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Do make sure to keep your blocks up-to-date. Assigners HATE declines and hate turnbacks even more. Some assigners keep the assigning fee when you turn back a game. You'll move up quicker if you are religious on keeping your schedule in order.

NFHS did define MC in it's 2014 Rules Interpretations. Why they never put it in the rule book, nobody knows. Contact or a collision is considered to be malicious if: The contact is the result of intentional excessive force; The contact occurs close to the bag or home plate or above the waist of the receiving player; or There was intent to injure. Malicious contact can occur without these conditions if determined by the umpire, but these provide a starting point.

Because this doesn't qualify as malicious contact. IF you want to lump pushing, shoving, throwing punches, etc. under malicious contact, then there is no point of having the fight rules. Malicious contact is grouped with the interference rule... we can't call interference during a dead ball since there is no play to be interfered with. That is why @grayhawk is correct with his ruling.

The umpires were incorrect for ejecting for MC. This should have been an unsportsmanlike ejection for fighting. Eject R1 and enter a substitute.

Derek- thank you very much for reaching out and resolving the concerns. I really appreciate your efforts!

Interesting that Arbiter sends out a 1099-K while RefQuest (which performs much the same functions) sends out a 1099-NEC. The limit for the former apparently will be $20k; for the latter $2k. None of which changes how / what I file.

Disclaimer: I am not an accountant nor have I played one on TV. We independent contractors also need to be aware that just because we did not receive a 1099 NEC does not mean it was not reported to the IRS. If you look at your transcript at he IRS website there may be 1099s from payers who did not send them to us. Ultimately, each tax payer is responsible for their own reporting of income. The 1099s are a courtesy and if a tax payer is not reporting taxable income they are subject to the whatever the law proscribes.

Just like D1, the home team has personnel or managers who do it. The away team, of course, have their observers there too. They gather the bats before the game(s), perform the testing, and return the bats with stickers noting a bat has passed.

The OP clearly describes a petty but retaliatory (intentional) act after a fake tag during a dead ball. If he ends up on the ground, I don't think you HTBT. 😎

If it will be of help, California has a definition of malicious contact: Malicious contact is violent, avoidable contact between two opposing players. It often occurs when a runner collides with a fielder in an effort to dislodge possession of the ball. Malicious contact can also occur when a fielder unnecessarily applies a hard tag to a runner. Intent and play situation must be a consideration in determining malicious contact. Hard contact is not, in itself, malicious contact. From what I understand, California has submitted a definition to the NFHS rules committee on numerous occasions without success.

We call it a ground rule double but it's really a book rule, called "automatic" in the OBR scorekeeping rules, and this thread will enlighten you:

The help wanted sign made me think of us: "“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” Well, except for the last part... https://www.thisisuncharted.co/p/startup-hiring-brutal-honesty-shackleton-constraint-signaling "You might have guessed, I went down a Youtube rabbit hole about polar expeditions. More specifically, how one of the most dangerous and underfunded expeditions in history built the most loyal and legendary crew ever assembled. It all started with the most legendary founder-led recruitment message of all time. Legend says Sir Ernest Shackleton posted this ad in a London paper before his 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” He didn’t sugarcoat anything. He didn’t try to “sell the vision.”He sold the pain. And 5k men applied. He didn’t hide the constraint. He featured it. And that did three things: Filtered for resilience: No one stumbled into that expedition by accident. You had to want the hardship. Increased commitment: The harder the entry, the stronger the identity. Bonded the team: Everyone joined eyes wide open, ready to suffer together. This was psychology. And Shackleton intuitively understood what modern hiring still forgets. People who volunteer for a hard path are wired for it. When you choose hardship with eyes open you stick. The tougher the entry the stronger the post rationalisation and loyalty. In other words the constraint is the feature."

Just arrived via UPS today: the limited edition “Kuta.” Same plates as the Enduro, with a different pad and color way. Same great quality coming from Derek and his team. Looking forward to strapping it on in 4 weeks!

And, would the correct assumption be that the runner was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct and not for malicious contact?

not that i can get anywhere close to that but here is an old one in the same vein watch from 5 minute to 21 or to cut out a little, 13-21 from westward the women https://m.ok.ru/video/1037672712884

Just thinking out loud on that one: Does NFHS require their presentation to be used in full? Meaning states can add info, but not take info away?

