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I just got this mailing too. The “pay to play (umpire)” bullish!t has to end. NASO enrollment, and other similar resources, should be complementary and funded / underwritten by the baseball organizations that need – not “request”, not “could use” – us to officiate their games. NASO admits it right up front! We “don’t get paid enough”… well, it certainly gets exacerbated when we have to pay for NASO representation! And insurance! And training! And resource materials! And uniforms (here’s the rotten, festering source of the navy vs. anything else argument; if you (Ohio, Michigan, etc.) are going to stipulate / require your umpires to wear a particular uniform, then you should provide it. Period!)! Yeah, a substantial number of officials are aging out. Yeah, they’re not being replaced by new recruits. Part of the blame falls on the latest generation’s culture (and aversion to work, ahem), but an equal part falls on the existing officiating structure, and the daunting costs that confront a new official. Perfection only comes through practice; practice is only achieved through participation. We must reduce the price for participation, otherwise it just becomes a prohibitive obstacle.

So story from a few weeks ago I was reminded about, so figured i'd share:) OBR rules tourney (with some various modifications that are unimportant). UIC/TDs have no problem with the coaches at the door on the bucket, so we allow it. I've never seen it come into play, every time it hits the bucket, it was going to go into the dugout anyway... until: Weird shaped dugouts, they have only 1 entrance onto the field on the 'home plate' side, and are cut into the field. You can see them here : ) There are now roofs on the dugouts, but the only opening is the home-side. There is also a concrete 'lip' now thanks to the dirt getting lower over time. As I've said, I've never seen the bucket matter before, but did 2x in 1 game: Top of ~2nd inning, VT in the 3rd base dugout, 1st and 2nd. Batter hits a ball to RF, RF sees R2 going around 3rd, and fires home. AND hits the VT's coach's bucket and goes into the dugout. I kill it, and leave the bases loaded. Coach comes out and asks why there are no base awards, I explain that it hit the bucket, so its a dead ball, and I can't give him benefit for his bucket causing the problem. He says 'well, it would have gone in the dugout anyway!', and I said that I don't really judge it that way, the concrete lip and the angle it came in makes that impossible to judge, so I just killed it. He relents, and goes back onto his bucket. BOTTOM of the same inning. R2, grounder to F5 who throws it over the 1B head. R2 is stopping at 3rd, but F3 gets a little excited and fires home.... and bonks right off the same bucket (though was clearly not going into the dugout). I call time, award two bases to everyone. Coach says from the dugout (not really a yell, since its like 15 feet, but loud enough I can hear): "Award because it is my bucket?" Me: "Yep". Him: "Urgh.... *yells* Sorry guys, that one is on me!" and moves his bucket into the dugout with his head held in shame. He came up to me after the game and said he'd never even heard of it happening before, and had discussed it with UIC during the game, and was amazed I 'got it right' despite being such an obscure rule. I responded, "thats why they pay us the little bucks!", and he chuckled, said "see you later, have a good one!" and walked away.

🙄 “This is the type of errant pedantry up with which I will not put.” --Attributed to Winston Churchill Yes, you're right. It's an "indicator", but did you have any question about what he was referring to? (Excuse me... "about the device to which he was referring?") If not, then who cares? If you're going to Pro School, you're absolutely right that it should be called nothing other than an indicator. I call it an ind-clicki-counter, just because I like watching people's heads explode who get up-tight about the silliest things.

Ejectable offenses: Personal Prolonged Profane Personal? No, they were arguing the calls, not you, directly Prolonged? They were getting there. As long as they didn't continue after the warning, that's probably good. Profane? Check - you can't swear at anybody (especially in high school) and expect to stay in the game. Only one quibble... "Shake it off" was right there, and you didn't jump on it???

"It was a $60 call coach. $60 puts another pair of eyes and a second opinion on the field when I am out of position." There is NO reason for a coach to touch an umpire. There is no reason in this day and age for anybody to be touching a stranger. Tangent rant, but I feel that goes back to this "first name basis" thing. NO. I am not there to be your friend or your buddy. I am your adjudicator for the day, and you are my client. I like the new guy!

