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4 games (3 days) into the season and so far, I have had: 1. Foul ball directly to my brand-new mask. 2. Partner getting hit in C for umpire interference 3. Batter's Interference where the batter never moved his feet (hit the catcher with his follow through). 4. Bat to the mask when it slipped out of the batter's hands 5. Pop up in the infield that hits the mound and ended up being touched foul. 6. 4 FPSR violations on the same team on their brand-new turf field. They apparently haven't learned how to slide properly on turf. 7. Pitch into the forearm because the catcher doesn't like to block balls in the dirt. 8. Ejected HC for screaming F*#K at me across the diamond. 9. Made a call at third base sitting on my ass because both feet ended up in front of me when I went to stop. So, either I have gotten all the craziness out of the way the first week, or I am going to have an interesting season.

Well, we point and call "That's interference!" when we determine the batter interfered. We don't enforce the interference until the initial throw or attempted throw fails to retire the runner.

I have no doubt LL is missing out on good umpires for Regions and WS because of not even paying for travel and lodging. But, given that about 50% of Regional/WS umpires are now the same every year (willingly, happily doing it year after year on their own dime), plus LL being oversubscribed in applications such that they are leaving some decent to very good umpires unassigned but those umps reapply year after year, there is no pressure for change. Local level is more well, localized, and a different debate imo.

Stunted growth. At 19 years old, it should have grown up to a full 6" by now.

No, but you took the bait first, thus you get... The Blue Fish Award. Now, you redeemed yourself with a might snarky repost. Well done, sir!

In another sport, we have heard that they remain in effect until the underlying rule changes (changes enough to make the ruling invalid).

We're splitting hairs and quite frankly so is Brother Tschida... Kindly notice he did NOT say, THE BEST or THE MOST SKILLED umpires are the guys who work for free...no. He simply said those "most deserving of the highest RESPECT in the profession". Frankly, I agree. I love umpiring. I still get a charge on game day as I am packing up and heading out the door and driving to the ballpark. I'm also not here strictly for the cash. But, I don't work for free. Someday, very soon, LL's model of not paying ALL of its umpires a game fee from local to the LLWS is going to end. Either that or LL is going to end... ~Dawg

@jimurrayalterego Only one was contact behind the bag. They all came into the bag too hot, I think they were expecting the turf to slow them down more then it did. 2 came back up to their knees to try and stop on the bag and made contact, and one basically rolled through the pivot man.

We don't call BI until the initial throw fails to retire the runner.

This is how it is for American Legion Baseball games. During the regular season, they allow Re-Entry, courtesy runners for pitcher/catcher, 15 after 3 run rule....then once post-season comes...they go straight OBR rules (with a 10 after5). So, the regional, state, super regionals, all have different rules than what they've been playing all year. I do indeed address these differences at the plate meeting for post-season.

🤨 Then what about... Ah. Yeah. These guys. Now, while I don't disagree, nor do I give any less respect to these (let's face it, Little League) umpires, I do not give any more, unduly. Why? It has nothing to do with them (the umpires), it has to do with Little League as an institution; there is no way – no way – that you can expect your officials to produce high-quality work, unpaid and voluntarily, while your institution has media deals and revenue streams that rival several financial institutions.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, of course...I'm sorry you're tired of seeing his quote. I saw him speak a few years ago and that was his opening remark. Admittedly, when you take one sentence of a 30 minute speech out of context...something is lost. His point was...if you are being paid to do a job...umpiring a baseball game, delivering papers, baby-sitting children, etc...then your approach to that job should be to give your very best each and every time. Because that's what it means to be a professional. And particularly for young people, learning how to be a professional at whatever you undertake is a life skill. The earlier it can be learned, the more potential for success and the amount of success achieved is increased. Take pride in all that you do. Give your very best effort you are capable of giving on that day, in that moment. How is this an undesirable or sub-optimal take? For what it's worth, he closed this portion of the speech by saying that he thinks the umpires most deserving of the highest respect in the profession are those that work for free because their only motivation is to serve The Game. ~Dawg

They removed that this year to make the rule fit how they want it called.

