Richvee

richvee - who do you have? i had madison-newton JV on mondy and have millburn-somebody freshman on saturday

I did Kittattiny/Kennelon JV today. Great game. 2-1 with Kittattiny scoring 2 in the bottom of the 7th. Fist impression is these new BBCOR bats are going to keep the scoring down. Seems like some guys were hitting rockets that ended up being cans of corn. Beautiful day to be on the field again today. Hope this weather keeps up. Next week I've got a game at Wallkill Valley, and Morristown at Kinnelon Friday.

70 and sunny in NJ!

Yes! I start my high school season tomorrow. Sure beats the weather we had last spring!

John is correct, lodged or trapped is a two base award in <acronym title='Federation Rules (High School)'>FED</acronym>.

8-3-3 f. This is treated uniquely in FED.

8-3-3f is for a lodged ball in an offensive players uniform. Runners get the base they are advancing to.

8-3-3-c for a batted ball lodged in a defensive player or umpire's uniform or equipment. (2 bases TOP)

Cut me some slack boys, FED's jurisdiction ends at the 49th parallel and therefore I am free from having to learn its ridiculous nuances

Lucky you :rock

Home team is up by one in the 7th. They have two outs. Visiting team has runner on 1st. Line drive smoked in the alley with centerfielder playing deep. Tying run will score with out a doubt. Centerfielder races to ball grabs it and tosses it over the fence.

No he had not reached second. Why I have no clue. He was awarded third. And batter of course second. Next kid strikes out and home team wins...true story

If the F8 has the ball, and R1 hasn't reached 2nd yet. I'm having a hard time how he "scores without a doubt"

Got to love all the comments in clip 2 after the call. All the myths are being yelled from the stands/bench.."cmon, you gotta be kiddin' me! He's in the box! He didn't even touch him!"

The batter can't disappear. He has every right to stand there in the batter's box. As UmpJM said, if he didn't make any unusual move, or, if he didn't back into the throw

We had a similar question on our state FED test this year.

While in the set pos. F1 has his pitching arm at rest across his thigh or across his abdominal area.

a. Legal

b. illegal

c. If there are baserunners, a waning is issued.

Letter of the law, "In the set position,... his pitching arm must be at his side or behind his back". So I answered A.

Nit picking? I think so.

Would any of you guys call this balk in a game?

At the annual rules interpretation meeting for FED umpires, the interrupter said that the proper way to respond to a coach's request to check the other teams gear is to say "Absolutely, right after I'm done checking yours. Please get your bats and helmets ready for inspection."

At our association meeting, we were told that if a coach requests this, tell both coaches to get their bats and bring 'em to home plate. Under no circumstances should we enter either dugout/bench.

I can see getting one that really means something, a tribute or reminder of of something you have done, I can see that. What I can't see is stuff like tribal or oriental writing that you don't really know what it says anyway. Remembering a loved one, a memerable occasion or something work or avocation related makes sense. Also many get things that are cool when they are sub 25 but looks stupid as adults. I have a friend that is a paid medic for the FD that has Ozzie Rocks accross the back of his knuckles. Ironically I hired him at an Ozzie concert, but as a father of a 18 yr old girl, it looks silly.

I had a friend in HS that had a huge tattoo of "Eddie" from the Iron Maiden albums that ran the entire length of his upper arm. Awesome piece of artwork. I don't see him anymore, but I often wonder how he feels about it today now that he's pushing 50.

Reminds me of my first game ever, 3 years ago. 8 year old little league (rec). HT down 1, bottom 6, bases loaded no out. Kid hits a nice fly to F8. All the runners start running. In typical 8 year old fashion, F8 hold up the glove and the ball lands in it. Every daddy coach and parent yelling something at someone. F8 trots in, steps on 2nd, and tags R1 who's standing on 2nd. ..Ballgame!

That's so cool you got a game in! I'm hoping March 14th when my games start up we have a few days as nice as Wednesday and Thursday were this week!

So you're the reason I woke up to see snow on the ground here in Northern NJ this morning after 2 sunny, 50 degree days :blink:

I've only been umpiring 3 years, and only a member of one association. So, it's difficult for me to have an opinion on where we'd be on a list of best associations. However. I will say this. I know my association has plenty of members that want to show up, get paid, and get out as quickly and easily as possible. I know this for 2 reasons. 1. I've had a few partners with this attitude, and 2, after attending a study group for our state test, there were plenty guys there not interested in discussing any of the more challenging questions. They wanted the answers with little or no discussion and get home ASAP. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'll assume most high school associations have such members. (can't speak for anything above this level, as I have no idea or basis for opinion). An association of all of us here, would eliminate every one of those type of umpires, thus putting us near the TOP of the heap. An association where each and every member was interested in learning, teaching, and getting better no matter how much or how little experience they have? We'd have to be near the TOP.

I wish I cold do 4 or 5 high school games a week. Most I can squeeze in around work is 3, and that's pushing it. I will take a week off in April or May so I can get a 7+ game week in. Right now I'm in for 24 high school games between March 16th and May 17 including my 1st two Varsity games! Hope the spring weather stays as nice as this winter has been. First scrimmage 3 weeks from today! Can't wait ti get back out there! :yippie:

I answered True. Can't tell you if it was right or not. Got a 96. Interested to see which two I got wrong. Maybe this was one of 'em.

I was thinking balk for a dropped ball during a delivery. 6-1-4 seems to be the only place where a dropped ball is addressed. So, without any actual throw on the step to 3rd, I'm thinking the same rule would apply. Evidently, I'm thinking wrong....but learning :)

Richvee,

Which balk proscription do you believe was violated in your second description?

I have no balk either way.

JM

Maybe I'm wrong. If he comes set. Stops. Starts a step to 3rd, and when he separates his hands, the ball slips out. Is that not a balk? IOW, the ball slips out before he starts a throwing motion.

I understand if he's in the process of throwing and it slips out of his hand- throwing error.

I think this is a HTBT to a certain extent. The OP says he stepped to third and then the ball "slips". Did it slip while he was making a throwing motion? Something like "spiking" a football? Then yes, throwing error all the way. Or, did it slip out of his hand during his step towards third while he was taking his pitching hand with the ball out of his glove? Then I have a balk.

I ended up scoring a 96 which kinda upsets me. I really thought I scored 100. Open Book test everyone should score 100!!!!

Got a 96 on mine as well. Can't for the life of me figure out which 2 I got wrong. I'll be real interested when we're allowed to see the answers.

"The rule says if batted ball touches a runner after passing through or by an infielder AND another infielder could have made a play on the ball, the runner is out."..............

You might mean the same thing, but your wording isn't exactly right here. The ball has to pass an infielder and NO OTHER infielder can have a chance at fielding the ball. For example, R1, GB to F3 who's playing in front of the runner and off the line. The ball gets by F3 and then hits R1 accidently. It's nothing, unless F4 is in a position behind F3 and R1 where he could have fielded the ball. If that's the case, we have INT.

We have no set rules for getting games and moving up. We have a cadet school to get started that runs once a week from Jan-March including a cadet clinic. You are not eligible for Varsity that first year because you take the state test in April which is too late for that season. However for the following season you take the refresher test and can then be assigned Varsity games. I went through cadet class in '09 and received a handful of sub-varsity games. Last season I had a full slate of sub-varsity games. No Varsity at all. This year I have another full slate. Most JV, one or 2 Frosh and 2 Varsity. I'm content with the progression. You have to take into account a "full Slate" for me here in the north is 2 or 3 games a week (due to my availability) for an 7 week season. but I'd like to see some kind a standards and ranking set up.

richvee - im in jersey also (not too far from you - maybe we've worked together!)...anyway - in contact with the pitchers plate, can they go to the mouth if they wipe or not?

I sent you a PM. Check in your profile.

richvee - im in jersey also (not too far from you - maybe we've worked together!)...anyway - in contact with the pitchers plate, can they go to the mouth if they wipe or not?

The interpretor from my organization wrote the test. He was trying to make sure everybody was forced to read the books, i.e., rules, Umpire Manual, casebook and the state handbook. He succeeded in putting together an ambiguous and frustrating test.

I think he wrote some great questions. It's the answers I've got a problem with. There were a number of questions I knew the answer to, but got confused picking the 'right" answer.

I think the umpires today are just as good, if not better than 20 years ago. It's all due to the higher tech camera work like super slow mo hi def. These days, when they find a play the umpire missed, it's all over ESPN News and 50 other regional sports highlight shows for the next 4 days. Doesn't matter if it happened in the Astro/Padre game n the 7th inning of a 12-2 game on a Tuesday night. We're gonna see that blown call in prime time highlights coast to coast, and on shows like PTI so ESPN can further endorse expanding replay. Don't even get me started on the "k-zone". :rantoff: