law_reb

My observations/opinions/experiences: 1. Make sure you know the situation before each pitch to try to avoid this issue. 2. If you called safe on this play because you were unaware of it being a force play at the time of the call, and you know all the elements were met by the the fielding team to record the out on the force play(except for your mistake), don't be afraid to get the call correct once you realize you had the situation wrong. If you aren't sure all the elements were met, then I believe you have to leave your call as is, even if it appears you may have been wrong. You can't guess. If this call had been changed, and the hitting team coach questions the reversal, it's an easy explanation. "I had the situation incorrect. I called safe originally because there was no tag on your runner. However, it was a force play at the plate as the bases were loaded. The catcher had his foot on home plate and possession of the ball prior to the runner touching the base. We have an out on the force play." 3. I had this learning experience myself. High school varsity game. R1 and less than 2 outs. Ground ball to F3. F3 steps on first base, I signal out, and then F3 makes a throw to second base. F6 has his foot on the bag and catches the ball about shoulder high just before the sliding runner touches second base. There was no attempt by F6 to tag the runner. I make a nice "out" call at second base with a big punch out. As soon as I did the confused look on F6 face made my brain click. It was not a force play at second. I knew F6 had not tagged the runner. I immediately called time, pointed at myself, pointed at second base, made an emphatic safe signal and returned the runner to second base. The fielding team coach didn't question the reversal. I know it won't always turn out like that. 4. It was nice how the coach handled this play with his team. I know he was on tv and mic'd up, but that wouldn't stop a lot of coaches from blowing a gasket. The fact they were up 10-0 at the time probably helped him keep his calm as well. 5. I wish I could have heard the conversation between the umpires.

Seems like an issue that should be addressed by the association/assigner. If the powers that be don't have a problem with it, who am I to object. In our association I can't remember HSM/mask color ever being discussed. Hat color, shirt color, pant color, jacket color, shoe color, ball bag color are all discussed. Not ever masks that I'm aware of. I also have never seen one of our umpires wear anything other than a black HSM, black mask, or silver mask. I would think if someone wore something different(such as white) it would be addressed. My partner in a game last year was hit with a foul ball and broke his HSM. He borrowed one from one of the teams to finish the game. Two innings with a green helmet had no ill effects on our game.

It's January for my high school association.

I know we've got some Michigan guys here on umpire-empire. Any from Northern Michigan? I'll be heading out Friday to spend next week in Charlevoix, MI. My in-laws have had a home there since the 60's and we go up every couple of years to enjoy the cool summer air. Just thought if anyone was somewhat close by we could get together for a drink or something. We're planning on spending a day in Traverse City, including the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and a day on Mackinac Island as well. Other than that I'll be downtown eating a Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream cone or sitting on the front porch reading a book.

​I can't watch the video on my computer at work, but my assumption would be that it was strike 3 on the batter's swing and there were less than 2 outs. Batter is out for striking out and runner is out for the interference.

Watching this play live my thought was that the plate umpire could not see him catch and subsequently release the ball from his glove into the dugout. He would have thought the pitch hit off the catcher and rolled into the dugout. Also, the catchers back was toward the Texas bench on the play. I'm not sure the Texas coaches could see the catch and release either. Would have had a similar angle to the plate umpire. They may not have known there was anything to question on the play.

My JUCO assigner(he's also the head of high school officials in MS) is going to be working the UCSB regional. It's fun to know someone who is working at that level.

Enjoy! I don't think there are any games better to call than high school playoffs. Congrats!

Last weekend our local travel ball park, Snowden Grove, hosted the Mid-South USSSA Super NIT. The 12 and 13 year old division finals were televised on MLB.com. I had the dish on the 13 year old game. We ran a 4 man crew and we had about 5 minutes to pregame prior to walking out onto the field. One of the guys I work with frequently, the other two it was my first time to work with them. It went well except for one (double) call on a bounding ball hit down the 3rd base line, which was most likely due to our very abbreviated pregame. We had been rained out on Saturday, so the championship game was the 4th of the day for one team and 5th of the day for the other. One team had left Huntsville, AL at 4am and was playing their 5th game of the day until just after 11pm. It was my 4th game of the day, and 2nd in a row behind the dish. The kids were tired and both teams had used all their pitching to get to the finals. The umpires were tired as well. I debated as to whether I should post the video or not. I have used it to see some things I need to work on. I decided who better to add critique than the fine gentlemen on this site. Don't be too mean. And as a caveat, Gerry Davis pants are the standard for this complex and the pink shirts were requested by the UIC for Mother's Day. http://m.mlb.com/video/v110811583/?query=Usssa

Free shipping on orders over $25 at Honigs right now. I ordered a new set of Team Wendy's this morning.

That's when you're thankful for time limits and maximum runs per inning rules. My son plays 9-10 rec baseball. I am glad we have a 7 run per inning limit. 10 walks is tough to sit through in one inning, but we've done it more than once this year. We played a game last week in which a ball was not put into play by either team until the bottom of the 3rd inning. At the time the score was 13-0.

​That's the one I have. It is now my favorite piece of gear. Thunderheads, I'm not sure which version it is. I'll see if it has anything on it that tells me.

This is my 3rd season with my Shock Doctor cup. Until last night it had not been tested. 6A high school varsity playoff quarterfinal game. Lefty pitcher throwing mid 80's. Catcher sets up outside for an 0-2 pitch and I'm set up inside in the slot. Pitcher bounces a fastball inside that the catcher can't get to. Hits me square in the cup. It was loud. An "ooooooo" from both dugouts. Catcher jumps around to check on me and is apologizing profusely. I didn't feel a thing. I had been pleased to not have the Shock Doctor tested previously, but now that it has been I know it does the job. I can now say I'm a pleased customer.

I had a high school playoff game last week in which I had to explain the appeal ruling to a head coach. Runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Fly ball to center field. Ball is caught by the centerfielder(2 outs). Runner on 3rd tags and scores after the catch. Runner from 1st had rounded 2nd base headed for 3rd base. After the catch he heads back to 1st base, but the throw from the centerfielder beats him back to the bag(3 outs). The runner touched home plate well before the appeal at 1st base. I point at the plate and announce the run scores on the timing play. He can't understand why. He says it was a force play at 1st base, and the run can't score on the force out. I tried explaining that, in fact, it wasn't a force out, but an appeal for leaving the base prior to the ball being touched by the outfielder. Appeal plays are timing plays, thus the run counts since he touched home plate before the out was recorded. He didn't want to buy what I was selling, but he sees he's not going to win and heads to the dugout shaking his head in disbelief with no further incident.

The regular season has ended here in Mississippi(a few teams do have make up games Monday or Tuesday). Playoffs start Thursday. We play best of 3 series in each round of our playoffs. I received my assignments for the first round tonight. I'm on the dish Thursday for a 4A game 1, and on the dish again on Friday for a 6A game 2. This is my favorite time of year.

A couple interesting(at least to me) things from my 9 games Friday-Sunday. 1. High school varsity game using Fed rules, I've got the dish. Runner on 1st with LHP on mound. Pitcher picks up his foot and runner takes off for 2nd. Pitcher wasn't planning on throwing to first, but when runner took off he decided to do so. He had picked his foot straight up, had upper body lean toward the plate, but had not yet stepped toward the plate when he decided to throw to first. He stepped toward first and threw the ball toward first, but he was off balance. After making the throw he tumbled to the ground and rolled down the mound. Throw was wide and low to first and went to the fence, runner ends up on 3rd base. From the dugout I can hear the defensive coach saying that his pitcher balked, we should have called a balk, how could we miss an obvious balk, etc. I ignored him, my partner did as well. First time I've ever heard the defensive coach complaining about a non-balk call. 2. 13 year old Majors USSSA game with OBR, I'm on the bases. Runner on 3rd base with 1 out. Batter swings and hits ground ball to shortstop. On the swing he hit the catcher's mitt, knocking it off his hand. My partner calls out an emphatic, "that's catchers interference!" Everyone keeps playing. Then my partner is yelling, "Dead ball! Dead ball! Dead ball!" Within moments of his "dead ball" call, the shortstop throws the ball into the 1st base dugout. My partner then says, "batter to 1st base, runner back to 3rd base." Offensive coach does not like this. My partner comes to talk to me, and wants to know if he got it right. I tell him that he should not have called "time". If he hadn't the coach may have had an option or the play could have stood if all runners advanced at least one base. "Ohh. What do we do now?" he asks. I tell him he's going to have to eat this one. Since play was stopped with his call, nothing after his call happened. He asked if I would explain it to the offensive coach. I politely declined. 3. 13 year old Majors USSSA game with OBR, I have the dish. Runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs. Runner on 1st attempts to steal second and catcher throws to 2nd base. Runner on 3rd then starts for home. I start to set up for potential play at the plate. Shortstop caught the throw in front of 2nd base. He fakes a throw to the plate, runner stops and retreats to 3rd. Shortstop throws to 3rd base where there is a close play. My patner, who is still in B position, points to me. I just look at him. He waits a few seconds, then signals safe. Defensive coach is not happy. He asks for time and approaches me. I tell him that is my partners call and if there's a question he can speak with him. He and my partner get into a loud exchange of words. I hear my partner say, "my play was at 2nd base, how am I supposed to make that call all the way over at 3rd base." 4. High school JV game using Fed rules, I'm on the bases. Runners on 1st and 2nd base. 2-2 count on the batter. Inside pitch that causes the batter to spin out to avoid getting hit. My partner flinched pretty big as well. There was no verbal call(that I could hear) or hand signal given by my partner. The batter takes off for 1st base as if he has been hit by the pitch. Runners on 1st and 2nd start to move up as well. My partner says, "No! No! No! 3 balls 2 strikes." Runners are now hung out between bases. Catcher throws to shortstop, tag is applied to runner, I have an out call. Offensive coach doesn't like this. We get together, we confirm that no one had called "time". Out stands. Offensive coach asks how his base runners were supposed to know what to do. Answer to coach: Neither umpire called "time", the ball is still live.

At what point do you decide you are unable to call a games for a particular team because of a relationship with a school, coach, player, etc. that causes a potential conflict of interest? I live in a suburban county adjacent to pretty large city. Although we are a pretty big county, 150,000ish, the baseball community is pretty tight. It seems as though every high school team I umpire I have some sort of relationship with multiple people involved. None of these relationships cause me to believe I would call a game unfairly. My 10 year old son asked me if he could go with me to my game today to watch a couple of his friends big brothers play. He goes with me to a good many of my games. So, it got me to thinking, when am I too close to the situation? Should I call games of the school at which my wife is a teacher/volleybal coach? The school in the town I live and my kids attend? Multiple players have parents in my Sunday School class at church? My son is friends and football teammates with the baseball coach's son? My wife coached the baseball coach's wife in high school? My best friend has a son on the team? The principal is one of my good friends? Every one of the nine schools in my county has some sort of relationship similar to this. Where do you draw the line? Where does your assigner draw the line? I'm open with my assigner about any possible conflicts. Of course, he does sit in the row behind me at church on Sunday mornings and knows most of them before I tell him. I get assigned games for all nine of our county high schools. There's never been any problem. Just curious to know how things work other places around the country.

I've learned that even when blocked, and another game is scheduled, you can get games scheduled when you have more than one assigner.

At a clinic a few weeks ago this topic was addressed in depth by two Division I Southeastern Conference umpires. This is what I got from the discussion. On possible pulled foot plays: 1.If the runner beat the throw he's safe, call safe. Pulled foot isn't an issue. 2.If the throw beat the runner and you see a pulled foot, call safe. Signal safe and verbalize off the bag. 3.If the throw beats the runner and you have a possible pulled foot, and you're sure F3 stayed on the bag, you call out and point at the bag at verbalize he stayed on the bag. 4.The throw beats the runner, but you're not 100% sure F3 was on/off the bag, just signal the out (this is the case where one might want to ask partner before making the call). Base umpire always makes the call before asking for help. The only situation you would get help from your partner would be situation 4. You don't change safe to out. You either have (1)the runner beating the throw or (2)the throw beat the runner and you're 100% sure you saw a pulled foot and you have told everyone you saw it. You have to own those calls. On (3) you have told everyone that you saw F3 stay on the bag. Own this one as well. On (4) you have called out as the throw beat the runner. You haven't given any definitive call as to whether you saw F3's foot on or off the bag at the time of the catch. This is the situation you may go to your partner for help, after you have made the call and a coach has asked if you would get help. Meet with your partner away from everyone else, get his info, and then base umpire either confirms his prior call or changes the call based on additional info from partner. Again, this is the opinion of 2 SEC umpires at a clinic as I gleaned from the discussion. It may not be authoritative, but they are a lot further along in their umpiring careers than I am.

You don't understand how the mechanic is performed (most traditionalists in this regard don't). BU asks a pointed (yes/no) question. Once PU answers (Y/N), BU makes the call (as always). One Play...One Call...No Reversals The problem here is when your partner shrugs his shoulders after you ask the yes/no question. You don't know whether your partner got a good look or not. He could be looking somewhere else, got screened by a player, fell down running up the line, etc. Everyone now knows that you aren't sure since you've asked for help. When he shrugs and then you bang the "out" I guarantee the offensive coach is going to come visit you. If you give a "safe-he's off the bag" call I guarantee the defensive coach will come visit you. The problem in both situations is that you've already told them you aren't sure, and they know your partner doesn't have any info for you. One play...One call...No reversals...One argument...(at least)One ejection

One of our local high schools has installed field turf for the home plate area. We played a game in which everyone got a little muddy due to recently melting ice/snow, except for me. They don't have any dirt on 1st or 3rd baseline, so I was on the field turf or grass the whole game. I just wiped my shoes clean and my partner was carrying around 5 pounds of dirt on his shoes. Never even had to clean the plate. It was pretty nice. Slides into home plate were quick and long due to the moisture. Pitches in the dirt(brown field turf) seemed to have a little extra bounce.

For high school games (and my 2 college games so far) I find out the names of both head coaches before I get to the field, if I don't already know them. It can easily be found on arbiter, school website, or with a google search. I use their names when addressing them. I tell the coaches my name, and they can use it if they'd like. I don't tell them what to call me. They almost all use my name. Because I live in the south, players will usually call me "Mr. Tyler" or "sir" with the occasional "blue". For games at our competitive tournament complex I get names of head coaches at the plate meeting and write them on my line up card. I use their first names. Again, I tell them mine and they can use it if they'd like. At these games I'm usually referred to as "blue", "ump", or the occasional "Mr. Umpire". If I see a team more than once their coaches may start to use my name. The teams we have at these tournaments are from MS, TN, AR, MO, LA, AL, GA, IL, TX, FL, KY, etc. So, I often don't see them more than once. Titles can be interesting. My dad was in the army for 20+ years and retired as a Lt. Colonel. The first day on my job people called me "General". I'm an Assistant District Attorney General. Everyone at the courthouse calls me "General". I sure as anything don't outrank my father.

Mississippi starts today. 6 inches of snow on Wednesday and below freezing temps today have cancelled my games in Northwest Mississippi. Possibility of playing tomorrow as temps are supposed to get into the 40's.

In the KC area? What venue?

In Mississippi high school we usually play a JV/Varsity doubleheader. 5 inning JV game followed by a 7 inning varsity game. I much prefer the plate for the 7 inning varsity game. If it's a true double header, I like the first game behind the plate as well. For the same reasons you mentioned, because I like to set the tone for the day(especially if I'm unsure of my partner), and because I feel more fresh. Sometimes a slow game on the bases makes me get sluggish and then it's hard to get back up for the plate.