law_reb

I agree that a good pregame talk with your partner is important, especially if you haven't worked much with a particular partner. With that said, it's impossible to cover every possibility in a pregame. That's why I also believe in-game communication with your partner is so important. Both pre-pitch and during play, verbal and non-verbal. An example from a recent game for me. My partner and I are working for the first time together. I'm calling my first college game and he is a 20 year college veteran. We had a pregame, and covered all the basic situations. One thing we pregamed was that I, as PU, would have the play into 3rd base on a fly ball out tag up with runners on 1st and 2nd. During the game we have runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. I signal that I have the tag to 3rd and my partner returns the signal. Fly ball to left-center field, runner at 2nd is tagging and runner on 1st is half way. I start toward third and tell my partner I'm on my way there. He begins motioning with his left hand for me to get back as he is lining up the tag at 2nd and moving slightly toward 3rd base. I "listen" to his motion and don't go down to third. I then let him know I was staying at the plate. Runner does not advance toward 3rd. I again signal before the next batter(1 out now) I have the play at 3rd on a tag and he returns signal. At the end of the inning I motioned for him to meet me so I could ask about his motioning me to stay at home. He indicated that was a common practice with the play in front of him like that for him to take the catch, tag, and the runner to 3rd. I don't know if that's correct or not, I haven't done any research on it yet. But, I was not taught that and I've never handled that play that way before. We didn't have a play at 3rd in that situation. However, if I had not said anything on my way to 3rd base, if he didn't give me any signal, and the runner had tagged and attempted to reach 3rd, we could have been in trouble with both of us there to make a call. Not because we didn't pregame, but because we can't pregame every possible play. We don't always know what our partner knows or doesn't know. Pregame is important, but you still have to communicate as well.

Last Saturday I worked my first games of the year. It was 65 degrees and sunny here in Northwest Mississippi. My partner and I wore short sleeves for both games that ended at 5:30. By the time I got home around 7 the temp had dropped to almost 30 degrees. Snow and ice soon followed and has shut down much of Northwest Mississippi/West Tennessee all week. My wife and kids only went to school yesterday. Out again today because of impending snow/sleet/ice this morning. High school games start on the 27th. Hopefully it will warm up in the next week, and stay warm.

On Saturday I was privileged to call my first official college games. Had the first game behind the plate. I felt completely comfortable from the beginning. It really helped that the starting pitcher and catcher for the home team were kids that I've called their games 10+ times as a high schoolers. My partner calls SWAC, OVC, and AAC conference games. He was great to work with. He called me Sunday to tell me how much he enjoyed working with me. I was surprised and flattered to receive the phone call. Great first experience. Can't wait to do it again.

Thanks! I do have a bunch of great high school partners. As with any large association there will be some that aren't up to par. But, for the most part, we have a good bunch of umpires.

Was at a clinic with the coordinator of umpires for Mississippi last Saturday. He stated for this year(2015) the state approved colors for baseball are black and light blue. Black may be the pro style black or with white stripes on the collar. Light blue may be pro style or with the black collar. This is the last year navy will be considered acceptable for regular season, but it will not be used for post-season games. Beginning next year navy is out, only light blue and black. Only black jackets and hats going forward. Emphasized to not buy any new hats/shirts/jackets in navy as it will not be used after this year. The state has always provided us MHSAA patches to place on shirts in the past. There are no more patches. Going forward we will be expected to have shirts with the logo embroidered on shirts. Must have logo on shirt for post-season(that's already been in place for state final series), would like logo shirts for regular season. Hats have never had logos previously. Some people have done their own hats with MHSAA, but it was never a requirement or even suggestion. Beginning next year(2016) all hats(only black) are to have MHSAA logo. They have begun selling the hats this year, but they are not required. He did suggest they would be nice for post-season this year, especially for anyone calling state finals series in Jackson(actually Trustmark Park is in Pearl). Also suggested that anyone wanting to call state finals should upgrade their pants to polywools and have them tailored to appropriate lengths. Stressed that looking professional has to be a priority. Did not say polywools were required, but that he notices little things when making decisions. It should be noted that the coordinator is a D-I umpire(multiple regionals). I like the changes. I hope our association will be strict with the requirements. Currently, for the regular season, we are essentially just required to match our partner. For the guys who don't move on to post-season games they may be in red, gray, white, pink, or camo shirts like they wear at the travel ball complex. I decided a couple years ago to have black, navy, and light blue so my crew doesn't look mismatch. Even with those options, I have had partners who I couldn't match since they haven't bought a new shirt in 10 years. As a side note, the high school coordinator is also the assigner for all Mississippi JUCO baseball. After the clinic I was asked if I was interested in moving up beyond high school. I have previously called a limited number of non-conference JUCO games, but never been a part of a college association. Of course, I indicated that I was very interested. We'll see where it leads, but I'm excited about the prospects.

