jkumpire

Cotton T-shirt? Are you serious Kyle? I may be old but I'm not stupid.... The Carlucci is not that bad even if it is vinyl, but it sure was yesterday, never had the problem before.

May I throw in something else real quick... If a coach asks you what one of your partner's called on a play, don't answer unless it's an obvious rule or something. Because if you say something he wants to hear that supports his position on the call (real or imagined support) the coach will go to your partner and say "well your partner saw this so if he saw it why didn't you?" If he has a reason for his call that you didn't see or if he had a different judgement than you, you have given the coach a nice stick to beat on your partner with. If he has a beef with a partner, then he needs to take it up with him, not you. Take care of your own business, let you partner take care of his. Second if that is the 2nd time you;ve had that play in a week, you are defintely infected with a case of bad karma. You need to do something about that!

Call the coach of the kid you gave 2 bases to, tell him to give one back or you will charge him a late fee.... or send him an invoce for the gift he receieved

I have the cooling vest already and I am very disappointed in it. I can;t carry it any distance without warming it up and the one time I wore it it gave out after about 5 innings and I roasted in it, after having it in the fridge for hours before the game. I have thought about purchasing the back pad and using it inside or tearing apart the vest to get some cells into a form I can use. Neither alternative looks promising.

Alright, I'm old. I had an original Wilson inside protector with the metal bars in them for protection. I bought a brand new +POS BB204 when it was considered the best in umpire protection unless you used a raft or went to see Cece Carlucci. I also purchased an origina Honigs K1 when they first came out, and a 1st year Douglas West Vest. I have plate brushes older than most partners I work with. My firsat mask was a Rawlings PWM1 circa 1981. Well, today was the first 90 degree, 90+% humidity day of the season, and I had a 2.5 hour plate game (I discussed it on another thread). I roasted in my Carlucci today, and got a little tired in the 6th. I need a lightweight but effective CP for college level ball that will top a decent shot and not slowly cook me behind the plate. Especially for you men in the South where it gets sort of warm in the summer, what lightweight protector do you recommend? $$$ is no object. I want the best. Thank you for your collective wisdom.

Thanks for your thoughts men and ladies! College summer game, games more like caged lions vs. fresh beef. 2 2.5 hour 7 inning games on hottest and most humid day of the season so far.. OBR. R2, R1 for fresh beef, hard shot to F6 in the hole. Great get by F6 who throws to F4 to make the turn The problem is F4 tags the bag with his right foot, takes it off the bag as he begins his slide step to throw to F3. As he takes foot off the bag the ball goes strainght down to the ground from his glove, classic drop, no transfer, no hand near glove. I call safe, no vountary release, no transfer attempt. Based on NCAA video from 3 years ago this is pure IMO,. Under OBR I'm not quite so sure. If the definition of catch applies here IMO this is a nobrainer. But if he had the ball in glove on the base then dropped it after he let the base go, it's possible I kicked iit miserably. My inexperienced partner thought F4 never had complete posession of the ball to begin with, which I said maybe to. But I never felt he lost control until the ball came out and I based my call on what I saw, not his opinion. What say you? Did I blow this or OOO this call? I'm looking for a check of my rule understanding and judgement. Please let me know what you think, i just cleared the new stupid 3rd to 1st rule controversy out of my system the other day, I'ts hard to get rid of crow sandwiches you have to swallow even with loads of BBQ sauce on them. Postscript: Of course the next ball hit is a routine 6-4-3, and evenyone but me forgot the call I made, except for me . After the games the manager for the 'fresh beef' team takes my number and my partner's, saying to us "You two are the best umpires we've seen all year, you did a good job and treated us fairly." Sadly his team is at least 2.5 hours away from my home, and after 30 games or so I think his opinion of us is a sad commentary on either him or the other crews he's seen this year. .

Good question, where in Ohio are you?

Nice uniform on the plate man, except for the sleeves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6hryUQU8Kk&feature=player_embedded

Well done! Ever interested in moving to another state?

I'm an old man, that's not OOO! Did you have to write the mgr an early/excused dismissal pass duiring the game?

Hello men, After my last foray onto the site I promised to wear duct tape and have no keyboard on my PC, but I'm an inconsistent umpire After a search the threads are old and maybe things have been updated since the last discussion. Legion tournament I'm the PU. Straight OBR w/Fed slide rule, normal stuff. F1 comes to mound with short sleeves and a black compression sleeve over his elbow and down his forearm on his pitching arm with white/gray design on it. I make him take it off after the 3rd warmup pitch and his manager cried like a cow in labor over it. "It's for his health,, it's legal, we're playing by your rules today" (had I known who said that he would have gone 'poof'). Obviously I dug into my NCAA rule with the sleeves, since he had nothing on his other sleeve, but a. it had white, b it's below his elbow on his pitching arm, and c. sleeves are uneven. So the guy complained and he threw a 2 hitter and gave up one run in 6 1/3. Sorry I screwed him over. But as I read the OBR book I feel like I was justified in him taking the sleeve off without going to the distraction card. So let's say in this case F1 decides to turn the sleeve inside out where there is no white or gray showing. Can he wear it anyway under OBR? My first thought is still no, under 1.11©1, but since I'm not close to perfect I may well be wrong. My partner was such a nice guy, great to work with, but we talked about this rule after the game, and an F1 in the next game when he had the plate he let him use the exact same sleeve on his pirching arm. I didn't say a word. Thanks for your help. Looks like it's time to spend some game check money and send it to Carl...

