grayhawk

And, as usual, the announcers get it wrong. "That's got to be interference!" They do this for a living, right?

Well, I tried my new system ysterday and it worked very well. I was able to record changes quickly and immediately without delaying the game. Also, I was able to fill out the numbers on both cards before the first pitcher had thrown his 8 warm up pitches. I have attached a scan of the 2 lineup cards that I made. It's easy to see where everything goes, with the exception of the defensive conferences. Those are recorded to the right of the manager's name in the 3 boxes. I just write the inning in which the conference was charged. I printed these in card stock and they fit perfectly in my lineup card holder.

Was this in response to my post? If so, it's a huge misrepresentation.

This would be my preference. You know what's going on. He knows what's going on. Now he knows that you know what's going on and are ready to put a stop to it. Any coach worth a crap would take the hint and end it right there. No Good can come of doing this as BU. First you would have nothing needed to be clarified to bring out a notepad. Secondly if the convo goes south it looks like you baited him. PU would have the advantage in pulling out the lineup cards. I don't like doing this at all after they visibly didn't like a pick-off call. Not much BU can do here except "look harder for a balk" As PU first thing I would do is send F2 with the message that they made their point and to get playing, if they don't I will look very hard for any possible balk, and of course find one. I was thinking from the PU's point of view. All my games are solo. I still like it better than calling a phantom balk. Talk about escalating things.

This would be my preference. You know what's going on. He knows what's going on. Now he knows that you know what's going on and are ready to put a stop to it. Any coach worth a crap would take the hint and end it right there.

I think we should copy tennis and just call it "DEUCE."

I don't use a pencil because it can break. Also, I use the Ump-Attire Ultimate ball bag which has a slot for a pen, and it's wide enough for 2 pens (or I can just put a spare in the zipper pocket). Since it's in the ball bag, no need to worry about it leaking, or getting hit by a ball.

Thanks in advance for scanning your cards. I would definitely like to see how you do it. On the cards I made (just finished them), all I have to write is the numbers of the starters and subs (12-18 players on average), the name of the team, and the name of the coach. I will also record which player is the pitcher. For the DH, I will write the DH's number with a slash and then the number of the player he is hitting for. I don't think it will take any more than a minute or so to do it. My next game is Friday, so I'll report back on how it works.

I hear you, and certainly my priority is recording the changes accurately. Nobody is complaining as I do this - I just want to come up with something more efficient. ukce1861 sent me a card he uses for Little League which looks great. I need to make some changes for high school, but it's something I think I will use. I have been putting something together that has 3 columns - first column is starter number. 2nd column is to record the sub for that starter, the 3rd column is to record a re-entry (or another sub). Most games I have done do not sub more than twice for the same spot in the order. Even if they did, there would still be room. There is a 4th column for a list of all the subs, and also a place to record charged defensive conferences (where I can write in the inning the conference was taken). Then just keep a copy of each team's lineup in my pocket in case we need to refer back to names. No unfolding/folding each time there is a sub. Easy visability for each card in my lineup holder. ukce1861 also made a great suggestion to print it out on card stock, so it's easier to handle on the field. I think another thing I need to do is use a "click" pen that doesn't have a cap to fiddle with.

That's pretty similar to what I do today, with some slight differences. I also use an index card for visits - I draw three circles for each team and then they use a visit, I put the inning number of when they made the visit in the circle. I also draw triangles on the card for offensive visits - just a precaution for those long innings. We don't allow courtesy runners in southern California, so no need to worry about those. Thanks for the ideas!

This is the first year I have had to manage substitutions (first year HS umpire) because I have been doing Little League and our league uses CBO through Majors. I use an Ump-Attire lineup card holder, which gives me a surface to write on, but I am having trouble recording everything in a timely manner. There are times that the pitcher, catcher and batter are all ready, but I'm not! Not my preference AT ALL. Of course, many times the managers don't give me their substitutions right away, which slows things down even more. I want to be sure that I record everything accurately, because the last thing I want is a manager claiming an illegal substitute, and my records not being correct. Part of the problem is that the lineup cards are pretty large, and I have to fold them about 3 ways to fit them into the lineup holder. I have toyed with the idea of printing out my own card (on an index card) and transposing the numbers of the players on it so that I can mark them down quickly without having to unfold the lineup cards. An index card fits easily in the little sleeve of the Ump-Attire lineup holder. How do you manage substitutions without it taking forever? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Crap, you are right! The key words being "and then" contacts the fielder or alters the play. Oh well, sometimes you have to experience it to really KNOW it. Thanks.

