gejoe00

When I played I was a catcher and my dad told me to work the plate so the ump has a good look at the pitch and have some one in the dugout watch what his moves were on inside pitches and my moves to see if I was getting in his way.

Keep the same strike zone the entire game and the coaches will sometimes see if they can get to you because you are new to their league. When talking to the coaches use the same tone of voice and do not shout or holler. Make your point and keep a normal tone to your voice level when doing so. Never get mad and lose control of the situation. GOOD LUCK!!!!!

About 10 years ago, I was doing a game with major league rules and the catcher got word from the coach to give the batter a intentional walk. Ball one ok, Ball two ok, Ball three...the batter throws his bat at the pitch which a good two feet out of the Zone, I was dumbstruck and almost forgot to move. The bat hit the pitch and flew about twenty feet down the third base line and stayed fair. The pitcher got over there and threw toward first but his throw was poor and the 1st baseman couldn't handle it and the batter was safe. WELL, here come the coach saying he can't do that. REPLY: there nothing the rule book that says he can't and he has every right to attempt to hit a legal pitch. COACH, well he threw his bat at the pitcher. REPLY, coach the bat landed a good 15 feet to the right of the pitcher. Coach,well, he just can't do that, it isn't right because we wanted to walk him. REPLY, well coach he is on first so you did get your wish. I tell others about this and they shake their heads in disbelief.

Adult baseball is a lot of fun. The league aroud here has a rule that you must be over 35 years of age to pitch. The games have a time limit of 2Hrs. and 50 minutes for a 9 inning game. They can have up to 2 extra hitters or a DH but not both and the DH can bat for any position not just the pitcher. Each player is supposed to play more than one position. And best of all, if there is a question about any rule or call they are very civil about it and don't get in your face about it.

In FED you can over run 1B if you are given a intentional walk. When the coach or catcher tells you that they want to give the batter a intentional walk you call "TIME" and tell the batter to go to 1B. When he gets there you can put the ball in play. So if he over runs the bag, no big deal because the ball is not in play.

There nothing in the rule book that says the runner has to dive back to the bag and nothing that says he can't go back standing up. The 1B is not covering the bag correctly and his coach should correct him.

I did not see the play but you have remember that the plate ump has the call to the bag and from there its the base ump call.

Seeing as the batter was not ready and the pitcher was in contact with the rubber and ready to go, I would have extended my right arm up and out indicating "TIME OUT" and waited until the batter stepped into the box to begin his stance and then signaled "PLAY".

I umpired my first game in 1948 when I was 12 years old, had no equipment and stood behind the mound to call balls and strikes. Mechanics,,, what was that..... I had to learn on my own until some other umps told me what and how to do it. Got some GOOD advice and some BAD advice. I got a old catchers mask and got behind the plate and got beat up from catchers who didn't know how to catch. You never changed a call, NO MATTER how bad it was, cause if you did it was hell from then on. Mechanics started to come into play around the sixties or so in my case and I saw the wisdom of it right away. When I started I was a HOT HEAD. Come out and argue with me and I would chew you out but wiser heads told me to cool it, listen, and explain your call, and play ball. I STILL LOVE THE GAME, YOU SEE, I NEVER GREW UP.

I have been to cooperstown dreams park six years. You can check in Friday night after 6PM or on Saturday brfore 10AM. You sleep in huts with about 10 other guys. You will probably not on the same crews, but that doesn't matter. There are 22 baseball stadiums and your crew will be assigned to one of those fields and you will do all your games at that field. You will have a crew chief ( I was a crew chief three times). You will sign up to do the games you want to do and your crew will do 5 games a day, starting at about 8:45AM for the first game. You get 3 meals a day at the mess tent. Your first meal will be Saturday morning. You can get a plate brush, ball bag 2 jerseys, a hat and a jacket, IF YOU WISH. They want you to wear the shirt and cap at the opening and closing ceremonies. You bring all your gear and shirts with you and you can wear your own hat at any of your games and any shirt as long as your patner has the same color. You are going to enjoy it because you are going to be working with umpires from different parts of the country.. I am from Maryland and I worked with guys from Alaska, North Carolina, Florida, Montana, California,Arizona,Alabama to name a few. You may be selected to do the playoff games or the championship game. I was the right field ump for the 2008 championship game. GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN.

I once forgot that I had taken my base pants to get cleaned and pressed and forgot to pick them up and all I had was my plate pants and I wore them. GUESS WHAT, no one noticed that I was wearing them and I wore them for a doubleheader. Once for the bases and the second behind the plate.

Years ago I got some good advice from a old timer and he said always shine your shoes, make sure your pants are pressed and wear a clean shirt, and make sure you wear a clean hat and you will get some respect when you step onto the field of play. Coaches look at you and get the impression, that if you can't take the time to look like a umpire, they are going to assume your not going to do a good job of umpiring their game.

I agree...... We have to admit our mistakes and move on.......we are human, and once the coach sees that you are willing to accept that he can count on you to be reasonable when he starts to blow his cool, and when he finishes you can explain what you saw and how you ruled. Now, there are the others who won't take the the explanation and want to blow off steam. Fine, tell them you have to get the ball back in play and they are delaying the game, IF they don't take the hint, then its time to eject. The one thing you don't want to do is to "LOSE YOUR COOL".