stevis

In Little League brand Little League, the strikezone is officially defined "between the batter’s armpits and the top of the knees." MLB strikes doesn't seem to me to be a good metric at 9U. But work with what the org wants.

Why squeeze the kids? The pitchers are on pitch counts these days, and I promise you the next kid isn't better. Ring people up, put heads on pikes early to encourage the others. Swinging and balls in play is better for everyone's development at this age. Giving the catcher a couple of warmups is reasonable and a good thing. Unless the org is going to freak at you not wearing their logo, invest in a shorter hat for plate work and wear it forward. Just not a 2-stitch.

Perfection is the goal, never the reality. Good on you for striving.

So I'm picking up that you're not doing Little League(TM) brand youth baseball, so I'll refrain from getting into those rules intricacies...LL has worked out all the gory details of not letting runners lead without just going to the softball method of calling an out, for instance. You'll have to ask your assigners and/or leagues about the ball being dead near the mound, because it isn't dead in any rule set that I'm aware of. Most things you'll do ok and get better when you do them once or thrice. I wouldn't worry about getting to 3rd on a triple from A; you have longer legs and get to take the shorter path. And everyone is impressed with your hustle when you do. I always tell my juniors their fifth game will go better than their first, and their fifteenth game will go better than their fifth. At some point if it's not leveling out we need to address your uptake speed. 😄

Not at 60'. PU takes all catch/no catch. In your sitch, P has catch/no catch; they should position to see the catch and line up the tag of R3 BU should bust into the working area; line up the catch and tags of R2/R1 best they can. I would get R2 in line of sight and snap my head over, assuming R1 could get a step off before I could get eyes on them and still have legally tagged.

Have fun and don't suck!

"Do you have something I can use to get the shine off of these baseballs?" "Aye, there's the rub."

I might as well keep it secret half the time. I'll give a 2-1 count, call a strike, and the coach will ask me what the count is. "Sir, I am impressed you got this far in life without being able to count by ones."

You don't. You can see everything just fine except the pulled foot if they come right at you. Make the best call you can, and be gracious about getting together with your partner on that call (if and only if the coaches are gracious about asking.)

It is. The notion of a tie requires "simultaneity in time." Special Relativity teaches us that such a concept requires a shared inertial reference frame. The fielder and runner (or batter-runner) are moving a different velocities, quite possibly both distinct from the umpire's, and thus simultaneity is impossible. That's Dr. Blue (Physics, University of Chicago) to you, coach.

I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

Diagram from the same manual:

Three times in almost 20, twice on the same kid last year in fall ball doing exactly that. The other time, the kid put his toe about the point of the plate--foot pointing at the pitcher. Couldn't miss it. This is the pic I use in training to point out why you're not calling this until it's an elephant call:

Among Little League umpires, this is colloquially known as "getting the janitor's decision."