Just a local service announcement to curtail use of social media as an umpire. This actually happened this past week to me as a BU. While in 'A', going through my thought process as I was waiting for the next pitch to occur, the F4 mentions to the F3 that "the umpire behind the plate talks SH*# about us on Facebook." Read that again if you must. I haven't cared enough to check out if this is true, however, privately, the PU has talked about the school and their football team where his son was a player on the Freshman team. So, did he talk about the baseball team? I doubt it. But it doesn't matter when the message gets distorted from the original topic. I'm curious as to what you would have done? Talk to the player? Talk to the coaches? Talk to your assigner? Talk to your partner? Anything? Right or wrong, I did two things. First, between innings right after this happened, I pulled the player aside and called an assistant coach over and mentioned to the player that he shouldn't be saying that within earshot of another umpire. I didn't know if the postings were true, but, I didn't need to hear it. Left it at that. Second, I did mention to my assigner what happened and left it up to them to do anything further. I am out of it at this point unless confronted by my day's partner. I, of course, don't want this to bite my brothers in the ass if, my day's partner gets assigned to the team again and the team uses the Facebook post against them. Finally, I didn't perceive my partner as biased against the team during the game. I don't think he will be. But, all it takes is one low pitch to be called a strike for the kindling to ignite.

As with a lot of these sensitive issues, I'm not sure our beloved forum is the right place to sounding board. Your culture may not be @The Man in Blue's... Honestly, BlueDude, I would recommend speaking with a local mentor. Do NOT mention your partner's name...simply discuss what happened. Just the facts. Propose courses of actions you are considering and ask your local mentor what they recommend. In order to protect the innocent and the chain of custody, you do not need to feel compelled to tell your local mentor what you did or will decide to do on the matter in question, of course... I have been off social media entirely since 2012 and I have never looked back or felt bad about the people I left behind. I had an immensely diverse group of social media friends and acquaintances which was both interesting and created a lot of problems as issues of politics, religion, etc. caused a great deal of friction. Highly recommended...the people who really matter in your life will respect your decision and find other ways to stay in touch with you...or not, in which case, they weren't important. ~Dawg

I don't disagree with the potential in your assessment. I just question the point where an umpire decides to inject himself into a player-to-player conversation. For the sake of conversation here, I'm saying be cautious of the line between handling something and looking for something. Maybe that is the teacher side of me. I find there is value in not reacting to everything a kid says, and holding your cards until the right time. Other times, it needs nipped in the bud. Whether he was impugning your partner in front of your or just carelessly talking SH*# to his buddy, I can't say because I wasn't there.

Well, in some small figment of my imagination, the player was questioning my partner's integrity. The player perceived that my partner said SH*# on them, therefore, the player can't expect him to be fair.

I'm not going to say it's my favorite call to make, but I feel like I've been less prone to kick it when I'm in regular B (further from the tag.) That's not to say that I can see all the minute details better from far away, but I feel like I make the "accepted" or "expected" call more often from back there. I saw the same piece of advice in two places yesterday (in @grayhawk's reply and, by chance, in a Jim Evans book) that I don't recall seeing before: watching the glove of the fielder during the play. I would say that, by default, I soft-focus on the side of the base facing 1B and just kind of "absorb" the sequence of the runner's slide vs the applied tag. That may be a source of my discomfort from Deep B: I can't really see that same point of reference with the runner on the ground. I'm going to intentionally focus on the glove in my next few games and see how I feel about it. I recall having a similar uncertain/uneasy "exploded on" feeling during my first umpiring season for banger calls on BR at 1B. Someone, somewhere, suggested that I visually focus on BR's feet (while listening for the pop of mitt) as he approached the base, and that was a cue that got me squared away immediately. Prior to that, I had been doing a form of what I presently do at 2B: focusing my gaze on the base, then trying to judge if I saw a foot touch or heard the mitt pop first. As a relative newcomer, I would say that this specific topic remains the most uncovered & untaught aspect of umpiring mechanics: the actual mechanics of eye discipline. I can't help but believe that the most consistent umpires have developed a specific technique (although it may be subconscious) that helps them get it right more often. Just being in the right spot (angle and distance) isn't the only recipe for a good call. You have to have a mental approach on WHAT to watch and when. If I could encourage veteran officials on one training topic, it would be to contemplate & then communicate to the rest of us exactly how you are controlling your eyes during any given play.

I have. In a playoff game. The offensive coach didn't like it. I told him that I didn't like it either, but by rule that is how the NFHS wanted it called. He accepted it.