Tony B

DO NOT USE EXPLORER TO VISIT THE SITE! Chrome is good, Safari, all is good, edge is good... But this is what I saw at work when using Explorer.

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/63817564/v89204683/?query=reynolds Your browser does not support iframes. Now I bring this up because I had a discussion with a friend about the difference between being in the glove vs. caught. What are your thoughts on it?

Many of you have more posts in a day than I do in 5 years. As a long time lurker and rare poster the arguing for the sake of arguing is a turn off. I get to a thread which may be interesting and then we get to the BS and I stop reading. I could be missing out on some great info, but once I get to 3-4 posts of garbage I check out. Police yourselves. Don't get overly excited with each other. I don't know if everybody realizes how great of a resource this place is and I'd hate to see the usefulness of this site go away.

I'm going to say what I bet others are thinking and try to stay in the guidelines of what is acceptable at UE Who the hell is going to take protective equipment advice from some old, crazy looking guy who still wears a ribbed CP? Come on if you want to be in the protective equipment market at least look like you know what you're talking about. That would be like talking to Jim Kirk about buying equipment at UA but finding out he really buys his at KMart. AND who gets hit in the mask once every 20 games? I sure as heck don't

Undoubtedly. 3 of the top. Well, one worked the 99,03,06 CWS one worked the 07,09,12 CWS one worked the 11 CWS Seems pretty good to me. At :03 that move is why nobody can play little ball anymore, since it has been deemed legal. Is the catcher allowed to jump that far out in front of home plate???? When does this constitute a balk or catchers interference (does the bat have to hit the glove for CI on a pitch to draw the CI on this play---wasn't there a time where the catcher could not do this???). If CI and everyone does not advance, what does it become. Is there an option on this play??? Here's a still from the video _sorry the quality is not good I'm not good at doing this. So the catcher is clearly interfering IMHO. But- somebody correct me if I'm wrong - the video does not show if the PU or rest of the crew awarded the batter first so lets not be so quick to jump on them and say they missed a call. We see an apparent rules violation, but we don't get the rest of the story or potential award. So does anybody actually know if CI/Catchers Balk was actually called or not? Until we know that lets give these guys credit as they are among the elite of the elite in the NCAA D-I world. It would be unfair otherwise. And if they did not, that does not make them a Smitty, just human like the rest of us who would kill to be in their plate shoes. Back under my rock

Same here. We talk ad nauseum about retail items here from Chest Protectors to books, to virtually anything else you can name. We're pretty on top of umpiring related things. I love when somebody like Mark in this thread or Jim from Ump-Attire, Aaron from Honigs or Brad from All-Star take the time to see what is important to us - their customers. I wish other companies would do the same. I would have loved to see someone from unequal chime in on their product. But I dislike when someone comes and makes one post about their stuff and disappears.

When I met Warren in Philly we looked at the Unequal Chest Protector together at the Honig's table. BTW Warren was wearing his Ump Attire cap and did get a look from the man behind the table. But this rig was interesting. There was more to it than I thought there would be. It reminded me of the Honigs K-1 to an extent. It was soft but there was something hard beneath the pad. I often wanted the K-1 but never pulled the trigger. I am going to continue to reserve judgement. I've read a lot of negatives about it, but there are others who are in love with this piece so it cant be all bad. Did anybody ever read anything positive on the Davis Shield CP? I don't recall it. So I don't think that is a good comparison. If I get a partner this year who has one and will let me wear it, I will then make up my mind.

You guys who only call the belt or there abouts. You're leaving legitimate strikes on the table. Remember the zone isnt when standing straight up, it is when he is prepared to strike at the ball. The center of the chest is a completely acceptable strike. At a camp I went to Paul Nauret said to call it at the nipples. A friend who is a former milb ump said they were stressing getting the good high strikes. Also in this years NCAA clinic they mentioned that more coaches complain about small strike zones than big ones. Strikes= Outs = shorter games. Get the strikes!!!

I'm honestly not trying to be a jerk here, but first I wouldn't try it on mesh. But mesh isn't suitable for any level of organized baseball. The cost isn't that different from the wool, and for all the effort umpires go through to look the part, a mesh cap would ruin all of that effort.

Good stuff my hat and shirt arrived. Good quality and looks good.

I friend sent me this link and asked if that was a legit Nike mask. The padding doesn't look the same as what I've seen, but I don't know these masks that well, So I pointed him over here to the guru's of gear junkies. http://www.ebay.com/...=item2c6895bbd7

Get this on video. I'm sure it will be more realistic than the ones on the unequal site.

This is when you as an umpire need to step up your game. Break those confernces up quickly. Get them hustling in bringinig in the new pitcher. Don't allow any lollygagging. Use every gamemanagement tool available that you have. Remember just because they are allowed a conference there is no specification on how long they have. Coach goes for his first visit go up there with him and as soon as he gets there ask is the pitcher staying or going. Once he says he's staying, break it up. For the second visit intercept the coach and ask him who hes got coming in. and hustle to get the change made. Make sure you have plenty of baseballs in your ball bags. The last thing you want in a situation like this is to be waiting on baseballs. Because while all of the above happened what might get reported to your boss is that the game was delayed because the umpire was waiting on baseballs.