He brought it out and handed it to the batter who took a bite of it... in the celebration. That is a celebratory prop. We've been hammered on this all year. The NCAA sent out a memo week 3 or 4 as a blanket warning so teams didn't get a "free one". They know that they can't bring ANYTHING out of the dugout and use it in the celebration. The players have to be smarter than what they showed. They know that they can't do that. They know that the umpire's supervisors are in attendance and watching everything during the tournament.

The memes are out of control.

First, I check my physical condition. Dehydrated? Sore, in pain, discomfort? I address that first. Then, I check for mental distractions and try to focus. If something required my urgent attention, I wouldn't be umpiring. So I try to set whatever it is aside, knowing that it will wait. Finally, and in every case, I slow down. Take a deep breath, go back to basics (read the pitch out of F1's hand, track it to the mitt, judge it mentally, then call it). There's no such thing as a "bad day behind the plate." There's only, "I can do better."

Game 1 of the high school post season regionals, I was PU in a 3-man crew. This was the #2 seed (home) versus the #31 seed, so we knew it was not going to be close. I worked the plate as hard as I always do (my level of effort is the same whether it is a JV game or a college game), and tried to be as consistent as possible with my zone. After 4 innings, the home team was up 16-0, which ended the game on a run rule. The visiting team catcher, who had just gotten schwacked, told me, "Blue, you're the best umpire I've had all year!" It felt good to have my level of effort appreciated, especially when it would have been understandable for him to be in a foul mood.

@mac266 I know you don't like youth ball, but.... I had an 8U player come up to me this weekend while he was waiting for his catcher (he walked from the mound to me behind the play) and thanked me for being a great umpire. My heart dropped. I told him thanks for being a GREAT player.

Gentlemen, @Rich Ives may have served as an umpire at some point, but what he was known and respected primarily for was Coach. Each of us here (on U-E at least) has our forté, our niche, our role. Rich’s was as Coach. The other side of the argument. Not only was he always presenting the coach’s perspective, but he could frequently – and would – tag you if were MSU or being unduly harsh on fellow coaches (especially when you’d brag in your Ejection stories). Not every coach is/was a rat, despite Rich embracing it as his avatar. Yes, we’ll remember him, but let’s not forget him and his perspective when we interact with coaches in the future.

Post season play is underway here in Colorado, where we transition from 2-man to 3-man crews. That's a good idea, because despite having an increase of 50% manning, the crew tends to be about 500% better and more accurate on calls. The angles in 3-man are amazing, but in 2-man they are "almost good enough" sometimes. I would take a pay cut to work 3-man all the time, but that's not up to me. My pet peeve is the state association has NO training on 3-man mechanics; they expect you to just know them. The only reason I know them is because I'm a prospect for an NCAA division 2 conference and get to work their fall games. Otherwise, I would have been sitting at home reading a mechanics book...which is close to zero learning for me. Anyway, that's a problem I will address with the state. First game of a double header, we had all been in contact with one another over text. We all agreed to be 45 minutes early. I showed up an hour early because of my Army background ("10 minutes early is late!). U1 showed up at the agreed upon time. U3 isn't there. The two of us get dressed and geared up, But U3 is nowhere to be found. We called and texted and got no response, until 15 minutes before game time. He texted back and said he was running late. Mind you, this is the first game of the day, and five games are scheduled on that diamond. The weather was also threatening later in the day, so any delays could have serious impacts on post-season scheduling. Many of these teams travel 6 or more hours and pay for hotels, etc. because it is post season. I was pi$$ed, to say the least. The weather is going to do what the weather is going to do, but the umpires should NEVER be the reason a team has to pay for another night in a hotel. U1 and I agreed to get the game going in 2-man, and we started the plate meeting on time. U3 walked onto the field during the plate meeting, and he was wearing a different jacket than we had previously agreed upon. I was in a plate coat. U1 had the black jacket with two white stripes on the shoulders. U3 had the black jacket with two white stripes and a blue stripe in between. As PU with a plate coat, I'm supposed to look different than the other two (without a plate coat I would, of course, be in the same jacket as the base umpires). But this dude with his blue stripe, walking onto the field while we're finishing up the plate meeting was a BAD look. Probably 75% of our job is simply maintaining credibility. ALWAYS do everything to maintain credibility -- with players, coaches, and other umpires!

