JHSump

I think it is easier to judge low pitches when you are closer to the height of those low pitches. You can try this out in your living room. Put a chair near a bookshelf. Stand up over the chair and try to judge the height of the chair's seat relative to some point on the books, or whatever. Then crouch down so your eyes are nearly at the seat level. Now judge the height of the seat relative to the books. It will be obvious which is the better look. Of course, you might lose some judgment on the outside corner. But every position is a matter of compromise. You gain on judging the lower level of the zone, lose on the outside edge. Standing high gives you a better look at the outside corner, but lesser look at the lower boundary. Maybe they are more concerned with that low pitch. I can understand that.

Thanks @BT_Blue I will check it out.

Sorry this is an old thread...but I think I have something I can add to the conversation. I have a Force3 mask (v1) and sometimes I get the spring at the bottom (or the spring support structure) impacting my lower chin. I think I may not be wearing the mask low enough on my face. If you look carefully at the padding down near the bottom, it is very thin just below the main chin pad, and it is only that thin part that protects your lower chin if you don't pull the mask down so your chin rests in the thick pad. I know, I think when I get hurt I am not wearing it correctly. But pulling the mask down that far seems to limit my vision through the eye opening (the upper range is my vision is partially blocked by the horizontal bar at the top of the eye opening). Anyone else with Force3 mask notice this?

BU should glance at BR as BR touches 1B.

@BrianC14 then, just for clarification, does that pic show Honigs polywool base pants on top of the polyspandex base pants?

I see this was discussed on Gil's Close Call blog, but I think it needs a separate thread! IMO, this was the best event during what looked like awfully fun game. It's nice to see baseball played like a *game*. There are many articles about the pic event, but here is one from the MLB site: http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/07/11/241792582/nelson-cruz-gets-his-photo-taken-with-joe-west-by-yadier-molina----in-the-all-star-game I also liked what Cruz said Joe West said, "...no, what are you doing, get out of here...". The result was a nice pic.

For a very similar discussion, see http://umpire-empire.com/index.php?/topic/24604-awarding-of-bases/& In that thread the batter is walked, and before BR reaches 1B, the pitcher decides to try picking off R3 and throws the ball OOP. It is concluded in that thread that the BR is awarded 2B since he had not yet reached 1B at the TOT. The logic is well explained in that thread, with authoritative backup. In the OP here, the video seems to show BR has reached 1B at the TOT, but R1 did not reach 2B at TOT. So, since no runner may advance beyond the base to which he is entitled, I think R1 gets 3B and BR gets 2B. (R2 scores, of course.)

Any story here that starts with "9U baseball..." is going to be a doozy! It's not the players, of course! It's the coaches! * But your story @LittleBlue takes the cake. F-bombs in a 9U game!? Say what?! You did fine. You ignored the first chirp. Then, bang, they moved right to the need for ejection without giving you any change for the other steps in the process. Crazy coaches. ___________ * I did a 9U tournament a few weeks back (I know, I know). I had 6 games (I know, I know). Each team had at least 2 games in the day. At some point in the middle of the day when the defensive manager and his catcher are meeting with the pitcher on the mound, I'm left at the plate with a batter. The batter turns to me, and with a big smile says, "I need a nap!" That's my best story from the day, and possibly the best line I've ever heard in a baseball game! I laughed out loud! Later that day I told this story to one of the coaches. His response, "I need a nap too." Some of the coaches are ok.

Ok, now we are veering off the original track. So, I can submit this joke I just hear on the radio --- driving home from doing a game (see, that's the umpiring connection): A photon checks into a hotel and gets asked if he needs any help with his luggage. He answers, "No, I'm traveling light."

Speaking of fun, what's wrong with closing your eyes? My "setup" is to close my eyes at the time of the pitch, then listen for the ball to hit the catcher's glove. Then I open them, and call the glove. I get lots of comments on how I never flinch, I'm rock solid, I have great timing, and I am very consistent! I'm never distracted by anything prior to the ball arriving at the plate. I let my partner call balks; if he does call one I open my eyes, point, and echo his "balk." If anyone notices I have my eyes closed and asks about it, I just put on sunglasses. Result: no more annoying questions. Having your eyes open is overrated!

Or, which game is/was this @udbrky? It may be possible to find a video in postgame highlights at mlb.com.

Yeah, that's certainly a reasonable response for #1 @grayhawk. Probably better than my response. I just don't like getting into discussions at all once the last out is recorded.

1) Shrug. No words. Leave. 2) Relaxed ejection mechanic. (In regards to #2, that was almost exactly the statement I got at a "card signing" a few weeks back. And that was my response. "Personal" sealed the deal for the coach. Just because we have to get that card signed, we should not have to serve as last-moment "punching bags" for coaches.)