After reading this thread here are my thoughts. * It appears from these posts the unequal chest protector as shown in the video was a crude "beta" version of the CP. * According to several posts it has been improved since then. * Maybe other instructors then said they wouldn't use it, but with the changes they will. We don't know when UIC's friend saw used the unequal, we can only assume it was about the same time as the original video. Other thoughts. I would have liked to see Evans take the shot dead center rather than move to the side. (not that I want to see him hurt) I wonder why they would release this video using a "beta" product. Others have mentioined they put the time money and effort into this video for a lesser quality product. IMO they wanted to have an audiance to ooooh and ahhh. If they filmed it now with the final product they wouldn't get the audiance. Show us a video of the current version done in the studio with a direct hit. Evans owns the other forum and should know how us internet umpires tear things apart for fun. And known that people would say that hit wasn't the real thing and would take issue with it. Now there is no way I believe the other videos that are posted around here where the guy is getting hit in the chest with the bat lacross stick shovel andwhatnot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ry0NJRcWb8 This video makes me skeptical those aren't real hits the guy's body bare moves with the so called "force" he is hit with. Any of the blue hair bettys at the bingo hall will hit you harder with their walker if you interrupt their game. Your average LL minors kid can swing a bat hard enough to knock a man standing flat footed. down. I think these videos have late nite infomercial written all over them. Act now and we'll throw in a shamwow for no extra cost. Now I do want to see this product live up to the hype. While I love my platinum I'd love to have a light-weight, cooler (temp wise), less bulky yet highly protective chest protector. I'd part with some of my hard earned salary to get it. So I am looking forward to your reviews. But as of today I'm not sold.

I really cant believe that anybody who has read anything on any of the umpire forums about OC would ever buy from them. Here's my summary for future readers: 1. Yes they are cheaper. Note I said cheaper not less expensive. But they are less expensive too. 2. Their quality varies and it is a total craps shoot if you get the better or lesser quality 3. Their customer service couldn't be worse even if they tried 4. Along with their horrid customer service they refuse to communicate with the suckers who purchase their goods 5. They repeatedly list and accept payment for goods they do not even have available 6. Many of their products don't match the items they are knocking off in terms of colors size of stripes 7. Their reply is that the industry would adjust to them (I forget their exact line) If you want to order from a company like, help yourself. But don't come complaining when they do you like theydo everybody else. You have been warned!

Like many of you I have been following the Better Know an Umpire series, but obviously it is written with the bias of the unwashed masses of fans. I think Umpire-Empire should start a similar but more objective series of umpire articles to paraphrase the late great Paul Harvey -'Now you can give them the rest of the story. We could get some of the knowledgable guy's here and come up with some great articles especially if they work together in writing it. They could be posted in the Article section -- Which BTW is way under used here... Thoughts?

Crawling out of my hole for this one - I do not own this CP but here's what I get from reading what you all write. Douglas makes quality gear no doubt. HOWEVER, I believe this is a superior price point for an average - below average protector. It appears to have a known manufacturing/design defect with the gap in the shoulder area. It is enough of a problem that guys are paying extra for an already overpriced product to fix their defect. And they have obviously recognized this defect and have designed a solution for you -- if you request and pay for it. Gents, I'm at a loss here. I've seen many of you rip apart inferior/ defective products. Look at the treatment the DavisShield got when it came out. Many of you guys cruicified it. (Before U-E began) This leads me to believe that because it has the Douglas brand on it you like it and not only accept it's fault, but are willing to pay extra for it, reality check time my friends. I bet if this product came from a lesser brand like Champro, Shutt, Champion, POS, or any other number of other brands you would be demanding that our brothers not buy it until they fixed it. I'll be on the market for a new CP in about 2-3 years, and as this one currently is I would not select it. Please somebody enlighten me? Also UIC I hope you're at least getting a cut of this. I've read here of the guys who are shelling out their hard earned dollars for this. I bet Umpire-Empire is the leading source of their orders. I hope retaliers like Ump-Attire think long and hard before carrying this product.

Sorry to see you go Harry. I'm a far better umpire because of you. This is truly a sad day for umpires.

Shaking off the rust here. FED rules in an interesting scrimmage. R1 & R2, 0 outs, batter has 2 strikes. Both runners break on the pitch. Batter whiffs badly and comes across the plate for K3. Easy BI. F2 can't make throw to second. Obviously the batter is out and nobody contested the BI. Here's where it gets interesting. I also called R2 out & sent R1 back. I felt confident in my call, but then... OC comes out calmly and peacefully. He states since the attempted play was on R1, he should be out and R2 return to 2nd. I stuck to my call. But the seed of doubt was planted. My rationalle it that it was more of a penalty getting the lead runner. But for the life of me I couln't remember the rule didn't help: Let me have it.

Not that I think anybody here would do it, but unfortunately I've seen it first hand --- DO NOT TRY TO OUT SMART ANY INSTRUCTOR! DO NOT ASK "WHAT IF" QUESTIONS! DO NOT EVEN APPEAR TO BE DISENGAGED FROM THE INSTRUCTION! DO NOT TRY TO ONE BETTER ANY INSTRUCTOR DO NOT BE A BROWN NOSE DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH ANYBODY WHO DOES ANY OF THE ABOVE. YOU COULD BE SEEN AS GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION. DO IDENTIFY THE TOP PEOPLE IN YOUR GROUPS AND WORK COLLABORATIVELY WITH THEM, STUDYING, PRACTICING MECHANICS, ANYTHING. Instructors love when they are walking down the hall late night hearing guys practicing their calls "He's out!" , "Safe!", "He's off the bag!", "Strike" ...

I'm digging my head out of the lurking hole once again to get your thoughts on how you would handle this I belong to 3 different umpiring associations "A" is a HS association I consider my primary association who has a few college contracts. "B" is a HS association I like to work but isn't convenient to work too frequently, but up to this point hasn't had any college ball. "C" assigns JuCo & NAIA (sorry nothing bigger in my neck of the woods so no D-I in my future) So far there really hasn't been any conflict among the three. I have a feeling that is about to change. I heard through the grapevine today that my secondary HS association "B" just won the contract for a nearby JuCo which up until this point was handled by yet another association which is about 100 miles away. Apparently both of my other associations bid on it and lost. I don't think there is going to be a problem with "C" they are very laid back and understanding about most things. "A" is going to be a very different story. They are very possessive and get a bit uptight when I accept games elsewhere they even expect me to drop games with other associations at their bidding which is frustrating. But they have the most games and they are more convenient. The booking agent typically will say things like "Yes you are independent contractors, but I'm not obligated to assign to games either." He has also said when we competed with another group for an AAU tournament that they did not get -- but the client did eventually come back to us to do their tourneys-- that "If we work games for an association we lost a bid to, it's the same as screwing us and you can expect your game count to go down" Here's another tidbit, B & C will publish my entire season's schedule in February, A posts them out 2ish weeks in advance then will get upset when I'm already scheduled and can't take a game they want me to do. I am anticipating "A" getting ticked when they find I will be doing these games somewhat frequently, but I don't want to hurt my primary HS schedule. "A" doesn't give me much college just 2-3 games/year. With "B" they don't have as many guys who can handle more than the typical JuCo or NAIA game which calls it's self. For better or worse honestly have more issues than I really would expect handling your M1A1 HS game. That being said I am expecting to get my fair share of these. My question is to what cost? How would you handle this? Thanks for your input, I'm crawling back in my hole.

Had this happen at the HS season opener last night (at least since the rain). The first 2 outs of the inning come pretty quickly. B3 gets a ball through the infield for a hit B4 comes up as a righty. With R1, F1 feints to first - easy Balk no arguments from anybody. Now we have 2 out R2. Passed ball, R2 goes to third. OC calls time talks to his batter. B4 comes back to the plate as a lefty and bunts up the 1BL for a hit and scoring R3. DC all of the sudden has a conniption that the batter switched sides. My partner the PU says all is fine. He comes to me for my thoughts. I tell him I've got nothing, the game situation changed causing the offense to change strategy. My partner had a heated discussion w/ DC but no EJ. (Great game management) Back at the car we pull out the FED book. The closest rule which applies is 7-3-3: We both agreed that since time had been called the pitcher was definitely not "in position ready to pitch" and are satisfied with our call. Discuss as I go back under my rock...

Grow up. Imagine you or your hoodlum friend just doing your job and as soon as your finished saying ... Would you like fries with that... you get decked. Not cool. The umpire showed incredible restraint in not retaliating because he can't for 2 reasons. He's an adult and the player is a kid, and he's the authority figure. If the umpire does not file charges I hope the DA's office will bring this to a grand jury to make a case with out the umpire's help and put an injunction against him playing in or even going to public sporting events. I was stationed in the old Philadelphia Navy Yard twice in my career and enjoyed my time in the area the two of you don't represent your area well. Had I done something like this when I was young I wouldn't have lived long enough to worry about being suspended, I probably wouldn't have made it off the field. My father - who taught me how to be a real man not an egomaniac with a bad attitude and zero respect for others - would have torn me up. Dimes to dollars this kid has no father. That's the problem with todays fatherless, don't dicipline your kids, children are never wrong left wing society. Enough said I'll go back to lurking.

I loaded an avatar but do not see it, whats going on?

I know it's a balk when a Lefty w/o stepping off feints to first. Is it a balk when a Righty feints to 3rd? I wanted to call it but hesitated. Nobody said anything.