I'm 6'6" and 285lbs. I use the Wilson Platinum. It covers my ribs, and I'm not concerned about it covering anything lower than that. I like the way that it sits up higher on my shoulders. I'm big enough that there's not a chest protector available that will make me look low profile.

When we made the switch to charcoal pants I bought a pair of Gerry Davis combo pants. They don't feel quite right behind the plate or in the field. I quickly upgraded to both plate and base pants. Now, during the season, I always keep a pair of base, plate, and that combo pair in my vehicle. The combos are my emergency pair for any issues(broken zipper, split seat, etc.) with my pants(luckily I've never actually needed to use them for that purpose). I also may wear them in bad weather conditions to save my other pants the wear and tear.

We took Part I, a 50 question test here in Mississippi. We'll have another 50 questions, Part II, once the season starts. Have to pass that one to be eligible for play-offs. There are a few questions that are poorly written and lead to over-analyzing. Said by another lawyer who is also prone to do that. I've learned that "shall", "must", and "may" mean different things in court and on the baseball field.

No mechanics manual in Mississippi. I'd be very surprised if the state produced one here. We got a rule book, case book, and a couple of new patches.

There will be an umpire clinic at Tupelo High School in Tupelo, MS on February 7, 2015. Registration starts on site at 8am on the 7th. Cost for the one day clinic is $40. The local association in the Tupelo area is hosting the clinic. Robert Holloway, head of officials in MS and a D-I baseball umpire(NCAA regional last year), will be part of the clinic. He assigns and evaluates the umpires for the state final series. I believe he also heads up the Juco umpires for MS. Was told about the clinic by my assignor from here in Northwest MS. There will be umpires providing instruction from multiple D-I college conferences as well as at least one former minor league umpire. Will have instruction for both 2 and 3 man mechanics.

Congrats!

I guess the only thing I disagree with is Torre saying Joe initiated contact. If someone is in my face bumping into me he has initiated contact. My response to remove him is not initiating. It is responding. Joe didn't run into the dugout to initiate contact. Papelbon ran onto the field to initiate contact.

Given the climate to suspend/fine/fire anyone for just about anything these days in professional sports, or any occupation for that matter, I'm not surprised Joe was suspended. Even though it could have been waranted in this situation I think MLB had to take some action to say they saw it and can't condone it. I agree with the previous poster in that one game shows they weren't too upset with Joe. Maybe that they even understood why he did what he did. If Papelbon was a starter the 7 games wouldn't mean much. But as a reliever that actually has some bite. In those seven games he could have possibly pitched in 5 or 6 of them.

On Sunday I had a crazy play at the end of the game involving foot out of batter's box / stepping on home plate in a 14U game. Home team batting with nobody on, 2 outs, down 2 runs, and less than 2 minutes until time limit expires. Third base coach tells his batter to step on home plate and bunt the ball. OBR is the rule set. Right hand batter puts toes of right foot on the edge of home plate, but I judged his heel to still be in the batter's box(there were no lines for the batter's box). He bunts the ball and runs for first base. I say nothing. Pitcher fields the ball, I point fair. I can here third base coach saying, "he's out, he's out, he was on the plate!". Pitcher throws to first, 10 feet over the head of first baseman. Runner continues to 2nd base. Ball returned to pitcher from right fielder. Third base coach(also head coach) wants to talk with me about play. I call time and listen to his side of things. He says his player was stepping on the plate, he has to be out. (As a side note, this is the first time I can ever remember an offensive team coach asking for his player to be called out). I explain that if any part of his foot is in the box he is in the box, it doesn't matter if he is touching the plate under OBR. If we were playing under NFHS rules it would be an out for batting a ball while in contact with the plate, but we are playing under OBR. I had toes touching the plate, and his heel in the batter's box. No violation. Now let's finish the game. Next kid pops out to second base. Time limit expired, game over.

I'm certainly in favor of a hands off approach. However, in this instance Joe has told Pap to leave the dugout and then he turns to return to his position. Pap comes out of the dugout and gets in front of him, in very close proximity. I don't have any problem with what Joe did. Pap is yelling at him and bumping into him. Joe was done dealing with him. Surely no one expects he would stand there and let this guy continue. He moved him to the side and continued to his position. Leaving Pap there to hold his junk. Obviously, we didn't see everything that happened watching the videos in this thread. From what I saw, I'm not sure I would have gotten involved to begin with. Was it a crotch grab to the fans? Maybe, probably? I don't think it was blatant enough to be 100% sure. I think I let MLB sort that out in NYC and I call the game on the field.

The runner can run wherever he wants to run. You can't punish him for that,

I would have had an out on this play. I would not have judged obstruction by either fielder. The 1st baseman was inside the field of play and not in the path of the runner to advance to 1st base. The runner veered left, into the field of play, causing the collision on this play. In my judgment, watching the replay, if the runner continues straight in his path to 1st base there would not have been any obsruction or interference on the play. The runner was the cause of all contact. I have nothing, except a tag and an out. If the umpire judged the runner veered to avoid contact with the 1st baseman, and he wasn't protected, then I agree it would be obstruction. I just didn't see any reason the runner needed to alter his path. In my opinion, the fact he altered his path does not by itself mean there was obstruction. The umpire would have to judge that the fielder caused the alteration. In this instance, I didn't see the fielder to be in his path.

Sent my request.

Buck's reaction shows the frustration the managers are feeling with the replay system. They are used to gettng thrown out of games for arguing disputed calls, but at least they get to give the umpire they are upset with a piece of their mind. Now, even when they are pissed about a call from New York they are just supposed to say, "ok", and deal with it. They can't do that, so they go argue with the umpires on the field. They get tossed, but they get no satisfaction from it. The people they really want to yell at are tucked away in an office somewhere safe from reprecusions of the call. I'm certainly not condoning the actions of Buck or others, but I can feel their pain to some degree. The transfer call will especially cause frustration to managers because it was changed midstream. Any time it's close, and it goes against them, they are going to be upset, just like in this example.

I'll go against the majority here and be the dissenting vote. There was never any control of the ball. From the view of the umpire the ball went in the glove, hand went in the glove, ball fell to ground. In live action, and from the umpires view I would have an out as well. I was watching the game live and said, "transfer" out loud in my living room. However, when using repaly in New York, they use all possible angles and slow motion. From the outfield angle in slow motion you see a different play. The ball goes into the mitt, the mitt never closes, the ball never comes to a stop, the ball comes out before the hand gets there. There has to be some control of the ball to be an out at second even if it is a transfer play. In my opinion, and obviously the umpires in New York, the outfield angle showed there was not enough control of the ball for the out. I don't think this was the umpires reverting to the begnning of the season ruling.

A kid (Austin Riley) from one of our local high schools pitched in the game tonight. I've called at least 30 of his teams games the last 3 years. I believe he's a better 3rd baseman/hitter than pitcher. Mississippi State commit.

What does it cost a team to play in this tournament? @law_reb ? In the $350 range for the 3 day tournaments. Usually teams get 3 pool play games and then at least 2 bracket play games.

Is it USSSA? The tournaments are mostly USSSA starting in March through June. Some NABF as well. Dizzy Dean world series for all age groups is an almost 3 week affair In July. 3 or 4 USSSA tournaments in the fall as well

We've got it pretty good around here at our travel ball complex. We have an air conditioned umpire building with refrigerator and microwave. All the ice you need for your coolers. No free concessions. UIC's are in charge of umpires, and we don't deal with TD. We are always backed in public by UIC's. If necessary they will jump your tail in private though. I've only ever heard of one guy being taken off games he was already assigned. All the umpires get along pretty well and try to help each other out. Plenty of baseballs to go around. This summer 14's with 1:50 time limit paid right about $50. Just worked a 19U tournament with no time limits, $65/game. You get games by either a) being loyal to the UIC's, or b) being a very good umpire. If you do both a and b you get as many games as you want. Our UIC's want the best out there they can put out there, so often b trumps a.

No more convertible jacket is interesting. This spring I saw them being worn everywhere. The college guys I work high school games with said they had gone almost exclusively to them. All over tv for both NCAA and MLB.