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I'm with Jimurray. No balk in HS varsity and below. Especially in youth ball, where F1's twitch and wiggle all over the mound, this is way to picky. Football officials would call this kind of violation "too technical." If the explanation of the call has to start with, "technically..." then we shouldn't be calling it. Balks should almost always call themselves. This one doesn't.

I'm not ready for them and I'm not gonna focus on them. Nobody has demonstrated that you can throw in one direction without flexing the leg. If a coach wants to key his runner on a knee too bad. Somewhere in MLBUM there was and might be some wording about back leg knee pops. I never understood it and calling knee pops is above my pay grade.

This is the best post-game postmortem you can do. Identify the points when things started slipping away so that you can stop it the next time. My personal opinion and approach, I do not allow ANY jawing back and forth between coaches. NONE. Shut that $#!+ down yesterday. If they are ACs, then they get even less leeway. You (hopefully) wouldn’t let two players go at each other, so do NOT allow coaches to go back and forth. From a game management perspective, almost all of my worst games started spiraling this way. Talk it down as soon as it starts. Issue the team warnings immediately. The key is not to escalate it yourself, though. Calmly let the HC know that NOBODY is to yell or even speak to the other team. There is NO reason for opposing coaches to talk to one another; all subs go to you and get announced by you anyway. Maybe an unpopular opinion: depending on the run-rule, I wouldn’t be letting up completely at 16-1. If there is a 15 run-rule, I want an insurance run or two. This is especially true in tournaments when you have more games to play. Put it to bed, save your pitching, get off the field before a player gets hurt, and rest up for the next game.

I finally got to use these on a wet field yesterday. Game was suspended (2 1/2 innings) and the rain was pretty constant. I had zero issues with traction.

Sadly, I saw the opposite in a recent season where a coach did everything in his power to not run up the score once the game became one-sided only to have the visiting coaching staff take offense 🤷‍♂️. Needless to say, the second game of the doubleheader was ugly when the winning coach decided to show what would happen if he played the game normally: a 32-0 final score after three innings. It's a shame because the winning coach has a strong program and is used to managing the occasional blowout, and I've never had any issues with him in the games I've umpired. Whenever I have to address coach behavior with either a verbal warning or something more, regardless the sport, I tend to ask myself post-game if there was a better way to defuse. Sometimes there isn't. There's no easy answer because what might work one game might not work in the next game. Still, good communication makes it easier to follow the IWRE progression if and when it becomes necessary. It's unfortunate that the younger the age group, the more immature the adults involved in the sport seem to act.

Agreed in isolation. In OP, I'm good with that coach EJ. He contributed to the game long escalation. Added benefit is it shows both sides that they were both a problem. @bluejerred - overall I think you did what you had to do. Thinking back - not dwelling nor obsessing but thinking back - were their spots you could have nipped it in the bud? The "no interference" moment "which I then just look at him with confusion and walk away" may have been a place to change tacts ( "Coach, let's both take a breath" non-sequiturs if you're a humorous guy). That's the only thing that comes to mind: wondering if there was an opportunity to defuse along the way. There may not have been of course. Sometimes it just plays out and you have to fulfill the coach's wish to go home.

I fully admit that this is, by a few light years, the weakest part of my rules knowledge. So that said, I fail to see the balk here. How has that little back knee bend committed him to pitch vs simply stepping towards and throwing to first? Not really sure how you can do that without pushing off the back leg to some degree...this is so small his heel doesn't even lift. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure I saw Andy Pettitte do this about 800 times.

yep that works, thanks, and here is the game version that i finally found on youtube. go to 3:38.28. layne, gibson, marquez, kulpa, barrett, cedarstrom working the game

Hockey (NHL - not sure how NCAA plays out) cut down on the fighting mostly organically, not through very much the league did through rule changes (instigator penalties, and "first player off the bench" rules aside). New information has come to light. I withdraw my statement. https://apnews.com/article/rangers-devils-brawl-22e720cebcde0b7578d3458a2f29267a

You can warn, for sure. In some of the cases that have been widely publicized, they were warned. But just like all unsportsmanlike conduct, a warning is not required, and sometimes should not be given, before ejecting. This has been a HUGE point of emphasis from the NCAA, especially this year

I'll add coaches talking to other teams players as well. Reminding them it's prohibited by rule AND a really bad idea. Doing LL, I see coaches trying to be helpful but it can turn badly very quickly. Last Saturday I gave feedback to a team who's F1 was talking to the coach ("I beat him to the bag coach. I really did") for the same reason.

That's clearly wrong, by rule. (I agree that in practice most (nearly all) throws from a RH pitcher involve a jab step or a step back.)

This. Although I haven't had this on the diamond yet (*knocks wood 🪵*), I've issued bench conduct warnings in basketball when coaches decided to jaw at each other. If one or both teams already received such a warning, they earn a technical foul instead. @The Man in Blue is right that this conduct needs to be addressed immediately to set the tone moving forward. I definitely understand the sentiment. A couple of years ago, I had a 16-1 softball game an out away from ending under the 15-run limit. VT managed to get a runner on third before HT got the final out. the game was bad enough that neither my partner nor I wanted another inning. An insurance run definitely helps out in those games that need to end as quickly as possible within the rules.

Back in my playing days, when leading off vs RH pitchers, we were trained to watch the pitchers pivot leg from the knee down since he couldn't come over without picking it up off the plate. That little knee buckle would tip us off to take off. I do watch for that in higher level games. Just my two cents.

These should only ever be addressed in two scenarios...1. in a league pre-season coaches' meeting, with a UIC (or delegate) and league board representation, or 2. the pre-tourney coaches' meeting with the TD and UIC. Not to mention, that any certified coach needs to learn these things before qualifying.

Trying is not always doing. At least not successfully. As @Richvee was suggesting, if the D1 pitchers on ESPN, and the SEC and ACC networks are continually permitted this bastardization of pitching regulations, Randy should start with having those leagues policed with much further scrutiny since you, me, and every pitching coach in Nowheresville can watch these funky windups and then think they are OK. Then, the rank and file who enforce the pitching regulations have "Don't make the game about you!" shoved down our throats when the rules are enforced as directed from on high.

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All of these are balks. They're hard to get unless you're ready for them right away. You have to really focus on the lower half of the body. Nice clips.

You very well may be right. But remember this, each level, MLB, NCAA and NFHS has its own rules interpreter. As a result, the ruling will depend on what level is being played. Thus, not all levels may agree on a certain move by the pitcher.

The reason is, the pitcher doesn't have to do a rocker step to deliver from the wind up. They can just step straight to the plate. So if a pitcher steps forward for their rocker step... then steps forward in their delivery and only one step is allowed by rule... there is your problem. So by only allowing one forward step it allows us, and the batter, to determine when the pitch should be delivered.

Correct. Think of it as splitting the difference between the pitcher and the plate.

10U, brothers...10...U... ~Dawg

Never seen it called and I will never call it. What's the point?

I don't think you understood the gist of the catcher's box nitpick. Prepitch by rule F2 must be in the box at TOP. No umpire at TOP is looking at where F2 or F3v is.

Ooh, just thought of another one... NFHS, not coming to a complete stop in the set position when there's nobody on base.

Based on my experience, that's going to be a looooooooonnnnnnngggggggggggg payback period

Since R1 never actually reached home plate, the defensive appeal really should be the last thing that occurs, and shouldn't get to that point. Like you say in the OP, he didn't "miss" home plate...he never got to it. As I see the OP...R1 doesn't really "abandon"...yet. BR passes R1 while R1 is high fiving people...BR is out for passing...then R1 goes to the dugout without ever getting near home - now he has abandoned. Both are out...and that would be a dick move at this level. Since it's a dead ball wait until everyone is done running bases then make a decision. I think if you want to be clean about it, just call R1 out for abandonment (and rule that, in your judgment, abandonment happened before B/R passed R1). The other option is pick the most appropriate player to call out based on how R1 delayed his jog to home. If R1 never touches home, call him out for abandonment...if R1 was still on his way to, and eventually touches home, you might call BR for passing. I still go for calling R1 out...do what you can to not punish BR for R1's error. You may have to explain to the coach why it's abandonment and not a missed base appeal. He can also be informed that the choice is to turn a grand slam into a 3-run shot...or turn it into a 3 RBI triple (maybe even 2 RBI).

I’ve had my vest in hand for about a week or two now so I wanted to give a review to Mr. @Umpiresrock74. First off, this was my first time interacting with him and can tell he geeks out over everything umpiring. I saw that he was a special guest at one of my assigner’s camps. He texted me probably everyday he had my Power, if not almost everyday. He was very excited to work on it and I appreciated his enthusiasm. He sent me a bunch of progress pictures and I was able to talk with him about any tweeks I wanted or any improvements like the fidlocks, removing the excess wings, etc. The materials used were closed cell foam on the outer most layer, unequal Kevlar in the middle layer, and a thin layer of closed cell foam on the inner most part of the protector. It totals half an inch thick. To compare this, I have a number of chest protectors: Force 3, an original Douglas West Vest (1996), All Star Cobalt (Main vest for last year), and recently started using a Team Wendy West Vest. The feel and responsiveness of the materials reminds me very much of the team wendy. The appearance is also very similar. One of the most important things to me with this project is that the materials would contour to my body and form, Mike really did accomplish that. The profile when I tried it on, was very good and maybe even a little better than the other chest protectors I use. Mike did a good job of putting this all together for me. He used a professional seamstress and cut all the materials himself with love. I am super happy with how this turned out and he gave my Power a new life. Thanks a bunch, Mike!