stl_ump

😁

It was a "pitch" from a legal delivery stance. Not a step off and throw. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks! OBR here for what it's worth.

Nice! Very good summary. Thanks!

I saw this MLB clip and R3 steals home. He got such a good jump on the left handed pitcher that he arrived at home at the same time as the ball did and it ended up hitting him. Is this nothing? Same as if a runner was hit by a thrown ball running to a base? The plate ump still has to determine if it's a ball or strike? Thanks BTW... the catcher stayed in his normal position and the batter backed out of the box.

Picture F5 playing fairly deep and as the ball hits the bag it takes a wicked bounce towards 2nd and hits R2 stealing.

Thanks for your answers. I was doing a little rules clinic for a team and one of the kids asked that and I thought that's what the answer should be but it was one of those odd, maybe never see it kind of plays, that got me thinking. Thanks again.

R2 is stealing and BR hits a line drive that bounces off 3rd and hits R2. Out? Thanks

Here, teams don't hire the umpires, our association does. For me, I do games at my association. They charge teams a set fee to play X amount of games (12?) per season and then the association budgets the umpires for those games. The lower age Rec level games get a rookie umpire and a senior / training umpire. The older / upper level travel teams get the experienced, more senior umpires. You certainly wouldn't want to put a rookie on a travel ball game and the senior umpires typically don't want to do 9 and 10u Rec ball games. Yes, you will have senior umpires that might be questionable as far as quality, but still better than throwing a 14u rooking in there. We've found that having the rookies team up with a "training" umpire goes a long way in helping the new guys to learn AND come back the next year.

Seniority / Experience SHOULD be paid differently. Why should a 1st year ump get paid the same as a guy who's been around a while and knows what he is doing?

Decent pay is one thing but as important if not more so is the backing you get (or don't) from the UIC's and other Admins. We have a very low threshold for misbehaving Coaches or parents. First ejection is a one game suspension (Rec ball or tourneys) 2nd is 5 games and after that you are gone for good. Ouch! That's a long way to go. Hopefully you use that mileage to offset you income come tax time.

Is that for any level of experience or is it a sliding scale?

I knew I left something out... this is for 8u-14u Baseball and Softball. And you can get as many games as you want staying at your "home" park. No travel necessary. A few years back I was doing 200 games plus. And it's on a 1:40 min game time with no new inning starting after time expires. So no 2:30 games because teams can't get an out.

There are about 10 athletic associations within about a 30 min drive of where I work. A lot of competition for umpires. 16 field facility with 4 fields that are turf on the infield. Rec and travel teams. Scale is $30 to $55 depending on experience. Senior training umpires get the $55 down to never-evers getting the $30. 1 1/2 pay for solo games and 1/2 pay if you are at the field when a rainout is declared. Full pay if you get 1 pitch in before the rain starts. Bonus program this year of $250 after 50 games and then $125 after each 25 games. Best part is we have a super supportive UIC who ALWAYS backs the umpires. Several very experienced senior umpires and our lead training umpire was crew chief in AAA for a couple of years. Very spoiled.