Richvee

Consistent and within a minute of each other!

Not entirely true. After the pitcher legally steps off with the pivot foot, if he starts any movement naturally associated with a pitching motion before throwing to a base, that would be a balk. Example- R1. F1 in the windup position, hands together in front of his body, legally steps off, starts to raise his hands above is head as in the windup motion....BALK

Rule 2.0 Definition of a Foul Tip is a ball that goes "Sharp and direct" into the catchers glove. This is a strike and the ball remains in play. If it's a 3rd strike, the batter is out. If the batter hits the ball and the ball does NOT go sharp and direct (FED rules have a case play where they say the ball has a "perceptible arc"), you have a pop up, and if caught, it is an out. None of this has anything to do with the number of outs.

I agree with everything renegadewolf said. I liked your timing also.I'll emphasize a few things he touched on. Make the close foul ball calls loud. Let everyone hear you. No problem just holding up your hands on the obvious fouls off the screen, etc., but when they're hit close to the line and foul, Yell it out. A pair of grey slacks from walmart or the 2nd hand shop will make a huge difference in appearance. A small investment there, and another $10- $15 or so for a combo hat so you can wear it forward under your mask. Those 2 things will make a tremendous difference. Oh yeah..Get a ball bag (another minimal investment), and get that coach in front of the 1st base dugout behind the fence! Good job! Keep working and always look to improve! :rock

Yes, he had more than a clue. He originally thought they called backswing INT. Once he saw Van Slyke head to the dugout he knew the call had been batter's INT. There's none better than Vin. Probably knows the rules better than any other announcer.

Great advice for me. Sometimes when I'm on the bases, maybe I am "hunting" . Something I'll definitely keep in mind. Thanks! :beerbang

Agree the "signs from the rubber" debate is well documented here and other sites. My main question here is does anyone have a problem with letting the pitcher straddle the rubber and assume that wide stance, "pre-stretch" position while not in contact with the rubber. .

I'm seeing this more and more and I'd like some advice on this. R1. RH F1, with the ball in his pitching hand, heads to the rubber. He puts his pivot foot behind the rubber, pitching hand behind his back. Straddling the rubber, he takes a wide stance, leans over his left leg, facing home and looks left towards R1. After staring at R1 a while, he moves the pivot foot forward and engages the rubber. He then stretches, and from there, everything is fine. As far as I can tell this is OK? Or, does the assuming a wide, "pre-stretch" position while straddling the rubber constitute a "pitching motion" and therefore be a violation of 8.05(g)? My feeling is as long as he gets that pivot foot in contact with the rubber before he starts to stretch, he's OK. Correct?? Another note..In no way is F1 doing this and then stepping on the rubber and quick pitching.

I realize anyone could be the cutoff just never seen it done to F4. Still the optimal position for me is B Saw it a few times this weekend in a 50/70 tourney. It actually makes more sense. F4 cutting behind the pitcher with all his momentum moving towards 3rd gives him a much better shot at a quick throw to F5 to catch R3 too far off. It also seems just as easy for F4 to throw home if need be. At any rate, from B or C, one needs to be aware of the possibility of a middle infielder cutting off the throw and we must be ready to avoid getting in the way.

Gary Cohen and Ron Darling. Two of the more enjoyable, intelligent and articulate announcers around.

I think I'd call him out of his basepath. I can see BI here. Batter makes no attempt to vacate..... 7.3.5 (d) failing to make a reasonable effort to vacate a congested area when there is a throw to home plate and there is time for the batter to move away. To go along with that stance, he's got his indicator in his right hand. :wow:

Not to be misunderstood, I didn't want that the mean we should be calling strikes shins to shoulder caps on the little guy, all I'm saying is if the little guy wants to be a hitter, he's going to have to swing at more pitches a bit outside the strike zone. The only thing we do to "make it fair" is call the same zone for every batter.

Granted, it's tough for the little guy to get good pitches to hit. But you have no control over him "getting involved and actually playing the game". He's got to realize he's got a tiny K zone, and the pitchers, for the most part aren't accurate enough to throw him consistent strikes. If he wants to get involved, he's gonna have to learn to swing the bat and hit pitches that might be shoulder or shin high.

This is what bothers me. I agree SIT "O" clearly states it's a balk because of the movement, not the hand to mouth. This contradicts 6.1.2 SIT D that says he can adjust his cap from the same position.

I've seen this a lot...Not physical violence, but people who live on neighboring lots next to ball fields getting PO'ed. It's insane...The ball field has been there before you moved in...Wife says "Oh look dear, there's a baseball field just beyond our backyard fence"...Husband replies 'Don't worry honey, I'll make sure there's no ball playing going on while we're here" I don't get it. I know one field that whenever there's a game they let the dogs out to bark for two hours, or make sure it's time mow the lawn, or cut some firewood with the chainsaw. Maybe it IS a Jersey thing :shrug:

I don't think the arguing, per sey, is what causes the lack of professionalism, as you put it. I think it's the "tone" of the arguments...the level of violence we see in these confrontations that's appalling. IOW, Today's arguments on the MLB fields, I see more rage and anger in the players and coaches than in the past. There seems to be more bumping, charging, throwing equipment in fits of rage than ever before. Yes, Lou Pinniella throw bases, obviously not at anyone or even even in anyone's general direction. Yeah, Billy Martin kicked dirt on umpires, but was that really a physical threat like these guys today? Earl Weaver could get in an umpires face like no one else. Somehow, to me, these arguments were different. Not threatening. Dare I say...entertaining?? Maybe I'm nuts, but that stuff didn't offend me like the actions of some of these clowns today. Like I said, the arguments seem to be more violent, and quite frankly, scary, and I think something needs to be done to stop it. Show me a good old fashion argument and I have no issues. I might even crack a smile. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-4FSRYagc