Hmmm....this is brilliant! I'm going to start alternating "safe" and "out" on all plays on the bases. And "strike" and "ball" for all the pitches not swung at! This should make calling games way less stressful!

Probably, there are new members here wondering... Is the batter out for throwing his bat and hitting the catcher?

Make sure I've got the key to my car door. Make sure I've got the key to my car door. Make sure I've got the key to my car door.

I have a related question. When I discuss this coverage in a pregame I will say BU in A has all trouble balls involving F8 running in/out hard, F8 converging on F9, F9 running in /out hard, any ball on the RF line or near the DBT line/fence, and BU should go out in those cases. But sometimes my partner will say he thought it was only F9 running in/out hard, the foul line and DBT. Is that another option? Is that an older system? Or, am I just saying something wrong that confuses my partners?

Revert to profanity, if there is no question.

Computers will not be as accurate as you suspect. Certainly they won't be 100% accurate. Ever heard the computer science expression, "garbage in, garbage out"? It means that computers never make computational mistakes, but if you feed in wrong assumptions or information, you'll get wrong answers out. Take the strike zone. It is not as well defined as you might think, especially at the upper and lower boundaries. How it gets defined for a computer could be quite simple (like for the strike zone boxes they draw in TV broadcasts), yet inaccurate (i.e., not in agreement the the rules, or accepted baseball practice). There are many factors that can go into deciding a strike/ball decision. And they are not easy to define or represent in a computer program. Don't be fooled by the definitive nature of those TV strike zone boxes. Most likely the computer's call on a borderline pitch will please one team and not the other, just like for human umpires. Replace umpires with computers and managers, players, and fans will just transfer the target of their frustrations from human umpires to computer systems (including the humans that program the computers and determine how a strike is decided by the computer). The panda in @ElkOil's vid shows you how managers and players might react when they don't agree with a computer's decision. That's how Curt Shilling reacted when pitch tracking software first came into use and umpires started to alter their strike zones. http://www.hardballtimes.com/tht-live/10th-anniversary-curt-schilling-vs-questec-camera/

I've heard it said that when using the raft you don't set up in the slot. Bur when working the slot with a RHB so so many fouls zip past the right size of my head (and vice versa for LHBs). If I were directly over the plate, raft or not, I'd be hit in the mask over and over again. By now I'd be a vegetable. How did umpires survive back in the day? Oh, on the clip, how in the world did the ball fly off to the right, as seen from behind HP, if it did not hit Cleon Jones? And I seem to remember Gil Hodges saying he was fishing when he brought up the shoe polish thing to the PU. There just happened to be a mark on the ball and Hodges got lucky. Shoe polish? Ha! In reality, PU might have realized his mistake and used Hodge's question to correct it.

I had the same issue, in chrome. But it cleared up about an hour ago. I was going to ask a partner about it, at some games tomorrow. But I'm glad to see it cleared up. Also, glad to know UE has up-to-the-minute info on all things umpire!

Sure, the technology may soon enable tracking the ball's path to centimeter accuracy. But, the strike zone is not defined to that level of accuracy. Yes, the edges of the plate are well defined. But the upper and lower boundaries of the zone are not defined to that accuracy. Just throwing two horizontal lines on a 2D image of the pre-pitch batter's stance is not that accurate. Furthermore, it's not easy to do a better job than that! The strike zone rule, as currently written, probably defines the upper and lower boundaries to an accuracy of a few inches, at best. Unless the upper and lower boundaries are better defined --- and I am not convinced they can be better defined --- fantastic accuracy in tracking pitches will not make roboumps the ultimate answer to "getting the call right." Barring a dramatic rewrite of the strike zone rule, any use of pitch tracking systems will always involve human judgment of the upper and lower boundaries.

Select --- as in "select obscenities are utilized" apparently.

I think too many of my catchers have seen that Domingo training video on framing!

A good catcher can help his pitcher get strikes. But, more importantly, from our perspective a good catcher can help us call strikes. So, how much do you "instruct" catchers? And, how? For example: "Scoot up...stick it...don't pull it...try not to point the glove down when catching the low pitch, if you can", or more elaborate instructions. I've worked with a well respected umpire who will actually give elaborate instructions to the catcher, including holding his left hand in various positions, as he takes a look at a few pitches during the initial warmup by F1. He does this in HS varsity games. On the other hand, some will say instructing F2 is coaching, and we should not do it. Or, if you scoot up F2 and there is a catcher's interference, you've got a problem. So, what do you do? I also realize your answer may depend on the level of play, so please specify.