carolinablue

I had an issue with catchers interfernce a couple of times this season and thought I would run it by you guys to see what you think. I had a LL senior game ( 15, 16 YO ) batter swings at ball late and gets a piece of it but was awful close to mitt. Basicly bat, mitt, and ball were all there at same time. I heard and saw the foul and also heard another sound but didn't see anything but could of been bat hitting mitt. Oc complained but I called foul ball and that was it. LL major game, I had a similar situation. Batter swing at ball, no foul this time and catcher misses ball but I did hear a little thud but saw nothing. I thought it was just the ball glancing of the mitt. OC complains but I call strike. There is no rule that says if the ball hits the mitt it is CI that I know of, but it does say if catcher or any fielder interferes with the batters swing. So is the bat just nipping the cathers glove enough to constitute CI and how often do you guys encounter this and how do you handle it if you are not sure ?

This past season was my rookie season. I did a lot of LL majors. At first I was flipping my hat around because I had a regular hat and didn't have a clue about a combo hat. The field I called on was right beside the senior field. One game there was an old timer on the senior field and I was cruising on the major field when in between innings I heard him shout out " Hey blue, don't flip your hat around it's improper ". I was like WTF, although he was right I was pissed. Anyway, I called my boss and told him and he wasn't happy about him shouting out like that but he told me about the combo hats so I ordered one. When it got there it was a beanie. I had ordered the wrong thing. Next game I had the plate and was looking at this thing and thinking no way when the same guy walks up and says " nice hat ". I said " Yeah, but no way I'm wearing it". So I gave it to him and flipped my hat around for a few more games until I could get the hat I wanted. No offense to anyone who does wear a beanie, but it was just not my style.

I would say that you would probably need to be of good rep. with the players and coaches to get by with it. If some of your normal calls resemble FYCalls, I don't think it's gonna work.

I yelled " fair ball " on a play in the last game I did this year. After I done it I was like WTF did I just do. First time I have ever done that. It was a lower level game, I think I was the only one who knew I had a brain fart.

I'm not experienced enough to use a FYC but I can give an example of it being used in MLB this past season. I can't remember the player for sure but it was against the Braves. I think it was Escobar but maybe not. Anyway the player was giving the PU a hard time on balls and strikes and showing him up. His strike zone got a lot wider for about the next five games no matter who was behind the plate. I think he got the point and lightened up. Point is that the FYC may be a way to handle a player that you know you are going to see time after time during the season instead of letting it carry out game after game. Also you may be making it easy for future umps. that have to deal with the same player. Although you could probably achieve the same result with an ejection.

Balk no call was good but I think they totally blew the check swing call in game two. It looked like he started to punch him out then asked the 1B umpire for help ( with his right hand ). I think the 1B umpire blew the call and even if he didn't, the pitched looked like a strike anyway. Looked like something I would do LOL. I'm a Phillies fan so that hurt a little and I know those guys are good so it makes me feel a little better when I see that even they screw up from time to time.

I'm like you, I have got to where I watch the umpires more than the players. The other day watching ,I think, Braves/Phillies the PU would wait until the pitcher was releasing the ball and take a quick step to his left on every pitch. I don't know why, but he couldn't be set. I also noticed he appeared to be giving location on outside pitches by slightly pointing his arm in that direction. I know he's better than I will ever be, but if a veteran saw me doing this he'd hit the roof.

I'm not calling a lot of games right now, just one here and there during fall ball. I am however, helping coach a 16 Y/O fall team my son is playing on. I just got back from the batting cage after throwing a couple hundred pitches for batting practice. I'm getting old but I still have a little bit left. Anyway I had an interesting discussion with one of the other coaches. He likes to use a pitching machine a lot and I don't like them at all. The one they use is the type with those two rubber wheels on top and you feed the ball through a small tube. The ball just basicaly comes out of nowhere and the hitters are just reacting to the ball. Eventually they will adjust and start hitting the ball a little better. I feel that you can not simulate a pitched ball with one of these machines because a hitter is timing the pitchers delivery and trying to pick the ball up out his hand. Watching them hit off the machine I see a lot of double strides, half swings and lunging at the ball. They are just guessing and I feel this opens the door to a lot of bad habits ( muscle memory ). If you just want to work on the mechanics of your swing only you could use a tee or soft toss. I know a lot of you guys are probably ex-coaches or maybe even still active and was wondering you opinions on this.

I don't know if I should tell this one or not, but here it goes. I am a rookie umpire so I did almost all LL this season to get some experience. I plan to do HS next season if I can work out the schedule. My son plays ball for a local HS so I know the coach and he would let me hang around batting practice and get behind the plate sometimes to work on my eye and my mechanics. It was actually a good deal.My son played Jv and varsity this season so one day they had a JV game ( it was a make-up game towards the end of the season ) and I went straight from work to see the game. Well, there was a mix up in scheduling and no umpires showed up for the game. The other team was already there and the coach, knowing I was an umpire asked if I would do the game, so I did. I had my gear in the trunk but no uniform or no jock support. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and a UVA baseball cap. I jammed the cup down in my jeans put on my gear and walked down to the field. The plate meeting consisted of this, to the visiting manager " coach, I have never done a game above LL majors, I am by myself, and my son is on the other team, if you agree to this we will play ball ". Believe it or not he did, I guess gas prices were getting the best of everybody. Actually, I done a pretty good job and the only problem I had was that as I ran my cup would try to slide down my pants leg and it drove me crazy all game. All the spectators got a pretty good laugh and of course, I waived the fee.

I think for the most part it will be OK. But I see potential for a major problem with IR. ie: R1, batter hits ball which appears to go over fence. Umpires signal HR .DC asks for a review and they find that ball did not acually clear the fence. Now the umpires are charged with the task of placing the runners, which I have been told will be left totally up to thier discretion. The umpires decide to credit batter with 2B and place the R1 on third. Now the OC goes ballistic because he thinks his runner would have scored if the ball was played out. With post season coming up, it seems you always get some odd plays. This post season could be interesting.

Was watching the LL world series last night. Did anyone see the appeal attempt after the home run. The coach was trying to get the pitcher to appeal at 1B, but he did'nt seem to understand. Finally the kid runs over to the first base umpire and tells him he wants to appeal 1B and the umpire tells him the ball needs to be put back in play first. So the kid runs back to the mound and the batter steps in . The plate umpire calls play and then steps out and calls time. This happened several times and finally they just gave up on the appeal. What the heck was going on ? I was laughing and my wife wanted to know what was so funny. When I told here she preceeded to tell me I was the only person she knew who watches a ballgame to see what the umpires are doing.