ukce1861

So you have a wild pitch that is fielded by the pitcher. And you want a balk? For what?

Warren, sorry about your bad luck this year, between the foot and the jobs. Hope the surgery goes well and your new job is a winner... I'm not ready to write my season in review post yet - still hoping to get another 20-30 before the end of the year, to add to my 78 so far. But this is something I definitely had to work on - especially early in the season. I really stepped up the quality of games I was working this year and found when I went to do LL, I was getting as much or more crap to do worse ball for no money... It got to the point where I walked around with a chip on my shoulder and I really had to tone it down and remember I was out there because it was fun. Glad to see I'm not the only one struggling with this. EDIT: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, no comments on working LL for free, that's why you get crap, blah, blah, blah. We've been down that road enough. I got it - thanks in advance.

I always know I'm in for an "interesting" game when my partner shows up wearing one of those...

+1 all day. The only thing I disagree with is, I'd drop the "now". A guy like this? We're not ever going to discuss it... Good dump, just be careful not to come off as a smart-alech - hard to do, I know...

I did that at one of my son's games. I was sitting about 15' from the plate, just to the right and behind. Batter gets hit, I jump up, throw my hands in the air and yell, "Time!" Luckily, I knew the ump...

So why are you letting the batter have two bats? ;-) Rich, when the batter's got four hands, he can swing as many bats as he pleases... Very cool picture, by the way.

Bill, No offense, but you came on here asking for opinions on your call on a particular play and have since, stridently defended your call. You asked two questions in your original post which have been answered fairly consistently by numerous participants and yet you continue to rebuff all comers. What was the point of your original post - to obtain reassurance? Don't ask a question if you don't want the right answer.

From what I've heard about it, it was a very technical balk (if it was even a balk at all) and something the pitcher had been doing all game. Seems like it was having his hands together as he stepped on the rubber?

Stan, Sorry, some of us aren't old enough to remember when Ty Cobb was playing/managing...

Just to clarify, even if he goes beyond the bag on the slide, as long as the contact is on the bag, it's legal, right?

16U, Fed Rules. R1, 1 Out. Batter hits a ball to F4, who flips to F6 who is standing on the bag and gets the out on R1. As F6 is throwing to first, R1 slides into the bag making contact with F6 as he throws to F3 for the double play. Throw goes wild, since F6 is now cartwheeling through the air. I, as PU, call the inteference. Looking at it now, it appears it was the wrong call. What do you have? Also, I'd be interested in what this call would be in OBR, LL and NCAA - if it would be different. Just to clarify, there was no other interference on this play (i.e. runner was in the baseline, leg was below the knee, etc.). I called the interference solely because he made contact with F6 on the bag.

LLSB game another umpire and I were discussing this morning. R2, R3, 2 outs and a 3 ball count on the batter. During the windup, the ball slips out of F1's hand and goes behind her, which is a ball in LLSB. Runners advance. R3 scores, R2 gets thrown out at the plate for the 3rd out. The BR never advances to first base. I don't think you could call abandonment on this since that applies after a runner touches first base (and at that point it wouldn't matter). But could the defense appeal at first base for an advantageous fourth out since the BR never touched first?

80% of the plays deal with 20% of the rules. But it's knowing the other 80% of the rules for the 20% of the plays that makes us stand out as good umpires...

Here's mine...

Warren, I had an 18U tournament this weekend. Two teams played on Saturday in pool play and it was a 3-2 game with a walkoff hit in the bottom of the 7th. They played yesterday in the championship game and it ended 13-0 after four and a half...

Those two things wouldn't be related, would they? :question1:

I'm guessing this is a reference to one of the many "tie goes to the runner" discussions. Can we please agree never to discuss that again?

Thanks, I'll remember for next time. And I think if I am a member of the Forum. My nickname is Oswalmar since 2009. But I did not understand his answer. The run is valid or not? No, the run is not valid. Since the third out occured as a result of a force play (the runner from 1st never legally obtained second) no runs may score.

Why on earth would the infraction be treated differently for the BR as opposed to any other runner? Don't see how that makes sense...

Want another complication to this whole time play/homerun debate? 9.1.1.M says they're awarded four bases, regardless of what happens, so the runs score. 3.3.1.Y says it's a timing play and the bases are not awarded, "but rather the right to advance and legally touch a base with no play being made." This is from the 2010 casebook. Anybody know if 2011 is different?

Especially cause there was two outs at the start of the play unless this is a league where extra outs carry over to the next inning. lol. You don't do that? If a batter hits a fly ball with two outs and the bases loaded, I'll always allow the appeals on the runners not retagging - that way we can just skip the next half-inning for that team. I thought everybody did that. :shrug:

No contact required. He clearly hindered the fielder making a play on a batted ball (8-4-2e). From your description, it does not seem like a double play was possible, but if it was, you could bang him for a double play.

If you're playing FED rules, it's 3-3-3 in the rulebook and 3.3.3 in the case book.

Warren, I think somebody else mentioned this already, but if it's not too much trouble, it'd be nice to have a separate forum for this which only the QOTW poster could start new topics in. This way they wouldn't get lost in the "clutter"....

I do this after each game. Even in the 90-minute 15U game on the bases where I got all my calls correctly the other day, I still reflected on it and looked for things I didn't do as well as I wished. What I do is keep a journal of each game I umpire. I try to write in the journal 24-48 hours after the game. At this point, I can remember almost everything about the game and can also give myself a fair critique without the emotions from the game bleeding over into my comments. I start by giving the information about the game. After that, I rate myself on different categories, using an evaluation I found online. Then, I write as much as I can about the game, being as precise as I can. By writing it down, it helps me to remember the good and bad points about the game and my performance. In short, evaluate yourself after every game, every season, and every year. I keep a journal after every game as well, but I'd love to see your evaluation form.