Good article, @Velho! I had to click it twice to get it (got their sales page the first time), in case anybody else runs into that. Just curious, has anybody's association ever brought in a tax consultant to present at a meeting? Seems like a valuable use of association resources.

FWIW, there is no fake tag during a dead ball. Taking @834k3r's statement a bit further, there is always a big element of HTBT on these plays. Sometimes though, the optics can change what has to be done. One of the worst collisions I ever had was the result of the catcher moving up the line for the tag (legal), a "country big boy" runner bracing (legal), and the catcher tripping (legal). It wasn't going to be pretty, but the trip propelled the catcher and took away his ability to check up. I did end up ejecting the runner, because he hopped up and flexed over the catcher. Of course, I spoke with the coach at the moment, but what was more interesting was the player coming to talk to me afterwards. I explained to him that I knew he was bracing and checking up, and I knew the catcher tripped. I knew it was not malicious or intentional, even though it looked bad. I told him I already knew I wasn't going to toss anybody after the collision. The problem was the taunting afterwards which altered the optics of the whole thing . . . he totally understood I had to at that point. Back to the OP . . . so what are you calling a "fake tag". Was it light horseplay? Or was it rougher and something that understandably offended (I'm not saying was justified)? I'm not excusing the runner in any way. I'm trying to figure out if the fielder needed to go, too, or if it was a "did you learn your lesson not to do that for this exact reason?". One issue we have at the amateur level is we do not know the history between teams or players. Did these guys have a history? Once had an incident that resulted in an ejected coach and a forfeited game (refused to leave, no ACs). Afterwards a parent approached us and the site director "in the parking lot dressing room" to tell us, "Oh yeah, we played them last week (3 states over) and the cops had to be called." Damn, I wish we had HURs.

And, I think the requirement to issue begins at $2,000, not $20,000. So, nothing has changed, except you'll get fewer pieces of paper, and more income to post on the "no 1099 issued" line.

Watching a mandatory rules clinic from the state governing body, which started by saying Maryland won't use the double base this year and now has spent 7 minutes explaining the rules of it anyway

Well, yes. That's the start to look for a sticker but you still have In game damage to assess. Flat bat, rattles, cracks, top of bat still attached, etc... Which I take is to say that you're observant but not actively looking. Makes sense. And same as every other level (even the notorious pregame inspection by LL umpires ended last year).

Well, yes. That's the start to look for a sticker but you still have In game damage to assess. Flat bat, rattles, cracks, top of bat still attached, etc...

Still beats having the umpires go into the dugouts pre game and visually inspect them. A lot of grief with that.

Version 5.0.X of the forum software has officially launched. I am not going to be an early adapter, but I am following some discussions of people who are and the response the highly positive. I will continue to monitor, but unless something crazy comes up, I plan on doing the upgrade in mid-February. Besides not wanting to be an early adapter, like many new software updates there are a ton of small updates that have already come out. They're literally already at 5.0.15... And I don't want to do a lot of small updates. I'll let the dust settle first. I am always very hesitant to send an email out to all members, because I hate emails, and from 30+ years in HR I know the vast majority of people won't read it any way 🤣 However... I am planning on sending out 2 emails to all members. The first one will probably the week before letting people know that if you're like me and login using your username, that will no longer be an option. You will have to use the email in the system. So please check the email address we have for you. If it is out of date you may not be able to log in I know many people have used their work email addresses and they may no longer work there for example. First, Select the dropdown by your username and avatar in the top right. Then Select Account Settings Then you can see and update your email address.

I’ll post the link next week 24 hours before it goes on public sale.

I concur. I would also opine that there's a lot of HTBT in the OP. Knocking F4 "on his arse" may or may not be MC for NFHS--but it would depend upon a lot of things that would only be seen in person.

There are many opinions when discussing DF, but I find it easier and more friendly than Arbiter. I do wish you could see which peers were on which game, but overall DF does very well what I need it to do. Just remember your assigner will appreciate you putting in schedule blocks (times/days when you're not available) as soon as you know about them, as well as accepting assignments as soon as you can (so he can not worry about you covering as he's scheduled you to). Happy to help you navigate DF as you need--drop me a DM.

Bought a pair of Mizuno plate shoes from @Thunderheads--yes, @Velho, another pair. 😏 Super flexible and responsive. Thank you sir!

We've been down this road before, but raising your arms and bracing for a collision is instinctual. What we should be watching for is what happens next: either the arms act as shock absorbers and take the impact (legal), or he unloads (illegal). I've had to make that explanation to coaches both ways (ejected and no penalty) and have never had an argument when explaining it that way. FWIW, I would call "incidental" contact and "instinctual" contact two different things.

Same here for the Ump-Life harness and Sandy Colbolt helmet. After adjustment, I don't have any issues. However, my eyes might be deceiving me, but at first look I thought the smooth helmet had a more vertical rear - which I thought was a drastic change. On second look and comparison, there is a 3 degree difference between the Sandy and the Smooth. Yes, my Superman eyes were able to discern that. In all seriousness, I think I see a slight change in the rear and maybe it is smaller than I thought it was. But, maybe that is all that is needed to grab or hold the strap back there.

I don't know which I have (I didn't know it had changed). I bought mine Sep'25 from GD. Looks like SKU is "ALL-SC900UMP-S" (so Sand?). I've had none of the issue @SeeingEyeDog mentions. I find it grippy to the touch (and marks up so doesn't look great - though Im imagine I/us are the only ones that would notice). After small adjustment period (very small, maybe came off funny 1-2 times) it works fine with the Umplife harness.

I do not have either of these skull caps...however, the 6 guys in my association who have them that I have spoken to, all have the SAND finish version which they all use with the UmpLife harness. To a man, they have all said that the sand finish is much more slick than using just a wool cap and that it took several uses and tightening of the harness to get it to where it was overcoming the smoothness of the skull cap and staying in place. One even went so far as to say he used a drill with a wire brush and roughed up the back of the skull cap slightly to provide more grip to the harness. The decision by All-Star to move from the SAND finish to the smooth matte finish, would seem based on the feedback I have received to be a step in the WRONG direction on this. (No offense to Stan Jurga and all the fine, hardworking people at All-Star Sports...I still love your stuff.) ~Dawg

I'm not disagreeing, just asking for some help on this one . . . Can you point me to the differences between malicious contact, unsportsmanlike conduct, and fight rules? I get where you are headed with MC being lumped in with the interference rules, but the book explicitly says the defense can be guilty of MC. I thought we had a book definition of MC, but I appear to be wrong on that (or bad at my research today).

Please email me directly derek@gerrydavis.com so I can look into the issue for you. If I cannot assist I'll forward to the appropriate person who can assist further.

Congrats on moving to the next level. I think, overall, you will find HS baseball easier than rec or travel. For the most part, the players do more of what you expect them to do and you'll have less funky plays to officiate. I'm sure your training will cover HS rules. Some of the major differences: ALL obstruction is a delayed dead ball, and ALWAYS results in at least a one base award from the runner's position at the time of the obstruction. There is no "in the act of fielding" in HS. The fielder either has possession, or he doesn't. Force Play Slide Rule - it's different from the bonafide slide rule in OBR Runner's Lane Interference - pay close attention on how your association wants it to be called. Follow-through interference (sometimes called backswing interference) - same as batter's interference. Someone is going to be out. Pitching positions - I'm not up-to-date on them, but they'll be different from OBR Dugout Restrictions - nothing similar in OBR. Part of your "toolbox" to manage a game, which will be important in those freshman games that might only have one babysitter coach. You'll likely be asked to confirm game details a few days in advance via email with the coach or AD. Game date, time, location (JV field, varsity field), and if you'll have access to a locker room (more for varsity). Get examples of emails from a varsity umpire you trust. We always asked our umpires at all levels to arrive no less than 45 minutes before game time, wear decent clothes (business casual) and then go to the field and find the coach to let them know you have arrived and to reconfirm game time and when you'll come back for the plate meeting. There have been several times in my career that the visiting team will be late because of bus issues or traffic. Good to know before you show up 10 minutes before the game starts for the plate meeting and only the home team is there. Your association may do things differently.

It took me a few games to get used to them, but I prefer them in every way over the T hooks (rust, snags) of my first CP and the plastic buckles (lower profile, more resilient) of my Cobalt.

Agree with adopting slowly. But you also have to adapt or die. 🤣 Appreciate you.

I could put the same ad out today for my neck of the woods Enough of this arctic nonsense. Today's high 14 was at dawn and it got colder from there and the zephyr like winds lapped at my face from the NW at 45mph. At this rate we may have baseball starting in July. Maybe.