jjb

LawUmp; I read your responses. We agree to disagree, and that's what I wish everyone would follow. We can have a spirited debate on a topic, and, at the end, shake hands and move on. That's why I post here and nowhere else. Peace, out, brother....

Wow, Kevin; you channeling Madison by any chance? Very well done ,sir. In your defense of the 1st Amendment, believe me, we stand shoulder to shoulder. I unabashedly celebrate their right to speak; I only question the assertion of nobility in doing so, and the assertion (perhaps even yours) that the players, (though shielded from consequences financial or otherwise), are somewhat "courageous". I stand by my assertion that, until they have something to lose, they are not. I hate to use the words of others, but please look at this http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/25/mike-rowe-blasts-everyone-involved-in-the-nfl-national-anthem-protests/ Either way, you have spoken your opinions succinctly and honorably and I have enjoyed reading them. jim

I agree, Foley; the message gets morphed into so many other things that the original message gets shoved to the corner. That’s my point; we really don’t know what the players are “protesting” against; therefore we can’t decide whether to fight for or against them. “Racism?” OK, show me who has discriminated against whom, and I’ll be at your side fighting with you. Use words like “everyone knows”, and “institutional racism”, and you lose me; it’s much too vague. Far as I know, there are no meetings deciding to discriminate against anyone. You can’t reply to the question: “what’s your beef?” to “Racism”. It’s just too vague. It’s like the answer to ”what’s wrong with Umpiring?” to “the Infield Fly Rule”. OK, what the hell does that mean? I’d be happy to discuss individual issues with you, but I’m sure Warren would decide this is an Umpires’ Forum (correctly), and shut us down.

Lawump, I heard (ok, read) you for years and respect your (real) profession as well as your knowledge on the field. BUT, I’m not sure you’re differentiating between what you have the right to do and what you should do. Yeah, they have the absolute “right” to sit during the anthem. 1st Amendment, got it. However, you have the Constitutional Right to stand up in Court and yell “the Judge Sucks!”. What you can’t do is do it without repercussions; you will then hear a loud “clang”, and your new roommate will introduce himself. Before they decided to embark on this course, they needed to think of a couple things: 1. Will this actually accomplish anything? Is there anyone who thinks that the people will see someone kneel and think, “Oh, yeah, I forgot, let’s talk about racism in America”. Really? 2. Are you really prepared to teach children that disrespecting America and the flag is the way to demonstrate your disaffection with the current administration? If they get a C in Spelling, do you want them sitting in the corridors during the Pledge of Allegiance? 3. Finally, my most important point: What If It Doesn’t Work? So OK, they sit, and nothing happens with America; (see point #1). What’s next? Do they kneel during kickoffs? Burn the Flag at halftime? Exit strategies are important. Finally, an observation: the NFL fined a player who wrote his father’s initials on his shoes after he died. The NFL denied the Cowboys putting a sticker on their helmets after 5 police officers died during a protest in Dallas. But, disrespect the Flag, and America, we’re good to go. Hard to have any respect for these people.

Personally, I think Kapernick isn't playing, because he doesn't fit any NFL offensive scheme. He's always been an option play quarterback. (Think Vince Young, RGIII, Tebow, even (gulp) Manziell). The option doesn't work in the NFL, and he's a terrible pocket passer. If he could play, someone would sign him....

(respectfully): Horse Hockey. Courage is doing something regardless of the consequences. They were risking nothing. Their paychecks will come whether they sat or stood. Had the League told them, “you sit, it’ll cost you 100K”, and they still sit, that’s courage. How many times do we say “You want to complain about the Umpiring? Put the gear on”. You have a problem with “Police Brutality”? Become a Police Officer. You have a problem with Foreign Policy? Run for Office. To whine about Umpiring and then refuse to strap on the CP isn't courageous. To complain about the country, and then climb into their Escalades to go behind their gated houses isn't either. This by no means "stimulates public recognition that racism is a problem"; it hasn't budged my opinion a whit. It just lowers my respect for them.

It's just an annoyance, getting hit in the arms, legs, (never got hit in the face, however). Here's what I did; when he'd continue to flip the thing backwards and hit me, and as he's throwing, collecting the ball, etc, I'd pick it up "to get it out of the way". Then, I'd toss it (also to "get it out of the way") as far as I could toss it. Eventually, he'd get tired of trying to find it and walking over to get it, (I'd never throw it in the same direction twice), he'd complain, and I'd tell him "then stop hitting me with it". Usually worked....

Many years ago, I went to the ASA National Umpires Academy. At the time, They didn't teach 3BLX, and were told to slide over to 3BLX only if the tag was to be well up the line, to grab the swipe tag..

Better idea; why not grab some gear and get behind the plate, and THEN yelp about the calls. I had a veteran HS Coach decide to do get into Umpiring. He went through Umpire Training and I put him on a 10-year old Rec game. Afterward, he came off the field soaked in sweat, and told me "I had no -f------idea it was this hard". I promise you (because I watched), he blew a bunch of calls himself.....(oh, and he's a great Umpire, now, and (admittedly) a much better Coach....)

UH-UH, cj; if he'd have simply come out with a question of a base path violation, we would have answered politely, gave him the proper citation and wished him well. However, he began the OP by questioning the integrity of the Umpire. Umpires are unbelievably sensitive about that, as it's generally the response of people who haven't the bloodiest inkling of what they're talking about. (Don't have the facts, question the motives). I can't let him get away with that unchallenged. I've seen the whole periodic table of 8U coaches, and have an unscientific breakdown of them. The way I see it, 80% of them are great guys, understand why they're really there, and a joy to work with. 15% of them are usually great guys, but get caught up in close games and can occasionally try and pin it on the Umpires. (The judgement ,the hustle, the knowledge. Never the integrity.) And 5%, (IMHO), have no business in Youth Sports. They're the "holler/scream guys that nobody wants to work with. Usually, they get run out of the League, (generally by request of the parents), and are never seen again, unless his kid ends up playing basketball for the Lakers. I don't know where this coach fits in, as I don't work in NJ. But, I've got feeling his career as a baseball coach is going to be unpleasant for a lot of people.

Look, you can argue all day whether he got the call right or wrong, and you'll probably get a bunch of us here who will agree with you. You say it was a tournament. Had you protested the ruling, you probably would have gotten it reversed. You didn't, deal with it. (BTW, you say "there's usually a rule about the halfway runner"; You're playing in a tournament; you mean you don't know if they're using the rule?) So far, you've demonstrated that you're not versed in; basepath violations, protest procedures, and local tournament rules. Or, are you deliberately throwing the game to the other side? (Sorry, just had to throw that in). Where you cross the line is inferring (hell, just coming out and saying), that the Umpire deliberately blew the ruling to adversely affect your team. You have absolutely no cause to say that. I've fielded more than my share of "he was out to get me" emails from coaches and parents. When I show them that (1) the Umpire in question had never worked the coaches' team before, and (2) when I talked to the Umpire later, he admitted he just had a brain fart and blew it, it still doesn't change their opinion. The kids make mistakes, that's baseball; a coach makes mistakes, that's "oops, my bad"; but when an Umpire makes a mistake, it's a conspiracy. Get a grip. He didn't give a monkey's who won or lost. Most times they can't tell you who won as they walk off the field. Once again, you are WAY too wound up to be coaching tournament ball.

Disclaimer; I was the Director of Umpire Training for many years, and had at least 40 Rookie Umpires (13-15 years old) working 8U games at any one time. So, the following is just my opinion; The Umpire blew the call. The phrase “didn’t affect the play” is football, not baseball. Simple as that. That’s no longer the issue. The issue is your statement that the Umpire blew the call deliberately. My guess is that the Umpire was not a Division I NCAA Official; you couldn’t afford him. That Umpire was most likely a kid himself, or at least a brand-new Umpire learning a new skill; just like your kids. You could have treated it like your shortstop mis-playing a ball; fix it for the next time. Shoot an email to his UIC/assigner/League Director, and made sure he knew the rule the next time. Instead, you accused him of cheating, and assured him of one thing; he doesn’t want to Umpire anymore. Got news for you; when he quits, the next guy will have even less experience that that guy, and he’ll blow even more calls. My humble opinion; your attitude is bad for Youth Sports and need to fix it or leave. Your kids are 8 years old; they’re there to (1) have fun, (2) learn the fundamentals of the game, and (3) acquire the values of sportsmanship. It appears you’re deficient in teaching at least two of them. You want to take the fun out of the game? Tell your kids that they can’t win no matter how hard they try, and when something goes wrong, blame the Umpire. Google Lavar Ball and see if you see any similarities. Here’s an experiment; the next practice, get your kids together and ask them what they remembered about the game. My guess is that they’ll remember “the Umpire cheated”, but nobody will recall the final score. That’s what you’re teaching them. (BTW, I’ve done this; mostly I got “we went to McDonalds afterward”). I’m sure this isn’t what you came here to us for; you wanted to know the rule, and we told you. My final advice to you; laugh more at these games. You ain’t Tito Francona and the Umpires ain’t Jim Joyce. Good luck.

Max, who's learning what? These players are 6, 7 and 8 years old. I've done everything but duct-tape the bat to their hands. I'm just trying to keep my rookie Umpires alive out there. And we don't generally call batters out for throwing the bat (although we've got a League rule that says we could if we had to). Coach Pitch Leagues are not for real. They're not supposed to be. They're just places for little kids to have fun running counter-clockwise, and for rookie umpires (13-years old) to learn basic Umpiring skills and get hooked on Umpiring.

You've got to stand facing the batter, not behind him; most of these kids are letting the bat fly after they hit the ball, and it usually ends up behind him. 6-8' usually will suffice far enough away to be safe (no equipment), and close enough for the fair/foul call.

So you guys are thinking that Halliday deliberately came back to first, knowing he was out, and slid in to the bag. Now, you've got Halliday's foot on the bag, Ellsbury about to tag it on the dead run, and leaving Moreland nothing left to tag but maybe the top (where Jacoby's foot is about to be)? I'm thinking they're lucky there wasn't a 3-car pileup with somebody carried to the dugout. (Most likely Ellsbury with an ankle/knee; he's got a history). Think Matt's following him to the dugout and hearing "Nice heads-up baserunning, Matt", or more likely "WTF were you doing"? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, so I'm writing it off as a fustercluck, and letting it be.....

Brandon: a baserunner hit by a batted ball has committed Offensive Interference. In Offensive Interference, the following things happen: (1) the ball is Dead. Right then, "Time!". (2) the guy who committed the interference is Out. (In your case, it's the guy who got hit by the ball) (3) all runners return to the last base legally occupied at the time of the Interference, (unless forced by the batter-runner). (4) the batter goes to first (unless he was the guy that interfered; then see (2)). (and I think it's scored a fielder's Choice, but I could be wrong). Aside from runners hit by batted balls, you'll see this when runners blast the fielders trying to field a batted ball. The penalty is the same.

Sorry, after the judgement call of Intentional or not, only then do you make the INT/No INT. Their assessment of non-intentional (apparently) rules out INT. If you're gong to "penalize" a runner that UNINTENTIONALLY gets in the way of a thrown ball, you'll have fielders drilling the baserunners every time. (Although the game will go much quicker ). Remember Reggie Jackson "leaning in" to the throw at first? THAT's INT (IMHO). Now, a couple things: (1) if he did it intentionally, it's a dumb idea. He could have easily tripped Ellsbury coming across the bag and injured him. (2) nobody scored that inning, and even if the protest is upheld, it didn't affect the game, and will change nothing. BTW, this from a rabid Sox fan. Didn't think it was INT then, don't think it was now.....

It was a joy to work with. The local teams were their usual morons/ejections/"TD, you better get over here"'s, but these kids were truly great kids.

I gotta share… A million years ago, I worked a 15 yr. old tournament in MA which involved a team from Nova Scotia. If you don’t know, NS is a farm (potato) community with some of the biggest kids I’ve seen. I’ve gotta tell you, they were the most polite and easy-going group of people I’ve had the privilege of working with. For example; the infields we were working were working were 3” of stone-dust. Although they drained like nobody’s business, in August, it was like working on the moon. Anyway, I had a NS runner stealing second. The throw got there WAY ahead of the (sliding) runner, and (like the requisite rookie), I assumed the tag in the cloud of dust and called him out. The runner got up, dusted himself off and trotted off the field….. ….and then I saw the ball in center field….. After I fixed it, I cornered the runner, I asked; “Did you see that the ball went through?” His answer, “Yeah”. I then asked, “Why didn’t you say something”. His response, “You called me out, Mr. Ump, so I was out”… …never saw that team again, but, after 30 years, I still remember them….

Softball, same rule. Rule myth...As an Umpire (33 years), my fellow Umpire's an idiot..'nuff said.....

Sorry, calling balks in 13-year old baseball prevents the HS coach from having to fix bad mechanics from a pitcher that's been doing it wrong for his whole life. The advantage is that you're freezing the runner. He doesn't know if you're going to the plate or the pick-off. Think of it as a windup that suddenly ends up in a pick-off. ".....without hesitation or interruption" is there for a reason.

"catcher makes the out at first". Batter/runner is out. So far, so good. ......"THEN tags the runner standing on first and the umpire calls her out" Oops, when the batter/runner is called out, the force is removed and the runner is entitled to remain on the base. Blew the call.. NOW: if the runner was tagged BEFORE first base was tagged, the force on her remains, ('cause the batter/runner isn't out, yet and she's forced to second), and the runner's out. THEN when they tag first, you've got a double play. Got it?

Chicks dig the uniform; that's why we do it.....

Needs to appeal. The Umpire will stand with his hands in his pockets waiting for the appeal before he calls him out....

True. Throwing to second is not a "force". He's not forced anywhere. It's an appeal for not properly tagging up after a fly ball. Since he's already tagged up legally, there is no appeal, and he needs to be tagged.