Pardon me for speaking for more than myself and feel free to correct me, brothers... No. We DO care about all of those things that have, are and will happen to us. AND...we do it because we love it, it's a passion. AND no, there is something better. Amateur sports officiating and umpiring without all those things that the NASO claims we don't care about. ~Dawg

That's all you need to know. No run scores in your play.

No issue with the ejection. Only thing that made my “spine tingle” was you letting them bitch at you all game while working solo. I have ZERO empathy with gripers when working solo. Shut it down fast and early. Warn early, then restrict someone; then dump someone until they get the hint. The ONLY thing I can understand griping about when working solo is professionalism (appearance, effort). NEVER a call. If you’re working and moving from plate to try and make a call, no one should say a peep

I'm lucky enough to have a local college summer league that runs the 3 umpire system that plays 6 nights a week, most DH. So we are able to get a lot of 3 umpire system reps. I also work a college level in the spring that runs the 3 umpire system. The biggest issue that I have found going to the the 3 umpire system at the high school level is people not wanting to listen and/or make up their own mechanics when they don't really know how to run the system. I was explaining fly ball coverage keys recently and my U3 didn't understand why U1 would have trouble balls straight in from the CF when U3 was inside. Repeatedly, they kept saying, "I can see the ball skip into the glove from where I'd be!". My U1 is also another college level umpire with extensive 3 umpire system experience. I finally just opened up the manual and showed U3... "It says it right here. This is how it is ran. This is how we are running it."

There is no on-deck batter Majors and down. There is one warm up batter (between innings or with a pitching change) and we keep them on their dugout side.

Umpiring advice: youth level ball and travel tournaments are full of daddy coaches who don't know the rules but are charging exorbitant coaching fees to unsuspecting parents who mistakenly believe otherwise. They also don't know the art of interacting with umpires, and they think the Aaron Boone approach is "how the game is played." Notice how often Boone goes to the locker room early. I cut my teeth working these, but as my skill has built I've been given opportunities to work better baseball. In an ideal world, I would work the youth ball just to give back to the game, but those people can kiss my arse.

For the record I am a coach who's always been very cool with the officials... First 12U scrimmage yesterday to warm up for my first 12U game on Saturday. Open rec ball where teams may have AA level players as well as total beginners. I had some nerves. My foul calls were too quiet. Strike calls were too quiet. Strike zone was too tight but consistent. I didn't have my head in the game on a couple plays. I didn't move around enough to get a good look at plays. I think one of the big challenges is staying engaged and aware after seeing 8 balls in a row. The infielders AND the ump were snoozing at times. I am excited to start umpiring but it is much harder than I thought it would be. I know I have a firm grasp of the NFHS rules but seeing the plays and enforcing everything real time is a whole other story. It's insane for a coach to complain about a couple tough calls over the course of a game with ONE umpire. Tom

@ToggyWhile it may work for your local league, I would be careful "coaching" a catcher about positioning while umpiring. If you tell a catcher where to position themselves and they get injured, you can bet the first thing said, is "The umpire told me to be there". If I have a catcher that is creeping into the danger zone in my local league (LL Minors and sometimes Majors) I just bring it to the coach's attention - "Bill, do you want your catcher set up there?" and let the coach correct it.

Can't get much simpler than you've already put it, as captured by noumpere. Head wrap not included.

You mentioned the following in your post: "After a few minutes of the rest of the bench joning in with the call New York stuff, I take off my mask and say "that's enough. We're not doing that." A player on the bench then proceeds to sing Taylor Swift's Welcome to New York. While I am just as much of a Swiftie as anyone else, the song choice wasn't great, but I decide to shrug shake it off. The team continues to argue essentially every call that is even remotley close." IMO: The kid who started singing Welcome to New York should have been ejected. You just got through telling them "that's enough. We're not doing that." If you don't follow through after the warning, they will think it's okay to keep walking on you. Guys on the site always say, "shoot one monkey and the rest get in line." A lot of good advice on here. Thanks for posting. You handled this as well as could be expected for a new umpire. You have a bright future ahead of you....just don't let kids sing Taylor Swift on your field!

The fee pays me to work the game and hustle my fat ass around the diamond. The fee doesn't pay for anyone to abuse me. If anyone wants to bitch at me, we better be sharing the same bed. MLB umpires get paid a lot of money and have many perks. I don't.

I asked Nic Lentz (he's an instructor at our February camp each year) ... what's the ONE thing you do when you feel that you're struggling? He said without hesitation, "release point" .... find that, focus there, then track it. It slows things down. Just wanted to share that from an MLB guy

Apologies for quoting my own post, which is tacky. But I was watching a game last weekend and an amateur umpire asked the crowd for aspirin, ibuprofen, etc. Somebody offered Excedrin™, which he accepted. I recommend not using that product (or Anacin, or related products), as they contain caffeine. As you might know, caffeine is a diuretic, and thus dehydrating. Anything that dehydrates us diminishes our visual acuity first, as the eyes are 98% water (TBP, the vitreous body is 98% water, and it constitutes most of the eye by mass and volume). It was a late inning, and I didn't know the guy, so I said nothing. Just sharing the thought here, to help us improve performance.

You and I would get along well. If he was safe, I'm calling safe every time. Don't sacrifice your integrity just to get to beer thirty sooner.

Tony at Mask It Sports http://maskitsports.com/ Does it again!!! Highly recommended if you ever need his services!!! Nike Ti powder coated liquid gunmetal:

It's also the beauty of starting at the lower levels...You are going to see everything under the sun.....You are going to see stuff you may not see again for the next 5 years. You're going to see stuff you don't know how to call. You're going to go home and get answers to these weird situations that have happened and you'll never forget how to rule on that particular play again. I forget the actual numbers, but someone once said 95% of the game is played using 20% of the rules. Youth ball will make you learn and use that other 80% of the rule book.

Please understand that I am not hijacking this thread. I simply want to clarify something brought up in Mr. MadMax's post. In both NFHS and NCAA baseball it is not a myth but an actual rule that tells umpires not to grant time after a base on balls (until the BR reaches first base). The FED rule is 2-4-2 and there is a supporting case play 2.4.2 Situation. For the NCAA it's rule 6-1a Note 2. The OBR covers this not by rule but by an official interpretation. It can be found in the 2016 BRD (p. 86). It says that in theory umpires should not call time until the BR reaches first but it is possible if he is certain that no runner is going to try to advance further.

Worked the TN HS state finals this week. Day 2 after the 3rd game (3 man crew) a plainclothes detective open carrying on his hip w/badge as well, came into the locker room post game and said, "let me know when you guys are ready to go, I will escort you to the cars". Apparently a parent was overheard talking about doing something to the umpires. Good lord.

Especially on amateur games, especially on games played on field dimensions less than 60-90, it never ceases to amaze me that no-one, other than the Umpire(s) are watching Runner base-touches. 🙈 And these are games where the ratio of players-to-coaches is nearly 1:1 or 2:1!!! Everybody watches the ball, no-one watches the Runner(s)! So if you (as a coach) discipline yourself – or, assign an “assistant coach” / parent – to watch Runner touches, I can almost guarantee you’ll get at least one Out on appeal, if not 2-3 more. … and you’ll absolutely break the backs of the opposing team, negating a big hit, because invariably, BR missed 1B.

To the great points as to why carrying a cell phone on the field should be less discouraged, I started carrying mine, in my back pocket, after I received word the a family member passed and my family was trying to get a hold of me. Yep, it was more important to be elsewhere that day.

“Fastest way to have a rule changed in college baseball? Enforce it as written.” – a long-time NCAA D1 umpire There are 3 things overpopulating my email inbox – 1) Groupon offers (just want the oil changes!), 2) LinkedIn post alerts (don’t care), 3) NCAA Rules & Interpretation memos. The NCAA is compelled to get out in front of this, because unlike the pros, they can’t fine transgressors. And transgressors will continue to push to perform their shenanigans outside the dugout, because (I believe) that any broadcast cameras are not allowed in the actual dugouts. And then you have Pandora’s Garbage Disposal that is the Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) crap… ugh, I’m tiring myself just thinking about it. @JSam21 and @dumbdumb have it right… the last thing you want to see yourself in, as an umpire, is a memo / training clip wherein the proctor says, “So this umpire crew had this happen… “.

As the OP describes the scenario, perhaps the B/R saw that R1 was still on first and was trying to avoid passing him by immediately turning to his right after touching the base. If he was called out for abandonment that would not have removed the force on R1 (or on another runner if there had been one). From the 2017 Jaksa/Roder manual (pp. 50-51): ...Note that abandonment does not remove the force against runners ahead of the abandoning runner; this stipulation prevents a runner from abandoning the base paths, intentionally or otherwise, and removing the force against a runner ahead of him.

Yet the abuse somehow still happens and is rampant among youth sports, not just baseball. Wrong. They're not. That's why we're in the situation we are regarding the shortage of sports officials. They're not reasonable regardless if the umpire is competent or not. Why our culture accepts yelling at sports officials is beyond me. It has to stop. There needs to be a zero tolerance policy in all of youth sports. It reminds me of the idiots that yell at the fast food cashiers for messing up their order. What the F*#K do you expect from a minimum wage job. And why the F*#K do people feel compelled to yell and belittle people? Don't blame the employee, blame the employer for not training that person better. Or better yet, shut the F*#K up and patronize another business establishment. That's what coaches need to do, realize it's youth sports and there is no place for abuse, and shut the F*#K up. What the F*#K do you expect from a minimum wage job? They constantly expect a major league standard from a person making peanuts. They're not professional coaches, players, or umpires. Why are only the umpires held to that standard? They reap what they sow. Where are all the sports officials?

Although not stated in the rule, it's implied that plays involving runners leaving early are delayed dead balls - drop the red flag, allow the play to conclude (which is the language used in 7.13 Exception) and then assess whatever base awards or "returns" are called for based on the result after you've killed it. Similar to balks at the upper levels and obstruction on a runner on whom a play is not being made...

("Though it's very bad to eject a player when he should not be ejected, it's far worse to keep someone in the game who should be ejected.") Al Barlick - HOF 1989

That’s exactly what I did! My mentor and my assignor both gave me their seals of approval. However, one thing that my mentor said made me think a bit about where my tolerance should be: ”if you change it from ‘SH*#ting’ to ‘kidding,’ are you still ejecting him?” Answer: probably not. Honestly, someone was getting tossed if I heard anything else after the “New York” thing. I didn’t know who, but I was very prepared to take that step. Not the best attitude, I know, but I learned a lot about myself and umpiring that day.

You make them stay in the bucket?!

Warren, I'm going to disagree with you about the dirty end of the stick... especially with how hard we have been hammered about this. Seemingly on a weekly basis from the NCAA, ever since the meetings about enforcement of this rule.

When I have a game where I think I am struggling, I start each pitch with the basics. Step into the slot with one foot lined up with the point of the plate and the other foot heel/toe to get a good angle over F2s shoulder. Breathe slowly; in through the nose out through the mouth. Eyes on F1 As the pitcher starts his windup move into my set position. Pick up the ball in F1's hand, hold my breath, and track the ball all the way to F2's glove make a decision and call One of the ways we will know when we are tracking properly is that when the bat hits the ball our eyes will continue to track the ball as it goes away from the plate. If you lose the ball when it is hit you are probably not tracking it all the way to the bat or glove.

