Texarkana

You probably already made your first impression by wearing the HSM to start with.

I am ordering one today. I would welcome 90 degrees. It has been over a hundred for a month. I have the same routine when it is hot, 1 - I take pottassium / magnesium pills daily and hydrate with water and gatorade before bed and when I get up. Throughout the day I drink water and gatorade along with dill pickles and juice. Pickle juice is old school hydration before gatorade. 2 - I carry a little cooler with gatorade,water and a diet pepsi (I know it is not good but I can not help it) and put it in an area off the field 3 - I like to wear a white shirt on hot days and under armour heat gear under it. Believe it or not, the grey shirt also seems cool to me (cooler than pro blue or cream) 4 - I stick a few ice cubes in my hat and wear one of those cool bandanas around my neck. Between innings I let that ice water from my towel go over my head. Then I stand on the 1b or 3b line with my drink as teams warm up. I sneak in a dill pickle or two and drink some juice. I am making a bank deposit and then am going to buy this dang vest today. Wished I would have saw it a month ago. I have seen umps that have called in Texas for 20 years fall out this year. It has been brutal.

Play one has been covered. In a two man crew, I will point to the ground if the ball is down to help out my partner or vice-versa. We cover this in our pregame so there are no surprises. Use your partner, that is why there are two (sometimes 4) of you.

As soon as I heard the word F - - -, he is gone. To many people are letting these guys get away with this crap and expecting other people to clean it up. I have tossed only a handfull in 20 years but it would be automatic if they use that language, especially in front of kids. In HS ball down here, if you toss, you must fill out a report and they head to Austin. We put them in the dugout. The last place they want to go is Austin. Always be polite and professional on the field but at times firm. Game management is crucial. Balls and strikes are the easy part, managing the game seperates you from a lot of others. Someone asked if you had a tight zone? What on earth does that have to do with him using an f bomb in front of kids, women and other fans?

Outside corners can be tough if you have these jack in the box catchers who like to be half standing up. I have had situations where I have had to slot to the right of them to see the plate. Be aware you are really vulnerable here and I get about an arms length from the catcher. I have read a few comments about the catcher not moving his glove etc. Some kids are coached to purposely spot off the plate to get a kid to swing. Usually when they are way ahead in the count. So the kid is off the plate, the ball comes in and he does not move his glove. They are trying to sucker the hitter and the ump. If he continues to miss there, I will usually let a coach know his catcher is set up outside the zone. I call pretty deliberate behind the plate. I am replaying the pitch in my mind. My slow down mechanism in my head is after the pitch hits the glove, I stay down and mentally say to myself, That's a ----- (ball or strike) and then make the call. I am replaying the pitch in my mind. It is really helpful on curves.

This is how I was trained for a safe call on the first end of a double-play attempt: Make and verbalize the safe call, then pivot for the call. Make that call, then turn back to second and give the safe sign and any other relevant signs. For example, a pulled foot at 2B: "Safe!" (with safe signal); pivot to 1B; "OUT!" (with out signal); turn back to 2B; "Safe!" (with safe signal) "Off the bag!" (with pulled foot signal). I like that. Both calls are made and the explanation is at the end of the play. I thought about this and the pulling motion could put the 2b or ss out of sinc. Think I am going to go with what you said. Thanks for the good tip.

When I am out in the field and if a man is on first (I am in B in 2 man) and I have a ground ball, I will usually verbalize along with my hand signal, I have one (play at second and I have two (play at first (assuming they are both outs) If I have a pulled foot at second, I say nothing, give the pulled foot sign and pivot for my call at first. Is there really such a thing as a tie? I was fortunate to live by a guy named Durwood who called MLB (world series and many playoffs) and he worked hard at making us all better. The year after he retired back to Hooks, Texas he was calling HS ball to help us all. I asked him one time about bangers at first and he told me to remember this. Look at the foot when you hear the ball hit the glove. Foot going down is an out and foot on or coming up is safe. I get low and kneel and it has saved me tons of grief through the years. Umpires using good mechanics and verballizing cuts down a lot of the crap.

Just want to drop a note to say hello. I googled in "How to shine umpire plate shoes" and there you all were. I am going to get some "Srubbing Bubbles" shortly. I live in Texarkana, Texas and the heat has been brutal (around 103) for a few weeks. I call small college, High school (regional finals this year) and any other age from 9 up to Legion. Right now I am calling Legion. It is pretty hot in this area and is like small college ball kids and high school all stars. Good ball. We have Dixie ball down here. Not great ball but I have a friend who runs the organization and they are having an All-Star tourny right now. He asked me if I would call 9-10 year olds because they had a few "bad apples" coaching teams who were pushing the summer ball umps around. I have really enjoyed watching the little kids. Not great ball but heck it is 9 year olds. Fortunately I have not seen any curve balls thrown. They pay umps pretty well in Texas but if the only reason a guy or gal calls ball is to make money, they probably ought to find something else to do. I have called for 20 years and look forward to reading posts from other umps in different parts of the country. We all have something we can learn from someone else and I am looking forward to getting some good tips. Everything is bigger in Texas, including the screwups! Thanks to all.