Umpy

I've always thought they emphasize "volunteer" so that viewers who are angry at calls will say "ah, its just a volunteer" instead of "Let's post his home address on the internet and send him death threats"

I didn't mean to suggest he was doing something wrong, I just think it kind of looks similar to the Out mechanic. I'm going to stick with the whirling finger motion.

Here's a highlight, at ~5 minutes. A weak argument could be made that they're taking off their helmet while still running the bases? Also at 7:11 the 2B umpire does a homerun mechanic I don't think I've seen before and am not a fan of.

I agree completely that "Intermediate (50-70) Division/Junior/Senior League" inserts in the rule make it very difficult to parse the rule in the book. There has to be a clearer way to organize the words on the page. Maybe one whole section for Majors and below and a second section for Intermediate and above?

The Little League Rules Instruction Manual actually specifically calls out keeping your rulebook with you to prevent protests. Direct quote from the final page, and similar language to your OBR instruction: "IMPORTANT Carry your rulebook. It is better to consult the Rules and hold up the game long enough to decide a knotty problem than to have a game protested and possibly replayed."

I'm going to use this one at my Little League district tournament this weekend.

Is not granting time unnecessarily something you guys cover in plate meetings? I was doing a Little League end of season tournament game last night and declined to grant time to a kid who came into second on a stand-up double and his coach lost his mind, started yelling and screaming about having to grant time and then went to my partner to get time. My partner seeing the coach panicking asking for time thought like a dog had wandered onto the field or something so just granted time immediately. Made me think maybe some more careful game management techniques needed to be employed.

I think its a more distinct way to remove having to make the "ordinary effort" judgement on bunts. I can't think of any caught bunts that haven't been extraordinary efforts.

I think this is really a semantics question. I'm not seeing anything in Rule 7.13 that seems to explicitly state that the ball should be dead at any point. Is it just good game management to call time before sending everyone back to their last base or is there a rule somewhere else I'm missing that makes the ball dead whenever you're moving the players? Looking around it seems to be consensus that the ball would be dead, but I'm having trouble justifying it with a rulebook. This question was inspired by R1 and R2 being sent back to their initial bases and R1 then deciding it was a good time to turn around and join R2 on 2nd.

Truly working solo is underappreciated.

I worked with a guy who used a different one for every strike. No one ever complained except my raised eyebrow.

Why would you assume they attend a clinic? I have to say, I'm a convert -- there's no reason for rotations on a 60' diamond with 6 umpires. If you haven't worked a 60' field, keep in mind that U2 could take 3-4 quick steps and rule on anything. If you can't rule on a catch/no-catch and then turn and make a call at second (from the outside, naturally), there's something wrong. You can fit three 60' fields into one 90' field and have room left over. I was working 3B on 3-Man last year on 60' and our assignor criticized me for not going out on a fly ball to left field. I looked at him and said "Man, I started out, there was nowhere else to go"

Noone makes girlie throw jokes? I would! Nah you can't even tell its my off hand! It just looks like a lazy toss. If I'm working a 60' diamond it doesn't even look lazy!

It lets me keep my mask in my left hand?

I am also left handed, but with practice I've mastered lobbing balls to the mound with my right hand.

It looked like he just called a ball foul because it landed in foul territory before going fair. That's the impression I got from his hand motions.

I can't say I've ever had a worse one.

I'm watching the replay. They said his name at like the 23:30 mark. I pointed at the screen and shouted "I know that guy!!" Only to remember that no I don't know that guy and I'm watching it alone on my computer at 1 in the morning. Awesome safe call at home for Kentucky's second run.

I like Black because I'm too cheap to buy any more colors.

The guy in the dugout looks like he's telling the catcher to punch the runner in the face.

In my experience Infield flies always cause a SH*# storm.

If they're not hitting it over the fence now, changing the distance of the bases isn't going to make it easier for them to hit it over the fence.

Did he come to you for an appeal after that?

The Kevlar is to protect against angry coaches when you're umpiring in bad neighborhoods.

It makes me feel better seeing professionals make mistakes like this. Last year I had a coach go mental over a 1/4 strike call (I popped up quick like I was about to call a strike, but kept my hands down) that I called ball, and I've always felt bad about it. The popping up I mean, I didn't really care about the coach.