JHSump

Yeah, no doubt....BOTH of them...no, wait, I mean all THREE of them! I do wonder what in the world was going on there in the second case, especially in the second case. Hahahaha...how in the world did they think this was reasonable?? Jax did you watch them for a bit, and did they do this for every pitch, with BU in all positions, A, B, and C? Maybe... 1) They were testing a new mechanic! "Dual-calling" --- both umpires weigh in on a pitch, then PU makes the final decision. or 2) They were playing games with the coaches, having explained to them (at the plate meeting) that they would be umpiring the game by committee to avoid mistakes... and none of it was for real. or 3) BU was signaling his approval of PU's plate stance, head height, etc., after each pitch. or 4) They were being controlled by microchips embedded in their heads by the TD prior to the game...as a test...of a new system invented by DOD...and being tried on umpires...since, well, nobody likes umpires anyway... or 5) <Insert here your guess>

Actually it seemed liked the ejection sent something of a surprise through them. They got less rowdy, particularily towards me... Like a "Woah, this umpire is serious" or something. It was almost like they were afraid of me, which wasn't the idea... 0.o Yeah, funny how that happens. I guess they realize they're not "in Kansas anymore." "Gee, you mean we're supposed to act like adults??"

Glad to hear you had a good time! And, yes, the coaches/parents can be a trip. It's soooo easy to tell call balls and strikes from 100 feet away under a tent in an folding chair. Well done on the EJ. Perfectly justified, in my opinion --- sounds like it was an obvious MC. I had a similar EJ a few weeks ago in a tournament, 12U. Runner just lowered his shoulder and ran into F2, who was waiting with the ball. I immediately ejected the runner. Nobody argued. OC even thanked me between innings for teaching the runner a lesson. The parents on the defensive side started hollering at the parents on the offensive side, even after the EJ, but everyone settled down since F2 was not injured, or even shaken. Did you have any reactions occur among the parents?

This may produce some interesting responses...but in preparation for the 13-game plate marathon you might read up on the Gerry Davis System/stance. It is certainly the most comfortable and least tiring plate stance. Yes, if you've never tried it you might not want to try it in a tournament. But when you find yourself so worn out that you're considering talking with the TD about some sort of relief, you might just try GD...perhaps just to finish the game you are in.

Actually, for the record, 13 plates in three days is way too much. It will be physically and mentally very exhausting. It doesn't matter how young or old you are. Usually I work 2 plates, then switch with my partner and he works two. That may be the end of a typical tournament day. Or perhaps there is one more game, or two more to split that day. So, for a total of two days (Saturday and Sunday) that's 4 to 6 plates at most. And, note, my partner works the plate also. If you have a partner that only does the bases that's setting you up for a tough time. So, maybe once --- now that it's booked --- but otherwise, make it clear you can't take that many plates and your partners should be able to work plates. I hope this 13-plate marathon doesn't sour the whole experience for you.

I also find tournaments fun to work! Besides doing what you love, with better teams, you usually get to interact with many other umpires -- either as partners, or because you interact with them between all the games going on at a complex. I agree with everything everyone else has said. Here are a few things that I would like to emphasize: Sunscreen --- put it on before the first game! Unless it's predicted to be cloudy all day, you may be surprised and end up facing directly into the sun for 1-2 hours before you get the next chance to apply the sunscreen. If you get burned you will really suffer the next day. I use spray --- easier to apply. But don't spray directly on your face; spray it on your hand and then spread it on your face using your hand. Unless you know they will feed you and give you water/gatorade, bring your own lunch/dinner, water/gatorade/whatever, snacks, etc. Keep it all in a cooler with ice, in your vehicle (or the central complex building). Even when the food is free, if it's not that good I pack my own lunch. Do not underestimate the benefit of a good lunch and lots of liquids --- you need your strength and you need to be hydrated to umpire all day, or you'll find yourself suffering and losing concentration. The coach's and parents can be more intense at tournaments. As usual, ignore the fans/parents. Coaches: be professional and authoritative from the start (plate meeting), and it will be fine. A major factor in working tournaments is the TD. If you have a TD that backs the umpires, all will work out. Above all: have fun!!!!! And, be ready to pass along the funny stories!!!! :)

LOL !

Gee, I wish there was a clinic of some sort when I started out way back when. And being noticed would have been nice. Now that I think about it, I must have been noticed in some sort of way, since a few years in I suddenly found myself recruited to work a 4-man crew (!) in some local all-star game (can't remember the age group). Now there are two funny things about this experience. One, I received absolutely no training about what to do in a 4-man crew. I don't recall there being much of a pregame discussion. Second, I'm U2 out near 2B (just beyond the IF dirt in the OF grass) in the first inning, and the first batter pops one up in front of F8. While I had no training, it seemed entirely reasonable to me that I go out to get a good look at the possible running/diving catch by F8 --- there are plenty of umpires to handle the BR, right? Sure enough ball drops in front of F8. I glance back and my partners are all standing at their original places! So, I have to hustle back in to make the call on the BR sliding into 2B!!!! Even with the none-training I had, something seemed wrong about how that played out!

Ah! Trout 78, you have the makings of a theoretical physicist!

Trout78, you make good points. Skepticism is at the heart of all science. Proving something (with a capital P) is actually impossible. One can disprove a "law." But not prove it correct. Newton's laws work very very well, but were shown (proven) to not be correct under all circumstances. Relativity and quantum mechanics work better than Newton's laws under certain circumstances, yet reduce to Newton's laws under the conditions that Newton envisioned --- everyday life. Newton's laws don't work when things move at speeds which are a major fraction of the speed of light (relativity is needed then). Newton's laws don't work for small length and time scales involving small energies (for example, in atoms) --- then quantum mechanics is needed. So, all our laws are just approximations we have gradually discovered which work under certain circumstances. We don't know everything --- by a long shot --- which makes it all the more interesting in my mind! But aren't the rules of baseball gradually evolving also? Changed due to the results of the constant practical experimentation that games provide. :)

Well, in answer to various comments... I haven't yet had to eject a colleague, cyclonehokiece! I guess they have taken the "warnings" seriously --- better behavior than some coaches, I'll say! Another umpire thing I've done is just calmly ignore look through someone when they go ballistic. Eventually, when they realize I'm not reacting, they stop! haha Another trick from umpiring: answer argumentative questions with simple short answers. Rich is right, of course --- telescopes are "time machines." While you don't get to go back in time, you get to see what things looked like back in time, but only far away. Still when you look very far away (with a telescope) you can see what the conditions were like earlier in the universe. But you don't need a telescope to look back in time. Most bright stars in the night sky are 10's to 100's of light years away. You see now the light they emitted back then. If you can find the Andromeda Galaxy in the sky (you need a dark sky), you see the light from that galaxy that was emitted about 2 million years ago. Those long times are mind boggling even to astrophysicists. But short, understandable times are readily at hand: light takes about 1 second to get here from the Moon, about eight light-minutes from the Sun. Roughly an hour elapses for light coming from the outer planets Jupiter and Saturn (the exact time depending on where they are in their orbits, where Earth is in its orbit) And yes, mjr, a light-year is a hard-to-imagine large number of miles. Light travels very fast, of course. Here's an easy distance to remember: light travels about 1 foot in a time of 1 nanosecond (1 billionth of a second). So, one foot = a "light nanosecond." But, then 1 biillionth of a second is hard to imagine! Ok, now you've got me started --- professors like to give lectures. :)

Well, you have to remember that physicists tend to be smart in a certain way, and not other ways. If you've watched the TV comedy "The Big Bang Theory" you'll know what I'm talking about. We don't tend to be so smart about interacting with people --- hahaha, which is a big part of umpiring. So, I've learned much about game management from this site, combined with experience on the field. Funny thing is I now find what I've learned as an umpire spilling into my interactions during my real job. Once when a colleague was going overboard complaining to me, and starting to get personal, almost automatically I raised my hand and basically said, "That's enough," and walked away. It worked like a charm!

http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970326/skinny1.html According to this article at Discovery.com *every* ball is sewn by hand --- not just mlb baseballs !!!

I was also surprised the stitches are done by hand. If "amateur" balls are machine sewn, wouldn't that machine be just as good --- if not better --- for mlb balls? More consistent, for example. I'll look around on the internet...

http://www.reliableplant.com/view/25724/how-baseballs-are-manufactured interesting video!

Well, I guess I've got my new procedure! Just walk away at the end. This is certainly what I have done in HS games where everyone knows when the end has come (regardless of how it comes). I will start doing that in all tournament and rec ball games now.

Hmmm.... I don't see how just walking off works in practice in all situations. Enlighten me. I am willing to change my ways! In the bottom of the last inning, or an extra inning -- and HT scores the winning run --- sure, I can just walk off in this case. Everyone should know it's over, so I don't have to say anything in this case. And, in the bottom of the last inning when the HT fails to score enough runs to tie or win the game, again I can just walk off. But I typically verbally declare the game over in the following circumstances. What should I do instead? 1) Rain ends the game. We've been waiting out a shower/storm and the field is now unplayable. I go to the coaches and tell them it's over. 2) Time runs out in the bottom of some inning when the HT is leading (in a game where no new inning starts after some time limit). I call "Time" then say the time limit has expired then walk off --- the statement about the time limit having expired is the declaration that the game is over. 3) A mercy rule comes into play. The HT scores the final run that ends the game. I guess I could just walk off, since everyone should know it's now over. But I can easily see coaches asking me if it's over when I and my partner head toward the exit. Do I answer them or just walk off?

I joined umpire-empire about a year ago, but didn’t think to introduce myself. Sorry! So, here it is: I started umpiring when I was 16-17, about 38 years ago. I umpired summers for about 4 years while a college student, mostly 13-15 year-old games in a local town league (Babe Ruth Baseball) on Long Island. I had played through HS and various summer leagues (e.g., Senior Babe Ruth), so I guess they considered me “qualified.†There was no training. I used a balloon. I also played four years of Division III baseball and in the summers I played Stan Musial Baseball (unlimited age, mainly college or ex-college players). When I went to graduate school baseball stopped for me for about 24 years. I ended up in southwest Virginia where I am a professor of physics (astrophysics) at a large state university. You have to be a bit obsessed with the “rules†of how things work to be a physicist --- so I like understanding the rules of baseball. Always have. Much more so than any of my teammates, for example. Then I had kids of my own: coaching softball (girls), and baseball (the boy). Just to make sure you know: I never argued a judgment call as a coach, and only occasionally did I ask to discuss a rule. I knew things from the umpire side and never thought it warranted to argue a judgment of any kind. Gee, as a player I never even considered questioning a call. One day, about 10 years ago, the local town baseball league president asked me if I had any experience umpiring, since he needed someone to fill in at an upper level game (beyond where I was coaching at the time) that afternoon, 13-14 year-olds. I worked that game solo and used a catcher’s chest protector under a shirt, catcher’s shin guards and a catcher’s mask. I was amazed at how much easier it was to get a good close look at the strike zone compared to what I had remembered from my teenage balloon days! After the game the league president said he was surprised at how well I did. He had just wanted someone to cover the game. But now he wanted to book me for more games. So started my second career as an umpire. Coaching ended quite a while ago, but I’ve been umpiring ever since. Love every minute. (Also, I play adult softball --- I am friends with all the umpires.) I umpire local “rec†league games (Dixie Youth Baseball, 10U and 12U), travel baseball tournaments (9U up to 16U), and I just started doing middle school and HS this spring season. HS seems so much smoother than anything else; I should have started doing HS earlier but I was concerned about the time commitment. This site is absolutely great! I visit it everyday during the baseball season and enjoy all the discussions and topics!

Given all the discussion above, it appears one should not explicitly declare the game ended on a walk-off HR, hit, walk, etc., when you see an appeal possibility arise (e.g., R3 misses the plate). But, declaring a game over is the usual practice --- and even mentioned in 4.09( b ). Won't not declaring a game over be a clear hint to the defense that an appeal will work? This hint will be especially strong when a team has seen you umpire a game where such an occurrence happens. On the other hand, when a BR overruns 1B, and misses the bag --- but beats the throw --- aren't we supposed to declare the runner safe, and out only on appeal? Are these two umpire actions in conflict?

Has anyone here been approached by a coach carrying a cellphone (or video camera), trying to argue a call?? Yes, that would be a "teaching moment"! Has anyone been approached by a fan with a camera (after a game, perhaps)?

True, true. Ever see the batter crying? Sometimes (but not often), a young batter steps up to the plate crying --- I don't think that's my fault! I sometimes wonder if he wants to be there at all, and a parent is pushing them to play.

Just wait, regardless of whether the pros go to IR, one day some rec or tournament coach will bring a cellphone out to an umpire to show him the video of the play, as taken by a parent moments ago! If that happens to me, I will enjoy that EJ. As a matter of fact, don't be surprised if some parent near 1B starts video recording *every* play at first, just in case he wants to "review" it or "argue" the call, or hand the cellphone to the coach so he can argue the call. If that happens to anyone else, please report it on this forum!

Ok, real answer: I often umpire at fields where the plate gets covered with loose dirt and dust once the first runner slides across it, and the plate is lost to view! It's hard to find it just to clean it off. But, I've never had a problem with a following runner. Never. My theory as to why: most runners trying to score don't slide unless its a close play at the plate, and if there is a close play at the plate the next runner stops at 3B. :)

Ok, the plate is covered, dirt is everywhere. Here comes the next runner, and... I guess he was out!

I agree that 12U is generally much better. But, have you ever encountered the 12U pitcher that grew considerably over the past year and now throws quite hard, but the catcher hasn't improved by the same amount? I find that sort of thing happens right at the 12U level. And then, those pitches really hurt when the catcher totally whiffs.