AAU around here does allow one guy on deck. LL does not, they allow the 1st batter of the inning out and that is it. Its funny though when you look at Regionals and WS stuff I swear you see an on deck batter there, maybe not. But anyway its about safety and that is it. I have seen kids lose teeth due to on deck batters not paying attention as well as the kid running out to grab the bat. I do not need to see anymore chicklets happening. Also I have seen coaches get clocked a time or 3 cause someone crossed over to their side and no one was paying attention ( Coach or batter) So yeah stay on your side until your at bat..

Never say never. Perfect Game does exactly this, in fact using 3-man on the semis, and 4 (or even 6!) on the chips. I can proudly say that Vultures are usually in those crews, and we treat them as “honing” games. One particular NCAA/NJCAA/AIA colleague gravitates towards U2, and I recognized why he does – he’s working out (practicing) the spatial sense to smoothly operate at U2, while putting his IP at either B-deep (which he’ll have to use for AIA) or C-beyond (which some MLBUs do). He got really good at it. KRBS (a regional Tournament Series) also does it, as the TD knows that that 3rd umpire is a considerable less headache on the game, when coaches (try) to pull all the shenanigans. Penny-pinching, miserly, Scrooge McDuck-led TSs… nope. You’re right, they’d go Solo umpires if they could get away with it.

I recommend caution. Yes, that's the rule. But local customs vary, and it's quite common in kiddie ball for more coaches to be closer to the players to instruct. For HS ball, I enforce the rule. Beyond that, I recommend following local custom, up to the point where it becomes a distraction. Then enforce the rule equally both ways (and tell them why—enforcement may be preceded by a warning, such as "Coach, if you want to do anything other than coach your players, you'll have to do it from the dugout").

A warning is NOT a requirement, an entitlement, or a right. It is a courtesy we choose to extend or not. It can help make the "report writing" easier, but it is not necessary and coaches need to learn that. It is nice when TDs actually back their umpires. I have talked about places I won't go back to because of this. According to my partner (who works this place regularly), an ejected coach is gone for the tournament. Not an extra game, not the day ... just plain DONE. I forgot to ask if that was actually true, but it is a selling point to get me to come back if it is!

7 games on Saturday, 6 games on Sunday. Mostly 14u, a few 12u. They didn't build in any breaks or off games ... ugh. I won't do this on a regular basis, but it seems like about once a year I go to a new place and this happens. I'll break this into sections for easier replies. I got through all the games Saturday alright. I was feeling it by the end of the day, but mentally I was in better shape than I expected. First three games (all bases - my partner's choice) were smooth-sailing other than trying to get game balls back (we had 6 home runs in the first game). Game 4 I switch fields and move to the plate. First batter cranks the first pitch for a triple. My partner was a little slow, so I finished moving up the line and took the play. As I am moving back to the plate, I notice the third baseman "give" the ball to the pitcher "glove to glove." As I get back to home plate, the yelling begins: "I got him! I got him!" My partner is staring at the runner and the third baseman holding the ball up in his glove. He is just about to ring the kid up when I yell, "TIME!" Everybody looks at me and I point to the pitcher, standing at the top of the mound. I point to the runner and to home plate, "You, home!" I hear all kinds of speculation from the crowd and some of it was actually right. I also hear from the dugout that he only has to be "two feet off the rubber!" The catcher asks me, "Did you actually see him on the rubber?" I explain to the catcher that the rule is "approximately five feet" (such strange wording that I remember it), and that there was no question. The rest went off without a hitch.

^^^^ This. Integrity means everything and I feel once an umpire loses it, the umpire needs to hang up his mask.

I will say that IMO, the toughest levels to learn at are the younger levels. ANYTHING can and will happen. They are inconsistent and unpredictable. It will teach you to not anticipate or take for granted any play. Working alone makes it doubly harder. I will offer to also find a mentor to talk you off the ledge/out of the tree after s really rough game. Welcome to the club.

It's great that you recognize where you need to improve. Approach each game as a professional, do your best, and leave each play on the field. If you boot one, don't "make it up" on the next call because then you've just booted two. Work the play in front of you. Heck, work the pitch in front of you. Short memories are our friends. Welcome to the dark side. Still looking for the cookies.

Mantle: "Also, its 9U, and Satan's team brings all their parents!".