GreyhoundAggie

Welcome. Enjoy the brotherhood

Thanks Jocko. I was straddled for sure. Balls on the line as it were. Just one of the pitfalls of the 2 man system. That call gets seen much better in a 3 man. But I have definitely caught myself not splitting the line at times. One of my personal POE this year is to make sure and get set for the play. I definitely noticed the difference on the bases last night. Made me a lot more confident in my calls.

There were no runners on. I did go up the line with the ball as far as I could. I got set before F5 fielded the ball. I just didn't see the ball hop the bag. I was about 1/3 up 3rd base line. My mechanics were fine I thought. The coach just said he thought I missed the call. Nothing I can do on that. It was somewhere between a slow roller and a hard hit. It wasn't crawling, but moving slow enough to curve left of the bag. Thanks for the advice James. I always appreciate any info or tips.

I agree 100%. If you are calling MiLB or MLB. That's your job and they can tell you what to do, but not when we are independent contractors and we are out here because we love it. I wear a beard, it doesn't look like a bird's nest. If you don't like it, don't assign me. Luckily in TX they don't care about facial hair, they care more about how fat you are

Had my two games last night. Private school tourney. I got there early and let the coach know i was there. My partner ended up being about 10 minutes late for the game, luckily he showed up dressed. I had the dish for game 1. It went fine for most of it. Had 3 or 4 pitches I wanted back. There was a little chirping late in the game since it was tight. I completely missed one pitch because I got screened by the batter, and didn't pick up the pitch til really late. It was an all day kinda strike Still working on my slot more too, so that is taking some time as well. Had one of those rollers down the third base line, i got about 4 steps up the line and got set, ball went very close to edge of bag, third baseman caught it about 2 inches to the side of the bag. I called foul. 3rd base coach shook his head and said it hopped the corner of the bag, didn't come down to argue, I just basically said, I called what I can see from here. That is an extremely difficult call from 75 ft away. Only chippy part came late in game. It's a tourney so 2 hour time limit. There is about 18 minutes left, and the losing team is trying to hurry it up. They switch out very quick, and the coach tells me they are ready to go. No warmups. The winning team is still huddled in front of the dugout. It has been maybe 45 seconds so far. I yell out that I need a batter. The coach gets upset. "We're playing baseball here. We have been doing the same routine all game. Not gonna be changed or rushed now. My kids need time to get ready to bat too, etc." I said he had 1 minute just as the other team does. "It hasn't even been a minute, don't pull this stuff now" I didn't rush either team earlier because both teams were ready to go at the end of warmups, and they were being pretty timely. I don't enforce the 1 minute with a stopwatch We ended up getting through the inning and played 7 in total. The home team tried to give it away by damn near walking the bases loaded. had the tying run at 3rd but couldn't get him home. Of course I was "squeezing" their pitcher at the end. He just couldn't quite hit the zone at the end. Just up, just out, just down, etc. Game 2 went very well on the bases. Had a few bangers, there was lots of running and activity since both teams were walking and swinging the bats. I felt I got all the calls correct. Only weird thing was at the end of one at bat, bases loaded, 2 outs, kid gets rung up on strike 3. My partner "who has been doing this 25 years he said, and called with the head coach from winning team from game 1, who is also home team this game, and who's kid struck out" does almost a Leslie Nielsen. Throws his hand in the air "normal strike and strike 3 call", but he turns a 360 and kicks his right leg into the air. The 1st base coach the next inning said all they could say was wow, even the runners on base coming off the field were saying "way to show a player up" I mentioned it later on after the game, and my partner said "I don't care what they think, I'm out here to have fun" My partner claimed he has called some independent league ball, been to a Jim Evans clinic years ago, etc. He got the calls right 99% of the time, I just though his mechanics looked poor, and he never got set on the bases really. Not a bad partner, and he is known in the chapter. But got some more rust knocked off. Got a scrimmage tonight and tomorrow. Will work on the plate some more, really try and lock it in before more real games. But excited baseball is here. Gonna be cold tonight though, 46 degrees at start time. Cold front is blowing in. Sorry for the novel. Really helps having a forum to talk it out and work through it in my mind.

Got a call at 9:30 last night from the assigner to pick up 2 tourney games tonight. It's for a private school tourney. Should be decent I hope. The real games officially start tonight. The high is 68 degrees and should be a gorgeous day for baseball. All you yankees should be jealous I promise not to suck too much I will report how it goes tomorrow.

I have never had issues with Honig's, they come to our meeting and allow us to purchase in person. Their shirts and polywools are the best, they last. I have bought CP or shinguards from other places if they didn't carry something, or it was cheaper, but I go to Honig's for my uniform itself.

Yeah, I think it's stupid to get paid more for one or the other. They both have their issues and both are demanding in their own way.

I agree. I'm sure we met casually at some point then. I wanna say I was group B, but I honestly don't remember. That was a great job by your chapter putting that on. I'll definitely be back.

Those guys aren't bad Welpe. They are just down the street from me.

You got me there Jocko. Didn't re-read what I wrote.

I are one too. Sorry to hear the problem's with Honig's Slo. I've never had any problem with ordering myself. Were you are the Tyler Umpire clinic back in January? I might have met you if so.

Thunder, I ordered some of the nike airmax 2013 to use as my base shoes. They are not leather, so that could be a problem, but i saw a lot of the MiLB umps using them, said they were the most comfortable damn things ever. I had to use NikeiD to get them in wide. Would be interested in Nike's if they came in wide fit stock and weren't crazy expensive.

I see what you are saying Jocko, but I would read that as intentionally interfering with the throw, not F3 chasing the throw. I know that the base coach is "in play" if the ball just hits him, same as an ump in foul territory. But that is not the same as the coach getting in the way of a player trying to get to the ball. Thoughts?

JJ, I don't think FED says it has to be intentional. The coach gets in the way of the player trying to get to the ball, even if not intentional, he has still interfered. I would answer B in FED. Get R1 out since the play was being made on him, send R3 back.

Harker Heights? Trombone here. Oh yeah.

My first scrimmage is tonight, but no real games yet. It's very strange how a lot of organizations assign you to a specific position, either BU or PU for a game. Our's leaves it up to us to figure out with your partner who wants what for the game. Only exception is the playoffs. Good luck to everyone tonight. Don't suck.

If the batter-runner misses 1B on a grand slam home run, and is called out upon proper appeal for the 2nd out, how many runs score ? Did you mean for the 3rd out Pete? Cause 2nd out all the other runners score no matter what. If it's the 3rd out, I believe the other runners score in FED because the HR is an award, but in OBR no runs would score because it's a "force out" I could easily be wrong on this one.

This looks great. Thanks for the find Thunder.

for what, a HSM? No. I don't use a HSM. I was just saying I prefer the look of the 4 stitch hats on the plate and bases.

That's awesome Clawdad. Lance did the clinic I went to a couple weeks ago as well. He's a real sharp guy and I learned a ton from him. He mentioned he was headed to NY after our clinic. The full weekend is great, and it's still not enough. Would love to have a whole week. Really get those reps in. I guess scrimmages will have to do.

I generally use wool behind the plate and mesh on the bases. it's pretty common here in Tx to see mesh. I have both though. I only use a 4 stitch as well. The 6 stitch is just too long for me

Looks good. Thanks for this. I'm gonna give this a try soon. Does it work as well on mesh caps?

Flyer, I'm not saying it was malicious, and i know that is what is required by rule for interference to supersede OBS. But it is what i would believe the best interpretation to be. Had the OBS not occurred, would there have been interference. In this case no, the BR kicked the ball intentionally, the OBS by F2 didn't change or alter that. This is for FED only since OBS is a delayed dead ball of course. Others may disagree, but that is what i would do.

It's hard to tell from that angle where R2 was in relation to the SS. It could be interference. But I am taking the HTBT cop out on this one.