I don't agree with that at all....there's going to be times, rare but possible, where you just don't see it. Usually in B/C but very rarely in A, you'll get screened or straightlined. Now I agree in this particular situation, don't need to ask to placate a 3B coach. But to say never is overly absolute in my opinion. When I was a young umpire I would occasionally go to my partner on a pulled foot. As I got better I realized that I need to own this call because if I need help then I didn't get in the proper place to see the play, or make the adjustment I need to see the play. In a 2 man, I am the base umpire. In a 3 man or up, I am the 1st base umpire! This designation says the call is yours. If it's my call it's my responsibility. Why should I make my partner do my job on this play?

NH, Forgive me complete inability to communicate. I think I will spend the rest of my life with duct tape on my mouth and no keyboard on my computer. Never ask your partner for help on a pulled foot. It's your call, make it. Sorry for the confusion.

NH, Did I say never go to you partner about a pulled foot again? Just want to make sure I did.

NH, Your partner didn;t help you at all. He never said, "I saw him pull his foot." "I think" means he doesn't know. To say that after the game says he has a growth area there to work on. Obviously you made the right call, good job, now never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never ask again! Just to reinforce it, Never do it again.

1. Own your call, period. It's your foot. 2. Only if you are absolutely desperate should you have a meeting with a partner on this, and never with a yelling coach who has zero angle on the play requesting it. 3. Your partner was right to refer him to you, but if I was your partner I'd either ignore him, or tell him "it's his call." 4. When you meet, ask: "Do you have anything (or added information) for me?' with a reason why you need help. More than likely he'll say no or give you 30 seconds of "I got nothing for you", "I saw foot on bag", "the 3B coach in an idiot, isn't he?" or "Where are we buying root beers after the game, you owe me the first one for asking me about the pulled foot!" 5. Make you call and be done with it, unless 3B coach wants to remove himself for the rest of the day.

The only reason why I have to eat crow is because it looks like I have to call up a manager and tell him I missed it because I didn't understand the rule. Having said that, the rule change is stupid. The comment under 8.05 is very misleading and should be taken out of the rule book if they want to find some kind of clarity about the rule. If this is the way the OBR rules are going, why don't they just do all lthe changes at once and go to the FED rule and be done with it. Then someone can compain about how bad umpire's judgement is about the gorilla arm and how much shoulder turn we should allow after F1 comes set. Yes, I am bitter, I hat eto miss a rule ever. It is a disgrace to ever miss a rule anytime. I can't sleep since this discussion started. Is there any reason why this should have been changed? I hope and pray FED and NCAA have the good sense to not make this rule change.

This is copied from MLB.com http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2013/official_baseball_rules.pdf

But that is not what the rule itself says: ".... It is a balk if with runners on 1st and 3rd, the pitcher steps toward 3rd base to merely bluff the runner back to 3rd; then seeing the runner on first start for second, turn and throw to first base. It is legal for a pitcher to feint a throw to 2nd base." The rule is horribly written if this is how it is to be interpreted. As written with the additonal clause on the sentence it doesn't make a feint to 3B illegal until F1 makes a play on R1. Can some one help me here with more information. As written if you have R3 only you can still fake to 3B. What a mess. Everyone knows the OBR book is not written well, but this is crazy.

Pass the BBQ sause if you are right. This won't taste good going down.

Thanks in advance: College-age game using OBR. F1 fakes to 3B, but does not fake or throw to 1B. Offense wants a balk, but I said no because the new rule does not say the balk is faking to 3rd, it's what F1 does after the fake. If he throws or fakes to 1B that's the balk. Please let me know one way or the other if am right or wrong. References appreciated. This is a stupid rule change anyway, who has ever seen this work in any age group over 13 years of age.

Thanks! You are right, and I was hoping there was a local optional rule allowing for it.

Not to be a snark about this.... 1. Wake up 2. Get clothes out of washer/dryer. 3. Eat food 4. Work 5. Pack 6. Drive to ballpark, unless my chauffer is available. 7. Find dressing room or convenient tree. 8. put clothes on. 9 Put gear on 10. Put rest of gear on. 11. Get paid 12. Leave. 11A. Oops, call the game unless I'm too tired from dressing.

How many pairs of pants do you have, it must be hard to color coordiante all those shirts with all the shades of charcoal, heather and washed-out heather your partners have!