All Activity

Official Review: UMPLIFE Ice CapView the full article

Official Review: KoolBlues Umpire Chest Protector Cooling SystemView the full article

At the bottom of the wiki umpire entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpire_(baseball) 70 John Bacon 41 Brock Ballou 65 Steven Jaschinski 61 James Jean 75 Edwin Jímenez 77 Austin Jones 39 Tyler Jones 56 Dexter Kelley 94 Jacob Metz 99 Felix Neon 30 Jonathan Parra 95 Jen Pawol 53 Derek Thomas 45 Willie Traynor stevetheump seems out of service

FED used to allow a foul tip to be caught by a fielder but that's changed to the catcher only. OBR has an interp that only allowsthe catcher to catch it.

Yes, it’s contextual. A simple “Time out” / reset for rhythm, or related to displeasure with a strike call fetches a (rather) expedient resumption of the clock. A ball up-&-in that forces the batter from his box, or if the Batter fouls one off his foot, let’s say, it’s understood to delay the resumption of the clock accordingly. Again, contextual, but for the most part, if the catcher just arrives out at the mound, and then a coach emerges from the dugout, we (umpires, with timekeepers directed by umpires) reset the clock to 30, and (re)start it according to our ruleset. We also charge 1 visit, not 2 (NCAA differentiates player visit from coach visit). Yup. Wave at the box, and if it’s a like-like / same-spot substitution, just point at the position. If it’s an outfielder, point “up and over” towards the outfield spot. If it’s a double-switch, and 2 (or more) players departed, and 2 (or more) entered the lineup in spots different than their field positions, then wave to the pressbox, give a “hitting” signal, the number of fingers indicating batting spot/slot in the lineup, and then point at the player on defense. Repeat until all subs are completed. If ending the DH, and he (or his sub) is now in the field, perform the batting signal, indicate the DHs spot in the batting order, and then do a discreet “kill” slash. Then, point at the player on defense.

I think the point could be made more clearly but these seem to be all guys who have fathers/brothers who broke in before they did. My guess is that @dumbdumb means that Pawol aside, there has always been a lot of lowercase-p politics involved in MLB jobs...

Technically, at least from a literal reading of the rule, it doesn't even have to be the catcher that catches it, right? I kinda remember a discussion on this a while back, but I've been out of the game for a couple years now, and only infrequently on the site, so I could be misremembering.

I don't understand what you're talking about here. Could you eleborate?

This is a really prevealant assumption. It never had to be "caught cleanly". It never had to go "into the glove". As said previously, OBR/NCAA it just needs to go sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher and then be legally caught by the catcher. NFHS, it needs to go sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher's hand/glove and then be legally caught. NFHS, If it touches the catcher's hand/glove first, it can be juggled, kicked, stuck in their elbow, hip... as long as it doesn't become lodged in their equipment, touch the batter or umpire... it can be legally caught by the catcher and would be a foul tip

I think even in FED the OP would be an out since the ball first hit the glove.. That said, it's not yet an out if the ball is trapped in the crook of the elbow. It become an out when it's controlled in the hand or glove.

Can't answer the first two (they don't publish the MiLB manuals any more do they?), but for the third, I've always been taught to do it the same as a pitcher or batter. Give the press box a wave (and make eye contact if you can) and point to the new fielder. Even if they don't quite know which fielder you're pointing to, they at least know they should be looking, and in what general direction.

👍 I believe NCAA is the only one that followed suit to align with OBR

The rule changed a few years ago from 'share and direct from the bat to the catcher's hands' to 'sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher' A FOUL TIP is a batted ball that goes sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher and is legally caught. It is not a foul tip unless caught, and any foul tip that is caught is a strike, and the ball is in play.

For OBR - a foul tip is a ball that goes sharply and directly to the catcher and is then caught. Other rule sets still require that the foul tip go sharply and directly to the catcher's hand or glove and then be caught.

I was watching the Mets/Sox the other day and with 2 strikes on him Brett Baty foul tipped a ball that hit Boston’s catcher (Carlos Narvaez) off his glove, his shin and settled in the crook of his arm. The ump called strike 3 and both team announcers (Ron Darling/Gary Cohen and Lou Merloni/Dave O’Brien) said that it is a strike out because the ball never hit the ground. I was under the impression that a foul-tipped 3rd strike had to be caught CLEANY by the catcher (can’t hit any part of his body or uniform) for it to be strike 3. Am I right and the 4 announcers don’t know the rule or even raised it as a possibility? Thanks

We don't have to be. But did they understand what they wanted and will get with the change? Did they want to showcase the athleticism of F2s with a cannon?

Shorter throw by approx 12" for F2. Article says 2B-1B delta is approx 9". shorter run for R1. Did they do the math and decided to show the athleticism of F2. "provide additional opportunities for players to showcase their athleticism. I'm not going to do the math at this hour but I suspect 12" for a throw gets it there faster than 9" for a runner.

I'm not very good at math. So, whatever is out there, is what I'll umpire.

Really? Challenge accepted! Let me go pull out my kids ACT study notes from years past to help me. BTW, I see where I still was thinking the base was centered instead of and moved to the edge. Plus, I was thinking of the 15" to 18" change. So I am probably wrong. Lets see how wrong. Lets remember that the home plate size isn't changing. So the bag would move from the middle of the bag to the corner of the bag, in other words, half an hypotenuse. 18" squared + 18" squared= 648 324+ 324= 648 square root of 648 is 25.5" Half of 25.5 is 12.75" So the 18" bag's nearest point to home plate would decrease 12.75" I think that is an advantage to the defense. what do you think?

Where is this list?

and if the exact same situation of 7 openings had happened in the past, i would think a lot of people would bet the farm that Gerry Crawford would be one of the seven hired, Brian Gorman would be one of the seven hired, Paul Runge would be one of the 7 hired, Brian Runge would be one of the 7 hired, Hunter Wendelstedt, Jr. would be one of the 7 hired, Mark Hirschbeck would be one of the 7 hired, and Bill Welke would be one of the 7 hired.

If I was a betting man, I would bet the farm that Pawol will be one of the 7 hired.

Like it says, I am just getting started in SE Michigan. My youngest daughter is starting her HS year, and just committed to play Softball in college. As I saw our time on the field starting to go away, I wanted to find a way to give back, so I thought I would give this a try. I got lucky and have a good friend who has been doing this for a while, and has offered to mentor me! I also found out about Battlefields to Ballfields from this forum, I was accepted this week, and placed the order for all of my gear today. If you are a Vet, definitely check this resource out (I served 23 years in the Army before retiring). The plan is to do some LL games this fall to get my feet wet, and my mentor said he could get me on a crew with him for some fall tournaments, so that will be nice. Hopefully by spring I will be ready for HS ball. Anyway, looks like a great forum, and I have a lot to learn!!

Just please only promote those worthy of true MLB umpire material. It should be based scores and game-keeping ability, not anything else. I don't want to bring politics in here, but let it be merit-based... please.

I see there are about 14 call ups on the wiki list (with numbers < 100). Are there more, and do any have numbers >= 100? Obviously number is not a predictor, but I find it hard to think that MLB would assign a low number then release them. Ballou, Thomas and Traynor have low numbers.