JacksFan

And the batter was clearly pissed about the steal. Gave a stare down to the runner and asked if he was joking.

Runner was a young kid who had no idea stealing in that time was a no no. Batter wasn't happy about having to take it but bit his lip and took it. Throw was fastball up around the shoulders. My biggest thing on it was the coach pitcher and their whole team bitching and saying he's going to be hit.

Ok, here's the situation.. VT up 15-1 VT runner gets on 1st and steals 2nd base. HT coach and pitcher both tell the batter he's f*cked (yes they said "you're f*cked") and hit the batter. Do you eject both the pitcher and manager for clearly stating it's coming and clear retaliation or do you now issue warnings? In the game I saw, there was no EJ or warnings issued.. This is amatuer league adult baseball. Here is what I would do. I would ej both pitcher and coach, only because of their pre pitch antics. If they hadn't said a word about throwing at the batter I don't even issue a warning.

JM, no I haven't. Everything I have learned has been off this site, watching the videos that have been posted here and reading. I have been looking into a few local clinics that take place in the spring before seasons start that I will be going to next season though. I've also checked out the Mid American Umpire clinic website and want to try to plan for that next (2013) fall.

Thanks, and yes, I NEED to get more games! And the level of games, the varsity game I was there to just watch the game when the athletic director told me the umps she was supposed to have had double booked and wouldn't be able to make it, so I was just kind of thrown into it 5 minutes before start time. The umpire that got me the legion games showed up to the varsity game in later innings (he was there to ump the 2nd game of a double header) and seemed pretty impressed and he is the guy I worked the legion games with. And since we don't have an association to join all the games for the summer were pretty much booked before high school season got done and I hadn't gotten my name out to many people, so that didn't help with getting any games either.

1+1+2+2 = 5? lol - Matt Wow, that's embarrassing! I understand what you guys are saying about calling the ump out about trying to control a situation that he wasn't even involved in. This guy has really given me all the opportunities to work the games this summer though and I didn't want to ruin any chances at more games. We don't have an umpires association in the area so all the games are scheduled independently and he gets a large bulk of them. I might be able to swing a couple more week night games but it isn't looking too promising. I wish there was more baseball to do around here. But in Southwest MN everything is pretty much done by the end of July and would be unheard of for games to go into November! We usually have 2 feet of snow by November. The only fall ball around here is the colleges and there are only two of them within resonable distance to me.

Well guys, my first season of umpiring is finishing up here and it has been really fun. I only worked a total of 5 games but that was due to still taking classes full time and working nights, so it was a struggle twisting my bosses arm to let me work day shift some days. Anyway, on to the umping. I worked 1 varsity high school game, 1 regular season American Legion game, 2 14U games, and finished up my year with 2 American Legion playoff games. I worked the dish every game except the 2nd of the playoff double header. All games went great and I had zero issues in all but one of the playoff games. Here is what happened. Relief pitcher came in in the top of the 2nd inning and had a sweat band on his pitching arm. I had him remove the sweat band and heard no complaints from him or his coaches. However, after the inning was over the umpire I was working with had to come running in a LOUDLY announce to me and both teams that the pitcher will be allowed to wear the sweat band on his arm as it was not white and not distracting. Other than the bit of embarrassment I suffered from that the rest of the game went smoothly. I avoided the topic in the post game discussion since the umpire I was working with was more experienced and has worked quite a few seasons in the area. I would like to know how some of you would have hadled this? I was asked to work more legion playoff games and also asked to work the 13U state tournament but had to turn them down because I had to be back to work and school and also have some other obligations those weekends. It was a great experience this summer and a lot of the credit to my appearance and mechanics on the field have to be attributed to this site. I haven't posted much but have been on here everyday reading for the past 3-4 months. So a big thanks goes out to all the posters on this forum for being very informative and quite critical of situations and how to handle them, I have learned more than I ever could have expected to in my first season. I can't wait to continue reading here and am already registered with the MSHSL to umpire baseball next spring too! Thanks! JacksFan

I've got a new Diamond ix3 33in model with wheels. It'll cost you a nike mask though ; )! Honestly it's a great bag and I don't know what I would do without it. Would be a great purchase and simplifies carrying all your gear immensly. Good luck, hope you find one on the cheap like I did (won mine from the ump-attire shabby bag contest on facebook)

Did they allow you to return those? I suggest avoiding them at all costs. If you try it on they probably wont accept it. Honigs put out some great shirts this year - Go with them. The question was in the bolded word, I believe he was just trying to lighten the situation.

Do not do the gift payment option! That leaves you with no protection from someone trying to rip you off. The fee paypal charges is like 3%, if it's that big of a deal where the fee is more than $5 split the cost of it with the buyer and have them pay a little more. Better to be safe than sorry in the end. Hell, even a postal money order leaves you with more protection than the gift payment option.

In the wooden bat leagues around me I believe they are allowed (poeple use them and nobody has ever brought up the issue). Most bamboo bats have a lable that says they are not approved for anything above low A as they are not a single piece of wood. But for lower levels than that I think they are pretty well accepted as long as composites are allowed too.

^ saw that a lot in the 2A state tournament this year in St. Cloud..All 3 plate umps on Putz wore HSM with no cap under it. Sort of bothered me until I remembered they were the ones on the field getting to ump the state tourny.

Thanks, that was going to be a follow up if nobody mentioned it. I wasn't sure since the tag was before the bag.

So here was a situation that came up yesterday. Had runners on 1st and 3rd 2 out. Batter grounds to third who's throw pulls 1st base off the bag. Runner from 3rd crosses home before tag is applied. PU denies run from scoring even though BU said foot was pulled the tag was applied. PU said since it SHOULD have been a force the run doesn't count.. Does the run score? This was a costly run in a 1 run game. I think the run scores because the force was taken out of play due to an error. But just checking to see what you all have.

Is he calling the interference on the bat hitting the catcher or the small movement the batter took and got in the way of the catcher? We had a similar situation during HS playoffs the other day where the bat hit the catcher but the batter stepped out of the box also so he was called for interference (I was not umping).