SanDiegoSteve

Good god...AGAIN, not the point of the original post. So, since my question has been answered this will be my final post on this thread. How many times have we said on this board that at lower levels sometimes "anticipating the play" can go awry cause kids do strange things? Why didnt the second baseman release? If he did, why couldnt he get back to his position on time? Did aliens take him away? A giant sinkhole opened and he fell in? Answer...I dont know and frankly since it has no bearing, I could care less. HE WASNT IN HIS NORMAL SPOT AND THE BALL COULD NOT BE CAUGHT WITH ORDINARY EFFORT. I have no issue with debating varying scenarios but as far as I know I am the only one who was actually present for the play in question. So for the sake of THIS arguement, can I just "umpire" and state as fact for the purposes of any future discussion that he WASNT there and it was NOT ORDINARY EFFORT? Rant over. That is all. A good topic will take on a life of it's own. Many times the OP will generate secondary or tertiary lines of discussion. It's not usually an intentional hijacking (although there are a few of those). If your question is answered early, then enjoy the ride. If it's not, then reign the discussion back in. To quote Andy Griffith : "This 'cause-ing can go on and on if you give it its head." Thanks Barn.

Not the umpire's fault that play stopped when Obstruction called. The mechanic is to point at the obstruction and say in a loud voice (one time) "That's Obstruction." If you are calling Type B Obstruction, then play should not stop because of this call. If it does, that's their problem, not yours. And why are we using the FED mechanic of holding the arm out to the side? It's a ridiculous mechanic, and should only be used for FED baseball. Cal Ripken and such leagues in that genre are OBR-based rules, so don't use the FED BS mechanic.

You didn't see the catch? Did you take your eyes off the ball momentarily or something? Wow. So the defense is screwed out of a perfectly good and extremely rare triple play, and it's a do-over? I could never pull that off here. I would get hung by my b@11s if I got that wrong.

Everyone think there is a rule because they are right. There is a rule that states that.

When we run out of baseballs we send some young monkey up the backstop too if possible. These teams are on shoestring budgets.

I have been given that moniker many times. Worst Umpire I've Ever Seen. And I've been told I'm the best umpire a team ever had many times too. I don't believe the hype either way. I know I'm not the best, and I know I'm far from the worst, so I usually feel pretty damn good about myself overall.

Travesty :shakehead:

I don't see anything wrong with bragging about where you work some ballgames. No different than people posting pictures of the closets full of uniforms and accessories that I can only dream of ever owning. I get one color of each shirt (four popular colors only) and a couple of pairs of pants if I'm lucky every couple of years because my budget is not like some people's, which by the looks of it, is unlimited. I like to announce my accomplishments too, and I see nothing wrong with blowing own horn on umpire forum. Who else are we going to tell?

You look really sharp there! I hope it was fun for you. I enjoyed my stint working at a MLB ballpark, and this reminded me of it. I remember everybody wanted to work the plate but these two guys pulled the seniority card so I had 1st base for one game and 2nd base for the other.

Okay, they kicked me loose today. I arrived home early this evening and just took a nice shower. It's good to be home. Everything is progressing well, but I am sore as the dickens still. Percocets are my friends right now! My heart rate had dropped to the mid 30s and my old valve was so bad the doctor didn't know how I was still walking around with it. Back where it should be (55 to 80 range) for me, and a nice blood flow going. No bypass was needed as my coronary arteries were found to be just fine on the Thursday heart cath procedure. Anyhow, I am going to be doing a lot of PT and walking to get back in shape, but my fingers are still working, so there's no excuse not to post here. Thanks to everyone who said prayers or wished me well. I don't recommend this if you can avoid it. Typhoon, I am sure you will do just fine as well. It's tough but doable! Oh, and I got my MBA on June 1st, which is what I had been putting off the surgery for, and I am stoked! :meditation:

Summer league HS freshman game. Not exactly the 7th game of World Series we're talking here. Rich is right though, the scorekeeper should have pointed it out. Had there been a scorekeeper in a summer league frosh game, which is very unlikely. So play on McDuff if neither team brings it to your attention.

If you are going to depend on Karma, you better learn to spell her correctly.:)

No, unfortunately not,and I've googled it before, trying to find some like them, with no success. They were both black w/white V Vans logo on both sides too. Didn't think they were anything special at the time, other than the cool factor.

3700 + games. Over 2100 + behind plate. Number of games worked behind plate without plate shoes: ZERO Here is a list of plate shoes owned over the years (in order): Riddell low tops Vans plate shoes (also had Vans base shoes...cool or what?) XS Xclusive Shoe low +POS low top (2 pairs over the years) Spot-Built Hard Toe High tops (ouch to the toes, but never caught a bad one so okay) Reebok low cut plate shoes (2009 to present)

How can you have that certainty without even knowing the level of ball. The umpires for the game were uncertain enough about the call to post here to be sure, so why assume that the coach knew how the rule applied to D3K? (Had a Bronco game for which I was assistant coach and scorekeeper [yeah, I know, but it's rec], and with R1, R3 2 outs, F4 tagged the runner going to second; U told me it was a time play because it was tag instead of a force so the run [for our team] scored -- our manager thought that was right, and the manager of the other team was expaining to his team why the U was right. I was pretty sure the run shouldn't count, but what am I gonna do, argue with the U about it?) I'd be careful about attributing malice where ignorance is an awfully good explanation. The more I understand the rules, the more I understand how little so many understand about the rules. -SCL (aka a daddy-coach trying not to be a rat) So, since you let this go YOUR way, would you have argued it if it was the run that beat you? Can't have it both ways. Desperate for threads to respond to much? :fuel:

Oye, como va?

That is the FED mechanic. And it's ridiculous. When does the BU release to home? When the runner commits to third? What if he stops and gets in a rundown between second and third? It's a terrible mechanic. Have I mentioned I don't like that mechanic? Not only that, but nothing looks sharper than to start in A and be standing right on top of 3rd base waiting for ball and runner. Wouldn't have it any other way. If I ever get too slow to not be able to be there before the BR and the ball, then I I will hang them up and never umpire again. Not counting right now, because I can barely walk 10 feet to the bathroom. But my new valve has improved anything. The doctor said he doesn't know how I was even walking around with the old, shot aortic valve, it was so narrow...almost closed up.

Had the surgery. Successful. Very sore. Post again soon. Thank you for all the prayers. I'll post again when I feel better.

Some years back, Little League banned any kind of chatter aimed at the batter. I understand that LL does not allow any "Hey batter batter swing batter!!" type chatter, the kind we all grew up with and brings back great memories. Sad state of affairs when the PC crowd ruins Little League, and the "free-to-be-you-and-me everybody gets a trophy" mentality is allowed to rear its ugly head.

I understand it was quite a boner! :wow:

I would not ever advocate putting arms behind the back in the box, it looks downright Smitty. Might as well put your hat on backwards, put your shin guards outside your pants, and wear tennis shoes. But the way many MLB umpires are doing it is merely dropping their arms behind their thighs and relaxing, especially with the slot arm. This is how I set up in the box. This way, the inside of the arms are all that are exposed, not the bony front part that gets hit. I just drop into the stance and place my slot hand on the back of my pant leg lightly, not with a death grip, which leads to a nice, locked in position with minimum arm exposure. I would rather have a bruised thigh or take one off the cup than get hit in the bony forearms, elbows, and hands. The ball hitting the inside of the arm doesn't hurt or hit bone. I guess it comes from 25+ years of taking shots to every area of the body, and some hurt more than others.

Not relevant since there are runners on base. Makes you no better than him. Why stoop to their level? I would love to hear where the word "travesty" is used legitamately in other contexts. Bottom line, not your problem. Officiate the game. If you let players know that you're riled up over a situation, they will continue their actions until it is resolved in one way or the other. I would simply tell the catcher that I'm here all day and that it doesn't bother me. Chances are, the catcher will go to the mound to take care of it. 20 second rule also irrelevant due to the fact it is a 12 second rule. Canada uses OBR.

Congratulations Stephen! You are ahead of the curve. I didn't get my first playoff game until my 3rd full varsity year (1989).

A little pitchy dawg.....I am gonna have to say no........... You mean I ain't a goin' to Hollywood???? Dang!!!

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ I've been using Murphy's Oil Soap on cedar, oak, and pine. Now the dirt is finished but the finish is fine. ♪♫♬