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Courtesy of everyone's favorite gear hound and all around great influence here @MadMax, @Richvee and I had the chance to meet up with @cgroom and his crew before last night's Frontier League game here in NJ. The guys could not have been nicer and we had a great conversation about a whole bunch of things . Their work on the field was a joy to watch as it was a demonstration of how the three man system is actually supposed to work. There may have been one slip up, but nothing like I have seen recently, like when I as PU had to cover 2B because U1 was acting like a ticket holder as the BR was steaming around 1B as the ball and U3 (that being Richvee) were in left field. Many thanks to both Max and Caleb for putting us in contact with each other and hopefully we will be able to see them or anyone else on this forum if they come through Northern NJ for their assignents

If I'm getting my plate brush out, unless there are no runners on, I will call time 100% of the time. As soon as I grab my plate brush, and start walking out in front of home plate, I'll throw my hands up and call time. It takes no extra time to do this, and prevents any possible shenanigans. I can't understand why we even have people against calling time in this situation. It does no harm what-so-ever, and can prevent a SH*#storm. I'm not opposed to someone not calling time, I'm just opposed to those saying you should not ever call time to brush off the plate.

good luck to those going to nashville this weekend. remember - you cannot win if you do not enter At the beginning of your 6th year a call up in March with a 123 game schedule, and then on to FT after 3 years as a call-up. https://www.mlb.com/official-information/umpires/camps?msockid=072dcb685eb36b630f2adceb5f7c6aa3

I did not call time when brushing the plate. What I did do is know where any runners were and, especially, where the ball was. I never felt it was necessary to go through all the motions of calling "time" then putting the ball back in play for a job that, at most, would take about five seconds.

If the ball is already dead, it is already dead. There is no reason to make any proclamation. If there are no runners on, there is no reason to announce you are about to bend over. If there is a runner anywhere and the ball is in a live (but relaxed) state, CALL TIME. I've told it before, and I'll tell it again (though I am sure the details fade each time). Early in my career and I'm working a double header with a new (but good and experienced) partner. I had plate the first game. During our between game swap out, he asks me "Why do you call time when you go to brush the plate? Everybody knows what is happening." I shrugged and called it a habit. During the second game, he has plate. With play relaxed (LIVE!) and a runner on third, he comes around to clean plate. As he is sweeping the plate off, R3 comes sliding past him. The defense starts squawking (of course). He settles everybody down and comes to me for a quick meeting. The first thing I said was, "That's why I call time." The second was, "I didn't call time. So, unless you did, I have a live ball and a run scoring." Fun!

Which hand do you use for that mechanic?

I'm just being realistic, man! 😁 We all have picky particulars as to why we do or don't like our gear. Like I said, I flipped a Force 3 because I didn't like the way it breathed (or rather, didn't breathe). Other than that, I liked the fit, I liked the protection . . . but it wasn't something that I would wear day-in-day-out in the MIdwest heat. I find my Cobalt to be "puffy", but it handles the heat well and the fit and protection are amazing. If it weren't for the stream of hot air coming up the channel and hitting me in the face, I wouldn't even think about the fact that I had a CP on. I like the way my Schutt breathes, but I never went down the customization road and it feels "clunky". I am looking forward to this! I like the size (thin), I like the design . . . fit will be the wild card. It has arrived, but I did not get a chance to use it this weekend as I had hoped. Hell, I haven't even got a chance to take it out of the box . . . my wife broke her tibia while we were on vacation so I've been playing manservant for the last two days. Well, I always do, but more so.

Even with housing and food provided, that's low. I do agree that "benefits" should have an impact on the pay scale. Realistically though, "benefits" are just perks that some provide and some do not. This goes back to the lack of unity in umpiring communities. If we (collective we) agreed to set a standard or normalized expectations, we would make progress. Instead, Weekend WCS Wally is happy to take an extra $10 and a hot dog to work by himself for 16 games this weekend. Idealistically, I wish I agreed with you on this one, Max. That fee should be going to providing some sort of vetting, training, uniforms, and/or benefits. However, I am too damned jaded. That cost does not compel umpires to take care of their uniforms (look around, you know that!). It is simply a revenue stream. Oh, sorry, "it pays for your background check" which protects . . . the organization charging me the fee, not me. When I first got into the avocation, USSSA softball tried to get a foothold in the area. They hosted one tournament, and then got mad because umpires refused to purchase all their RED (and, at the time, very low quality) gear. Guys in the area refused because they were currently locked into having to buy USA softball gear from the ONE approved (read: paid his money up the chain) "official" vendor. Now that USA has died its death here, a local guy brought USSSA back into the mix, and he has had to lure guys in with providing the shirts and hats and offering to pay their registration fees. Again, and to your point here, COLLECTIVE POWER. Two caveats with that: 1) this is coming out of the TD's pocket, not the organization's, and 2) there is still a large number of umpires who have not continued with the "new local" tournament org. At least with NFHS, you can buy from a variety of vendors of your choice. Even then, I have stopped adding the IHSA logo to purchases. I keep a set of IHSA hats, and that is the best they are getting out of me. (BTW, IHSA does receive a royalty every time their logo is stitched, stamped, or dyed into a shirt, jacket, or hat.) DISCLAIMER: All of my comments are based in the youth/amateur game. Obviously this changes at collegiate and higher levels.

How about just saying "call is confirmed. You are out of challenges. Don't do that."

It’s not, in lieu of a complete accounting report. We don’t know what goes on to support those umpires. Are they housed? Fed & watered? Access to medical while employed? Laundry? Uniforms provided? All those things are important; furthermore, they’re overlooked variables when we start comparing these… “Destination Events” against travel, tournament, and local leagues. Tournament umpires get lured in by $75-$100 game fees, but then have to pay for their own housing, food, laundry, etc. So “to soften the dent”, assigners will put guys onto 4-6, 7 games per day! The registration fee is because there is a lack of a vetting umpire organization / association in that region Another factor is that the entity hosting the PerfectGame -brand is anticipating either a skeleton crew of support staff (TD assistants, field marshals, etc), or they’ve been burned before on umpires leaving / forfeiting games. Adjacent to that, PerfectGame is very cognizant and protective of their brand; as such, they’re trying to dissuade (or prevent) umpires from invariably wearing sub-par, sub-optimal, or competing-entity uniforms. Ideally, those uniform items should be provided; however, if anything is provided, there will be umpires who will abuse that generosity. Purchase of those items compels umpires to take care of them, to an extent. Of course, PerfectGame’s brand gets affected, later, when those same umpires invariably wear those uniform items on rival events (“Buh! I paid for these! Buh!”).

Because as soon as we form a “collection” (ie. association / organization / union), any power we have begins to erode due to squabbling about “who should be in charge”, and “who gets assigned to which games”, and “who is “better” than who” (and should get paid / assigned more). Leadership takes (a cut, a rake, a skim, a fee), and invariably and inevitably, someone gets butt-hurt about the operations of said collective. That someone forms their own entity, and subsequently under-&-out-bids the existing leadership in due time, likely sniping umpires from the previous entity by enticing with “better” pay and assignments. Then you get the “loyalty wars”. The machine churns on.

I pictured it like the attached, with one exception, the glove is not touching the ground. In this photo the fielder is on his way over the fence and lands in the Boston bullpen but in our OP we have him stopping his momentum and getting back onto the field of play without ever touching the ground in DBT. It is a third world play, which is probably why we won't find definitive answers.