XUIC

His theme song.... LINK

noumpere: The video that you are referring to is my auto-sig and has nothing to do with the situation at hand. Click on the work "LINK" above and you'll see the Dropped Third Strike Homerun.

OK... Good healthy discussion. As for the LINK... 1. How on earth is that link annoying... pretty funny stuff if you ask me... but I digress. 2. It seems to show an umpire calling a third strike, thus third out and the entire defense believing the inning is over. The catcher tosses the ball to the mound and they all run off. The batter is alerted to the fact that the inning is not over on a dropped third strike and he starts jogging around the bases... 1B, then 2B, then 3B and finally rounding hard towards HP. Is this not vaguely similar? As for my placement of players, I have R1, R2, 2 Outs because those are the last bases the runners legally occupied before the erroneous 3rd out was called.

Not Sectional or State, just 3 newer District Umpires (3, 2 and 1 years of experience on district staff) taking an opportunity to work 3-Man at a Fall Ball game. It didn't end well... R2 and R1 allowed to advance. 2 Outs, 2 Runs, Defense made to take the field and record a proper 3rd Out. UIC was at the field, but standing in the 3B Coach's Box. Player Agent at the field, but standing in the 1B Coach's Box. Divisional Coordinator at the field but his son was F6 (and an 11U Travel Ball kid) who apparently knew he should have tagged the runner, but decided to just go with the flow and toss the ball to the mound. League President at the field but her son was the pitcher of record when the play happened. What should have been done in my opinion: R1 and R2 returned to 1B and 2B as those were the last bases they legally earned. 2 Outs, 0 Runs, Defense returned to field to record a proper 3rd Out. PU, having taken enough abuse from the fans, called both teams into the dugouts and halted play until the most aggressive fan was removed from the premises. Score at time of play was 6-3. Erroneous runs awarded made it 8-3. Game ended 8-3. Having not scored enough runs to tie the original score, the "victimized" team decided to file a formal protest anyway. Fun Times Boys... Fun Times! If you watch this, you may understand how the crew (as it made the rounds a while ago) thought it appropriate to allow the runs. LINK

Wanted to get your take so chime in: Sitation R1, R2, 1 Out, 3-Man Crew, Little League Baseball Game. BR Hits a sharp ground ball to F3. F3 fields the ball and steps on 1B. U1 Calls BR out on the force. F3 throws to F6 standing on 2B. F6 never tags R1 out. U1 Calls R1 out on the force. F6 Tosses the ball to the mound and defensive team jogs to their dugout. R1 and R2 start to walk to their dugout (3B-side) but do not leave the field of play. Offensive coaches start yelling at players to run back to their bases and keep going. R2 touches 3B, then HP and R1 touches 2B, then 3B, then HP. What's the call?

Volunteer dad umpiring in our Minors division. Would love to see better head height and that elbow tucked in better, but all in all he's a really good ump. This guy is locked in on the strike zone and a great Minors umpire. If only we could lose the shorts and Exo-Skeletal Chest Protector...... WTF... This one's a mess... catcher's on it... Umpire's freightened... at least the batter has tracked the ball all the way into the glove... Maybe I'll invent a plexiglass balloon protector.

4 for me.. 931 for the group

So it's not that I need to go out and spend more money on plate shoes, but I want to get the thoughts of the crowd. I own (and like) my NB plate shoes. I've polished the "NB" logo black which mutes it quite a bit, but I'm not thrilled that every newbie umpire at our league goes out and buys them. Having said that, I did work with an experienced guy who's owned quite a few and loves his NB. All things being equal, I love the look of the old-school patent plate shoes though I have no idea which brand is the one to get. What are you guys wearing and what would you suggest if I wanted to throw a few sheckels at a new pair? Thanks,

No worries MST, but the issues I had were of an arrogant umpire who didn't know the rules and in the end felt the need to stay for one of my games and critique my skillsets from the 3rd base stands... while play was going on. I had had retraining conversations with him and he wouldn't have any of it. He tried to prove he was a better umpire than me and the only thing he proved was what a flipping moron he was. My point was simply that if you upset your boss enough he will soon not have a need for you. Love it or leave it, the UIC/assignor is our boss (even if we are a volunteer) and you have to realize that before you take action. Safety rules are a huge issue, but you can't tell me that they are all created equal. Broken equipment, catchers not wearing a cup, coaches standing in opening are all pretty serious issues, but you'll rarely toss a guy for allowing this to happen. With that, we're (more than likely) talking about a baseball bracelet or necklace and to toss a coach out for allowing a player to wear one is kind of silly. In my mind, you have them attest at the plate meeting, you send the kid back to the coach to remove the offending article and you talk to the coach in between innings. Give him a warning then and there, but I don't see an ejection being warranted for that. Oh well, everyone can have a difference of opinion on this, just know that there may very well be consequences to those actions. Here's another thought... while you are checking equipment prior to the game, touch base with both teams and let them know that if they are wearing jewelry of any type it must be removed. Sometimes kids don't think about it and some coaches obviously don't care.

Dangit... my compewter decided to double-post... :bang:

Ejecting da bums seems like a great plan... ...until you mentioned that your UIC doesn't have your back on this. Sounds like you have a decision to make my friend... eject one or two to get your point across and hope your assignor still remembers you when games come around... or deal with it on a game by game basis and don't take it personally. I can tell you that when I was UIC I refused to assign guys who caused me problems. With all I had to deal with, I had too many options to have to deal with idiots. One guy in particular (paid staff) walked up to me and said "Blue, why won't you give me any more games around here?" My reply: "Because you cause me too many problems. Every single game I get complaints from managers and/or parents about your umpiring. I've talked to you about it before and you still don't seem to get it. I can't deal with guys who cause me problems. It's that easy." When I retired from the board I gave the new UIC the rundown on all the umpires... needless to say, that guy still hasn't gotten any games at the league... go figure. At my league I had a similar jewelry issue this past weekend. Plate meeting: "Blah blah blah... Coach, is this lineup the way you would like it? Yes. Are all of your players properly and safely equipped to include no jewelry: metal, rubber, plastic? Yes. Blah blah blah... Play ball!" Then around the 3rd inning a lefty comes to the plate... first pitch thrown... "Ball.... TIME... batter, please go show your coach your bracelet... what?... I said pleased walk over to your coach and show him your beautiful bracelet. He'll know what to do." So just stood there at the plate (never moved an inch from my standing position), the fans had no idea what was happening as the kid walked dumbfounded across HP and over to his coach who takes off the bracelet and smiles at me. The kid then walked back to the plate with a big grin on his face and proceeded to hit a grand slam!" (that last part about the homer was put in using artistic license... the kid probably struck out, but I don't really pay attention to that stuff.) Anyhow, here's my advice... Is it really that big a deal? If it is, then feel free to grab that end of the stick. If not, just deal with it in a calm, cool, and calculated manner. Keep doing a great job of umpiring and eventually your UIC's kid will age-out and you'll get a new guy to deal with. :meditation: