renegadewolf

I'm having a tough time with this one because it is very HTBT. Personally I think it would be appropriate to ask myself, would i have called a strike on that "swing". There are occasions after a pitch comes in and the batter lazily flops down their bat, and one judges that there was no intent to hit the ball, or the batter looks after the ball has passed and sees the catchers glove up and attempts to hit it and in this case I would have nothing. Especially at the younger ages (say like 10/11 year olds) their reactions may not be quite as honed as they could be and a batter makes an honest effort to try to hit the ball, even if it was to most everyone a comically late swing. In this case where I feel there is a legit attempt being made, i have to enforce the CI.

Smitty or no, some kids got to play ball because of him. I'm all for projecting a professional image, I pride myself on looking my best and having a sharp looking uniform, but I would call a game in a pair of runners, shorts and a "wife beater" shirt if it made the difference between a kid playing or not. Just sayin

That's a dirty stick.... wouldn't want to touch it unless i absolutely had to (let the D appeal)

This is a passionate game played by passionate people, and sometimes language happens. If it's not directed specifically at me or another person, and it's not being disruptive, I'm not there to be a moral compass, I'm there to enforce the rules. If the rules say no swearing, those are the rules, enforce them, if not carry on. I have no issue acknowledging and shutting down foul language especially if it could be taken as inflammatory to prevent something real from happening but for the most part that's ball in my books. Tossing the helmet was a no brainer in the EJ department, a fine call IMHO. Normally I might be a little worried about a coach asking me to stay after the game, but you know your situation and your coach, so kudos to him for having his player apologize. It's not often we get to see that side of the equation

As has been mentioned slow down comes to mind. If I find my zone has really come apart during a batter, I have no issue calling time and taking a moment to clean off the plate so I can take a deep breath, repeat a meditative mantra I've been using for years to calm my mind as best I can in those few moments I have. The half inning however is my best friend that affords me a chance to do a quick meditation while getting a drink. If all else fails, I just have to remind myself, this is just a game.

I can relate to the new plate shoes, just got me a new pair this year as well. Nothing quite like a new toy to bring up the happy level.

I've so very often wanted to say "It missed the strike zone coach" but I often ignore the coach because he isn't going to do anything to help the pitcher zone in, i tell the catcher where it is missing however. I don't engage in veiled attempts at luring me into an argument over balls and strikes. as has been mentioned, this situation can only end in tears

Going great until the first pitch..... At least the plate meeting went without incident

The dangers of replying to a post first thing in the "morning", occasionally you miss things (like a pitch that goes to the backstop for example), apparently quite like the OPs partner. Own up, fix it (put batter at first) and carry on and try not to make such a bone headed mistake again

Let your partner explain why he called the infield fly if the coaches come out screaming, after all at what precise point does that pop up constitute an actual infield fly? It's a judgement call. While I agree that all umpires aught to be in agreement when it is called, fact of the matter is in his judgement it appears as though the conditions for IFF were met. You have R1, R2, you have ordinary effort and you have a self described "pop up" seems pretty easy in my book

I have an Rawlings helmet myself. I switched to the full helmet late last year after taking a pitch that bounced funny off the dirt to directly behind my right ear resulting in a pretty nasty concussion, I called over 500 games with the traditional mask without incident, but now I just don't feel comfortable (especially at the start of the year) wearing the traditional mask anymore. While I've had relatively few games with the full helmet, it's very comfortable, view is great and most importantly I feel safer with it on.

In Ontario, in order to call any minor league "rep" or travel ball played under Baseball Ontario, or any member association of Baseball Ontario, you need to attend a clinic (level 1 and 2) and write a test (no requirement to pass for 1 and 60% for level 2) which are pretty loose requirements to call travel ball. Level 3's write an online exam (and attend a "super clinic" every 3 years. Level 1 can call up to Pee-Wee (13 year old) level 2 can call up to Midget (17 year old) and 3 you can call all levels of provincial ball and a 76% on the exam Level 4 (national level) and Level 5 (international level) require exams with 86% and an evaluation on plate and base with at least 86% on the evaluations.

Warehouse worker for Tim Hortons Distribution. Continental night shift 6:30pm to 6:30am. Work days means no ball, but I am totally free 7 our of 14 days in a 2 week period so I tend to call a good number of games over the season

I personally love to sit down and give my plate shoes (or work boots, or my doc martens) a good thorough proper shining.... as was mentioned earlier it is becoming a lost art, but damn there is something that just makes you feel like a mans man with a fresh polished pair of shoes...

While I've only been at this a few years, one of the first things i learned umpiring is if you are prone to having your feelings hurt by comments, then you are likely in the wrong business. On an unrelated note, i almost choked on my pop when I read it. Perhaps it is just me but to snuff someone means something entirely different that how it is used here, and it's not very pretty.

Bag goes in the trunk end of April / beginning of May and does not come out until October Shirts are whole different beast, I have forgotten those (not all of them at once) in the past.

rub it in Chris... rub it in....lol

AHA! figured it out. First thing, you are forced to park amongst players/families etc, there is no parking on the crescent road as the locals have no qualms about calling bylaw enforcement to issue tickets, in fact they seem to relish the opportunity. The backstop overhangs the plate, so it eliminates the possibility of a quick out on a pop up foul, not to mention getting hit by the ball on its way back down. The fence (which was rebuild alone 1st and 3rd since this photo out to the bases) along first base angles in toward the diamond leaving about 3 feet from the outside of the base path top the fence. all told a bad thing as first base coaches can get in the way (they don't really have anywhere to be) and make some calls difficult. No shade, no washroom. In right field just to the outside of the foul line begins a rather large and long slope that if hit in the right spot can make for fun times for the fielders (never mind the foul balls). Finally the train tracks are very close to the field and can make hearing anything a real trick. The only redeeming quality of this park is that the Guelph AAA Major Mosquito team plays here (10 year olds) and they are at that age where they can start pulling off some pretty spectacular plays https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Howitt+Park,+Guelph,+ON,+Canada&hl=en&ll=43.533414,-80.264059&spn=0.001793,0.003449&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.957999,56.513672&oq=howitt+pa&t=h&hq=Howitt+Park,+Guelph,+ON,+Canada&z=18&output=embed&output=svembed">

it's really a toss up between this one and the next one, fortunately we don't use this field anymore. First are the condemned (while we were still playing at that field) structures that were fenced off so no one could use them dugouts. Did I mention there was a bee infestation in the eastern dugout? This field is all about bad lines.... terrible lines, GOD AWFUL lines. Pitchers plate is of course not straight, nor is home plate. first base if you are playing 75ft base paths ends up nudged right onto the grass. The grass was rarely maintained as this is actually on private property (ABB use to own the property and allowed the minor ball league to use it). Train tracks, gotta love em. You can make out where the property line is and along those lines are fences, with barbed wire. You loose a LOT of balls here. Overhanging backstop, my personal favorite. This is what calling house league ball is all about! https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Howitt+Park,+Guelph,+ON,+Canada&hl=en&ll=43.558252,-80.288633&spn=0.001777,0.003449&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.957999,56.513672&oq=howitt+pa&t=h&hq=Howitt+Park,+Guelph,+ON,+Canada&z=18&output=embed&output=svembed">

I've never umpired inside the united states, wouldn't mind working a game or 10 state side (Hawaii would be nice....). So long as it OBR set and not FED.... but then again we are talking umpiring baseball so it should go without saying it aught to be OBR

I think I am going to adopt Netherlands... such a nice orange they always wear.... reminds me of that nice texas orange shirt i bought at the end of last season

When you get a little older it will be renamed the "MILF" signal.

My parents are back down in Windsor way, (Belle River to be specific) so having the opportunity to go over to the Ann Arbor store was something I was looking forward to simply because of the price difference. I prefer to actually put shoes on my feet before i buy them, not big on the idea of ordering shoes online, we all have our quirks i guess

It's been a while since I've seen a game as exciting as that canada vs usa match today... that was just some straight up good ball, As heartbreaking as it was to watch canada lose, the americans just fought a little harder, dug a little deeper and pulled that game out in the end. Games like that are why i love this game

I personally have no issue with run differential plus mercy as this tournament does. Fact is, sometimes in life, you get face palmed, rofl stomped or just plain out get the shyte kicked out of you. Sometimes in life we lose, and we lose real bad, so you come back the next time and do something about it. Canada had been mercied out the game before against Italy, they picked up their socks, came back the next day and played like a team who wanted to win. Did anyone else see poor sportsmanship like pitching at the batter during the Italy game? No, because it didn't happen. Canada got whooped. period. Tourney rules. Unspoken rules get trumped when spoken rules are in place. It never feels very sporting to over run a team to humiliation, but it is very sporting to take your lumps when they happen, and learn from it instead of behaving like 5 year olds. The rules aren't to blame in any of these runaway game situations, everyone knew them coming in. People having a fit because the rule no longer fits their perception of how things aught to be is.