No...it starts late March. I was a little late in registering, and being my first year, they let you wade in the kiddie pool first ....I had games scheduled the last Sat of April but it that DH got rained out. Yesterday, tomorrrow, and next Monday are what they assigned me , ..all JV. This is fine with me, being first year and getting a taste of things. I'm sure next year will be more with Varsity games thrown in .... Thanks Fittske! I hope you do get some Varsity. This is my 3rd year doing high school. I was assigned my 1st 3 varsity games this year. All 3 late in the season, so I basically had 3 years "cutting my teeth" with JV and Frosh ball. I'm real glad it went this way. Thinking back to what I must have looked like and how I felt on the diamond 3 years ago compared to now is night and day. My 1st varsity game was last week, I knew my partner well but never worked with him. He's the assigner for all the travel and LL tourney in my area. The game went well. I had the bases. In our post game I of course asked for a critique. He said I did great, looked comfortable and confident like I've been there. He said no one would ever guess that was your 1st Varsity game. Two things he told me. 1. Bases empty triple. Start moving towards home as soon as you're sure BR isn't coming back to second. 2. Keep my "safe" call high. I was too low with my hands. Bottom line, no substitute for experience. Good luck with next year's high school schedule! I hope I get more varsity too. The level of play is so much better! And guess what?? Yesterday was game number 1 with a WORKING scoreboard!!! Yes! An added plus at the varsity level! Just got another varsity game added for tomorrow. My local assigner must have put in a good word for me with the high school assigner. It's a Tech school league playoff game. Not the highest level of varsity ball, but it's still varsity and it's still a playoff game. I gotta be happy with that There's no doubt I owe a great deal of thanks to this site. I seem to learn something here almost on a daily basis. I know I'm a better umpire because of it. :beerbang

No...it starts late March. I was a little late in registering, and being my first year, they let you wade in the kiddie pool first ....I had games scheduled the last Sat of April but it that DH got rained out. Yesterday, tomorrrow, and next Monday are what they assigned me , ..all JV. This is fine with me, being first year and getting a taste of things. I'm sure next year will be more with Varsity games thrown in .... Thanks Fittske! I hope you do get some Varsity. This is my 3rd year doing high school. I was assigned my 1st 3 varsity games this year. All 3 late in the season, so I basically had 3 years "cutting my teeth" with JV and Frosh ball. I'm real glad it went this way. Thinking back to what I must have looked like and how I felt on the diamond 3 years ago compared to now is night and day. My 1st varsity game was last week, I knew my partner well but never worked with him. He's the assigner for all the travel and LL tourney in my area. The game went well. I had the bases. In our post game I of course asked for a critique. He said I did great, looked comfortable and confident like I've been there. He said no one would ever guess that was your 1st Varsity game. Two things he told me. 1. Bases empty triple. Start moving towards home as soon as you're sure BR isn't coming back to second. 2. Keep my "safe" call high. I was too low with my hands. Bottom line, no substitute for experience. Good luck with next year's high school schedule! I hope I get more varsity too. The level of play is so much better!

Good luck with the surgery. My mom had valve replacement a year ago at 80 years old and within 2 months she felt better than she had in years. Best wishes to you!

There's a Yahoo group called llumpires. http://sports.groups...roup/llumpires/ I joined. In there members only area under "files" they have the 2011 LL RIM on PDF. And some other interesting documents.

Thanks. I've had a few pitchers straddle the rubber in this position (pre stretch for lack of a better term) and then move the pivot foot forward to engage the rubber prior to beginning the stretch. I've always let this go, thinking if he started his stretch with that pivot foot still off the back,then for sure..Balk. That's what made me wonder about my OP. He never started to stretch from his position to the side of the rubber, just the "lean in, pre-stretch position. For what it's worth, I didn't balk him. (This was a JV game). I called "time" and told him "don't do that". He gave me some lip saying he's allowed to do that if he didn't look into the catcher while he was doing it . I simply said, in a more stern voice, "No you can't, and don't do it again". Then his coach started with the same reasoning.."As long as he doesn't look in, he can do that"...Where do they get this stuff? Of course, then the OC said if he can't do it, then it's a balk. I pretended I didn't hear that, and hoped he didn't make an issue of it because I was thinking.."yeah, I think he's right". Luckily, the OC let it go. Another lesson learned. Should have balked him.

ART. 5 . . . It is also a balk if a runner or runners are on base and the pitcher, while he is not touching the pitcher's plate, makes any movement naturally ­associated with his pitch Situation- R1, F1 receives the ball back from the catcher. he stands 2- 3 feet to the side of the rubber, leans forward, glove on knee, pitching hand behind his back like a normal pre-set position. Is this considered "movement naturally associated with his pitch" , or would he have to start his stretch from off the rubber before it's a balk?

Interesting. Thanks Rich. Without a copy of the LL RIM, how would anyone know only (e) and (g) should be called with the bases empty? I thought about where the note was placed in (k), but what threw me was the word SITUATIONS. I would have thought if it only applied to (k) it would read '"IN THIS SITUATION" I'm guessing the only way to get a copy of the LL RIM is to join the LL umpire registry?

I was reading the '12 LL rule book today and noticed something. After 8.05(k) it goes on to say... "In the situations listed above, (I'm assuming they mean 8.05 a through k) in Little league (Majors) or Minor League, it is an illegal pitch even when runner(s) is/are NOT on base." So, 8.05 (a) in majors, is a BALL even with no runners on base.

...And the HC saying "the umpire's got to take control of this". Always our fault. :shakehead: