it with the search engine. http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/ootp-mods-rosters-photos-quick-starts/206835-major-league-baseball-umpires.html Pages and pages of photos of current and old-time MLB umpires. Very entertaining to look at. And speaking of entertaining, these umpire pictures are located on a forum for a fantastic computer game called "Out of the Park Baseball. Been playing it for years, top notch!
  6. Our association has purchased several of the baseball related manuals, in the past. Now they are looking at some of the "Leadership and General Officiating" books/manuals that they offer, due to the fact that they are on sale for $10 a piece https://www.pubservice.com/RIStore/ProductsList.aspx?WG=320 Does anyone have any opinions, positive or negative, related to any of these manuals?
  7. Good story, AC. It was fun to read the story about Mike "Shooter" Everitt supplying funds for young umpires. I've known Mike for about five years now and while I had never heard that story, it doesn't surprise me in the least. He's very involved with CALLING FOR CHRIST and is very active at his local church in Des Moines, Iowa (my brother and him are in a men's group together there). One tidbit about Mike is that his nickname is due to the fact that he calls everyone "Shooter", because he's just terrible with names, ha. I guess they always say that umpires should have a short term memory, and "Shooter" definitely has that!
  8. Really found this interesting. I like to bounce around Youtube for retro baseball broadcasts and began to watch game 1 of the 1981 ALCS, between the Yankees and Athletics. At about the 3:50 mark, Bryant Gumble interviewed plate umpire Nick Bremigan (a rules genius, by the way) right on the field, minutes before the game was to begin. They were discussing the possibility of balls being doctored by A's pitchers. Talk about something that wouldn't happen these days. And if you want further entertainment, check out the segment right before the Bremigan interview, where they promote "Billy Ball".
  9. A fellow umpire of mine threw this up on our association message board recently. He let us go B.S. about it for awhile and then came back with how they handled it. I'll do the same here. Tell me what you think. We had an interesting catch/no catch situation that happened in a college game recently. We had a fly ball to shallow right field. The RF was running straight in and dove straight forward for the ball. The ball went into his glove as he slid forward and begin to tumble. As he was tumbling, he removed the glove with the ball in it with his non-glove hand. He then released the glove with the ball in it and then reached for his wrist that had the glove on it. He laid on the ground in pain as he held his wrist. The glove was lying on the ground a few feet from him and the ball was also lying on the ground a couple of feet from the glove. The result of the attempt for the player was a season ending broken wrist in early March. We had to make a ruling as to whether it was a catch or not and of course that had to be made before we knew he was injured although whether he was injured or not does not determine the catch/no catch.
  10. GT25Ump

    New UI

    Love the new look to the boards. Makes it look classier than it already is!
  11. It's one of the cheapest rules in all of Federation. The kids (and the coach) need to learn to properly appeal, to prepare them for baseball with REAL rules. I hate that rule, but I'm willing to enforce it....but I'll never help a coach understand that he has that option. Friggin' NFHS, and the rules they choose to screw with.
  12. Yep I've become SO frustrated by this series....so much potential and it's totally underachieving....ARGH. I just want to focus on the comic books and have the tv show go away....unless they grow some FRIGGIN BALLS and let this show grow the way it should. It's so depressing...what it could be.....I wonder if it was an HBO production than some AMC thing, I don't know...but excluding the occasional fun little twist, it's just a letdown...sigh.
  13. Yep, it's interesting. Obviously, get registered in Iowa, for NFHS, that's $45. In South Dakota, it's $30 but their registration covers all organized baseball (spring fed high school, summer American Legion, Amateur ball). In Nebraska, it's $35 to get certified for their summer American Legion ball. If you're wanting to work their spring fed high school ball, you can either pay the $15 reciprocity amount OR if you want any chance at post-season ball there, rumor has it that you have to pay the full in-state registration amount of $45.
  14. I applaud and am extremely jealous of what some of you guys are involved with, in your region. Here in Northwest Iowa & Southeast South Dakota, it's been a mess. Other than the bare minimum that the states require for certification, all you have to do is get in good with the guys who get the schedules from the schools. The schools and the A.D.'s and the coaches simply don't care about umpire quality. They just want two umpires to show up to each of their games. Maybe some of it has to do with Iowa being so ridiculous and having their high school baseball season in the summer (May 20-July 11), unlike everyone else in the country. In the summertime, few people come to the games and with such a compact window to get the regular season played, when you have another game in 24-48 hours, you forget how good or bad an umpire was, and move on. There has not been a (baseball) umpire association in this area. Schools just give their schedules to whomever asked for them (or pestered them enough) that would fill the dates for them, saving the A.D. the hassle of doing it. Every year, a couple of guys compile at least a dozen school's baseball schedules and invite umpires to meet with them and then divvy out the dates. It doesn't matter if you are a rookie, experienced, etc...you show up and you have the opportunity of filling your slate. One of the main "assigners" in the area (away from the ballfield) works part-time as a paperboy and part-time at a radio station. He assigns umpires for approximately three dozen schools/teams (varying in levels from youth ball to small college) in Northwest Iowa & Southeast South Dakota and he openly admits that he only umpires for the $$$. He loads up his calendar first and moves on to others from there. For years, myself and a handful of others have been astounded by how little people care about having a quality umpire. But we understood how the game worked around these parts and took care of ourselves...getting in good with that main assigner (and accepting the scraps he left for everyone) and trying to find our own assigning jobs at nearby schools that had A.D.'s willing to give away their schedules. But I (and a few others) have decided that it's time we gave back to our profession and not just be "independent contractors" who are all about the money. A couple of guys decided it was time to start an association, which kicked off just this month. We know that there are umpires around this region that want to improve their skills, that want and are willing to spend more time on rules instruction and mechanics training than what embarrassingly little that the state associations provide. Even knowing that at this point it's purely to appease ourselves in our efforts to be the best we can be, it's a start. It's very much in it's infant stages, but the Siouxland Umpires Association (www.siouxlandumpires.org ) has sprouted up (shameless plug, ha). We have a simple website & message board & hope to improve the umpiring in the area, whether it's Little League or small college ball. Our focus at this point is to encourage those that want to improve, to join. If they go thru mechanics and rules instruction (along with a small dues payment), we have assigners in our association who will give priority in their assigning to those that make more than the minimum effort. Eventually we plan to advertise what we have (to local schools & A.D's) and hope that they realize that it's better to have umpires that are giving the extra effort, rather than just two warm bodies each game. We can only hope that we'll get to a point where your associations are right now. It's great to hear what you guys have and it's even better to have a meetingplace like www.umpire-empire.com . This website alone can make an umpire considerably better, just by learning the tools of the trade from those that frequent this place.
  15. I'm surprised this isn't causing more conversation. It's the holy grail of umpire masks, supposedly.
  16. GT25Ump

    Intro

    That's some very solid advice. It's great to have you here!
  17. I used black fingernail polish on the white of my NB plate & Reebok plate shoes just last week, but I've also has success with black airplane model paint.
  18. Absolutely true. I had to buy a navy one in 1997, dry cleaned it before and after each season and has held up very well. Just bought a black one in 2010, which will probably end up getting more time in nowadays, seeing black has become the main color up in these here parts, of the upper midwest.
  19. If I was in as good of shape as you are, I would maybe consider trying the long sleeve shirt, maybe. I honestly like the look of a jacket behind the plate (tucked in, I know, I'm in the minority), but rarely go that route. Plate coats look so much more professional, and that goes for whatever level of ball you do!
  20. Man, I so wish I lived in California, rather than Iowa, where we won't see ball until March 20th or later. NOW, if that incredible earthquake occurs that knocks Cali into the Pacific Ocean, then I guess I wouldn't be so bummed. Sigh.
  21. You can purchase a brand new Wilson Titanium online for $150 right now...buy the pads from U-A or Honigs for $40 and I think you may have to drop your price....but I'm intrigued, if anything, just to help out a brother!
  22. I'm part of that group, yes. As for what's stupid and unrealistic, there are alot of other things on television that's unrealistic, so why over-think it. :)
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