Wesley

For clarity: LL Baseball Regulations 2014: 4.11: The score of a regulation game is the total number of runs scored by each team at the moment the game ends. (d): A called game ends at the moment the umpire terminates play. EXCEPTION: If the game is called during an incomplete inning, the game ends at the end of the last previous completed inning in each of the following situations: (1) The visiting team scores on or more runs to tie the score in the incomplete inning, and the home team does not score in the incomplete inning. (2) The visiting team scores on or more runs to take the lead in the incomplete inning, and the home team does not tie the score or retake the lead in the incomplete inning Thanks for everyone's input. Very helpful.

LL Minors. Local time rule is simple: 1 hour, 45 minutes; drop dead. About 1/3 of us call it by the rule, the others make it up as they go and play on to some extent, usually to finish the inning. The league refuses to put their foot down either way. My question: when the game is called during an incomplete inning and rule 4.11(d)(1) or (2) applies, do I need to stick around after the game try to be the rule cop to decide who won the game, or can I leave the aftermath to the scorekeepers and league officials and leave the field? (The league in no help in clarifying who is responsible). I agree with others that nothing good can come of staying on the field after the game, but I also want to do my job as professionally as possible. Do I stay or do I go?

Chartered, yes. I guess I was shortcutting saying 11U. I know some of the kids playing and they all happen to be 11. Guilty as charged.

(The way I understand it) The RLI rule protects the defense from the BR interfering with a throw from behind him if he is outside of the lane. If the ball hits him in the back while he's legally in the lane, I got nothing - BR safe at first. On the other side of the coin, if F3 gets between BR and the bag without possession of the ball (yet), could there be a potential for type A obstruction? If so, on a play like this with the ball thrown from behind and the runner in the lane, what am I looking for to call OBS on F3?

11U, LL 50-70. No runners. D3K, ball rolls behind LH batters box, B1 takes off. I bust in from A and get a 90 angle, about 12-15 feet fair. F2 picks up the ball, and instead of throwing immediately, he moves back to the foul line and then throws. B1 was not a ball of fire (nor F2), as he was coming up the line I was filing my nails waiting and I noticed that B1 was in the lane at 2/3 up the line (PU call, I know). Here's the point: F3 set up on the middle of the bag to receive the throw. A split second before the ball arrived, B1 must have seen F3's glove come up to catch the ball (or he has eyes in the back of his head), because he just barely ducked, and his last step before the ball arrived just barely slowed down. No collision, but B1 stopped after F3 caught the ball (hard to say if it was due to lack of motivation or to avoid a near miss). B1 was about 6 feet short of the bag when F3 received the ball. Out by a mile; I rung him up. (This was a mentoring game for me under UIC PU). After the inning was over at our training meeting there was no comment on the play. OT HC approached PU and asked about possible OBS. PU "No OBS, there must be contact". (?) Maybe I've read too much Papa C, "If he's gonna be out, he's gonna be out" and "Don't make an unusual call on a routine play", etc., but I want to own the call and get it right. Did I kick the OBS call? (I've learned a lot from this site, thanks) Flame on

Thanks for the video gents... I'm on devil's island and blessed to get UE. You tube and MLB.com only get me "denied: digital sports, media"

Currently calling LL. Like to move up to FED. Appreciate the input!

So trying to learn here, is the over-ruling call on a catch/no catch a pre-game discussion? Or was it a spontaneous accident? What are the calls that can be immediately over-ruled that are discussed in pregame? Off the top of my head: HBP Foul off the batter D3K Others? As an amateur, low level, not-on-TV umpire, I'm thinking even with a pre-game, unless I am 100% sure of what I saw, I'm going to let the original call stand.

SWMBO just called me and said Gerry Davis and his U1 had a double call on a line drive to F1 at Colorado. Mattingly EJ. Anyone see it? What happened?

"Pet peeve of mine too. I put it in play even in closed bases (9/10U) rec ball out of habit, but not verbally (I point it in at the pitcher after any dead ball situation). Whenever I say "play" with the little kids the batter always turns around and looks at me." I have a victory to report on this one. I ALWAYS put the ball back in play, verbal and point, even with closed bases. The volume of the verbal will go with the situation, i.e. beginning of inning, runners on base, or relatively quiet if only B1. I call LL Minors and some of the kids have had me call their games from the earliest level and are used to it. We just finished the Minors season last night, and the entire season I think I had maybe two kids turn and look. I heard from another umpire that he had F1 standing on the pitcher's plate with the ball waiting, wouldn't pitch, and finally asked, "The ball live, Blue?"

I played ball for years and I have to say after umpiring for a while I have a new appreciation for the job and the men who do it. In my own experience it is truly a thankless, “no win†situation. Dam*ed if you do and dam*ed if you don’t. The reason I do it is because I feel I have an obligation to my son and our community. I've found that if I don't do it, few others are going to, either. And I’ve found that for some strange reason, regardless of the abuse (in all it's forms), or maybe because of them, I enjoy umpiring a baseball game.

carolinablue, I agree. This is probably the last season I'll call his games. At the 7/8U level, our league is so short of umpires that we end up with daddy coaches or guys out of the stands that end up with some AWFUL calls. Ball bounces on the plate: called strike. Pitch hits the batter: no base award. Batted ball settles in the far rear of the batters box: fair ball, play on. Two out force: score the run. Crazy stuff. I'm a newbie but at least I work hard on trying to be professional, try to get the calls right, and respect the game. And in the end it's a matter of looking after my own interest: it's the only way I know my kid will have some level of officiating, even if that means it's only better than "bad". I try to keep a low profile that my kid is playing in the game. So far I haven't heard a word about it, but I agree, it's definitely not a practice to continue. Hey, I thought this thread was supposed to be funny!

Last night I called my son's 7/8U LL Minors game. I got to do my least favorite thing of calling him out on strikes (swinging). Let me mention that for an 8U, he's a good reader and has actually read some of the LL rulebook. Also plays F1 & F2, so he has a good idea of the strike zone. We're walking through the parking lot and without me asking, he says, "You called a good game Dad, except you missed a couple." So first I remind him not to ever say that to an umpire on the field, but I can't resist so I ask him what he thinks I missed. We both remembered a called second strike on the outside. I told him all the umpires in his league call a wide zone (chalk-to-chalk, per the league, word-of-mouth) and remind him that the coach tells the team to swing at those. After a very long pause, he says, "You guys gotta call it by the book!" We ended up talking baseball rules on the ride home and maybe he could umpire someday, which was pretty cool, and I thought that was the end of it. Fast forward to the end of the night: I get him in bed, and after pleasantries, I turn off the light, and the very last thing he says is "you guys gotta call it by the book." So what do you when your 8U jams you for not calling the rule book? Maybe he should run for the Board!

When I was a teenager playing PONY, the opposing pitcher was so bad, and I was so desperate to hit the ball, that I stepped on the plate to rip one to RF. PU, who was I girl I might add, immediately called me out. Our manager came out mad as heck, yelling and looking to argue. I had to physically restrain him before he got to the girl umpire and tell him "Yeah coach, I stepped on the plate!" He backed down real quick...

Papa C and others on UE say don't use the stop sign to prevent pitchers from delivering the ball. Do those of you calling 7-10U have any suggestions for getting the pitcher to wait to deliver the ball until B1, F2, and UIC are ready?