I had my first FPSR call yesterday. R1. B1 chops one back to F1 who wheels and throws to F6 for the out. R1 then slides through the bag, F6 (who is on the bag) has to jump to avoid him and doesn't make the throw. R1's feet end up about 18 inches past the back edge of 2B. "Time, that's interference. He's out (looking at R1). He's out (looking at BR)." OM walks down from the third base coach's box and asks why I made that call. My explanation, "Coach, the runner slid through the bag and altered the play. That's clearly an illegal slide." He says he didn't think the slide made a difference. I say, "It did in my judgement." He gets back to the coaches box and yells to his player, "That was a great slide, Joe!" I am thinking to myself, "Yup, that was a great illegal slide." Of course, this manager didn't know: 1. That courtesy runners were allowed. 2. That the same runner couldn't run for the pitcher and catcher. 3. That there are weekly pitching limitations. 4. That subbing for the DH (by an eligible substitute) doesn't cancel the DH. Seriously, if you are a manager in high school, how is it POSSIBLE that you don't know the substitution rules?

Well, I figured something this great wouldn't get missed by this group, but I figured that the comedy provided by this series was good enough to have another look.

Keep in mind, this is a series from EXPERT Village: The backwards cap, indicator in the right hand, the position behind the catcher, head height and timing, the verbal swinging strike. This series is GOLD!

That's really funny James because my son was playing this weekend (Little League 10/11 year olds) and we have R1 and R2 with no outs. Grounder to F6 and our R2 runs behind F6 (who is playing fairly deep) to avoid the ball/fielder as he is fielding the ball. F6 throws to F3 not in time and everyone is safe. BU (an inexperienced volunteer) calls time and now I'm bracing for what I think is going to be an "out of the baseline" call. Thankfully, he asks the PU if R2 "is allowed to go out of the baseline to run behind the fielder while he is fielding the ball." I know the PU and he knows the rules and simply replies, "yes." Later he told me he didn't want to get into a long discussion with BU about when a baseline is established which is why he simply replied "yes" to a question that was worded wrong. So you can tell that manager that if a 10 year old knows to avoid the fielder while he is fielding the ball, then maybe his player should know that too.

Ken, I put on a mechanics clinic for our Little League a few weeks ago and can share what I learned and how we did things. Sounds like you have a wider range on levels than we did, but much of it is the same. Following is a basic outline of our agenda: 1. Sign in 2. Introduction - why we are here, what do we plan to accomplish 3. The slot position and the "basic 6" calls. Ball, Strike, Safe, Out, Time, Foul. 4. Angle/Distance in postion A. Ball hit to F4, F6, F5. Pressure. 5. Plate mechanics. The slot, head height, tracking. LH and RH batters. Making calls. (4-5 students & 1 instructor per station) 6. The pivot. Read step, see the touch, pick up the ball, take BR to 2nd or back to first. 7. Positions B & C. The working area. Double plays, pick-offs, steals. 8. Plate mechanics. Passed balls, pop ups to the catcher. Clearning the catcher. Tag ups. 1st and 3rd base lines extended. We didn't have time, but other drills could be: - 1st to 3rd mechanic. Ball hit to outfield, ball hit down RH line, ball hit down LF line. - Timing plays. Point of plate. "Run scores!" or "No run!" - Overthrows at first. - Go, stop, call it. This is a focus drill. - Rundowns We also went over some other stuff - Pre-game with partner, plate meeting, dealing wtih coaches, getting help. Our clinic was 6 hours and we had 27 people there with 6 instructors. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks everyone for helping me understand the rule better. Glad I wasn't the only one thinking these plays should both result in two outs. I thought was was an idiot for missing something.

I am confused about the ruling on these two plays from BRD. I hope it's OK to post these: *Play 170-329:FED only. R1 moving on the pitch. B1 hits to the shortstop, who tries - not in time - for the out at second. The second baseman throws the ball to first, after which R1 pops-up on the base, jostling the fielder. Ruling: Though the contact occurred after the throw and did not alter the play, it resulted from an illegal slide: Both R1 and B1 are out. *Play 173-229: R1 stealing. B1 grounds slowly to F6, whose throw to second is not in time. R1 then executes a pop-up slide while F6 is on top of the base, preventing the second baseman from throwing to first. Ruling: (EXPANDED) In Fed/OBR, R1 is out, but B1 goes to first. **(ADDED) Note 321: Since R1 beat the throw, no double play is possible. In FED/OBR, then, only the interfering runner can be out. It's simply interference by a runner (one is out), not a retired runner (two would be out). These two plays are very close to being the same. In the first play, it does not state whether or not B1 was thrown out on the play, but if R1 committed an illegal slide, then it wouldn't matter - B1 is out regardless. Note 321 is very confusing, however, because it says that "since R1 beat the throw" - this is the case in both plays. Also, in the first play, there was contact but the play was NOT altered. In the second play, there was no contact but the play WAS altered. Can anyone shed some light on this? Also, I would recommend BRD to anyone and everyone who is serious about learning the rules - even if you only umpire under one jurisdiction. It's a fantastic piece of work.

Simmer down there sparky. It's not like I was getting my boy scout signal flags out. I did exactly as you descibe in bold type above.

Good stuff everyone. I'll just have to make a mental note to "trust, but verify" that my partner is doing what he said he would do. I'll make sure to give a quick glance. Funny that this has not been taught in the clinics I have attended. I guess they just focus so much on drilling the plate mechanics on that play. One thing I know - if nobody is there to make the call, it's going to be the base umpire that everyone is going to blame.

Not to worry - I did it on a called strike one last week! It was one of those long at bats, with an R1, a few throws over, then a steal and a couple of feints. There were 3 balls sprinkled in and I just lost my count. As soon as my arm went up, I got this sinking feeling. The batter looks at me wide eyed, I immediately look at my indicator and see 3-0. After some razzing by a couple of spectators, all I could do was turn around and bow to both sets of bleachers. I guess that was the right thing to do, because nobody said another word about it. Can't take yourself too seriously.

Worked the bases for the first time in almost a year last night, and was working with a partner that is a good umpire, but not very well schooled in working together as a team. In our pregame meeting, we discussed our signals and agreed that he would cover third on a hit to the outfield with R1, or R1 and R3. The problem was, he failed to give me the signal every time we were in that situation. I'm trying to discreetly get his attention to make sure we were on the same page, but he often seemed to forget I was out there. I became concerned that we would both be in the cutout waiting for a play at 3rd because my perception was that he forgot, but perhaps he didn't and was rotating (without letting me know verbally during the play). I reminded him between innings, but he continued to forget to signal. If that's the case what do you do as base ump when a 1st to 3rd situation unfolds, and your partner has not signaled. The only thing I could think of was if I heard him verbalize, "I've got third if he comes" then it's all his, but if I hear nothing, then I am taking the play to third. Any suggestions on a better way to handle this?

Wow, talk about creating an adversarial atmosphere! If the coach is calm, and wants to ask a question, then by all means welcome him! LISTEN to him, wait until he is finished and give him the information he is seeking - just do it as briefly as possible and get on with the game. I'm not saying to do this in ALL situations, but I think it's a pretty good rule of thumb.

Agreed. Now let's change this a little. Same scenario, but in this case, R1 just starts celebrating where he is standing (between 1st and 2nd). F9 sees this and makes a quick throw to F6 who is standing on 2nd. In this case, the umpire should simply signal the out and the inning is over with no run scoring on the play. Not an appeal. Just bad base running and a play made during continuous action.