UmpJM

For all of you Cooperstown regulars, just wanted to let you know that Curt Bremer has passed away. One of a kind and a great guy. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to know him. http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/Curtis-Henry-Bremer-105580778

Hawk Harrelson - White Sox. No-brainer.... JM

Rick, There is no such rule. Neither player is out. The batter who walked does need to touch 1B for the R3's run to count. JM

mpackard, The position of the fielder's feet is irrelevant to the call. The position of the ball when it is touched is what matters. From your description, it sounds like the ball was over foul territory when first touched and should have been ruled foul. JM

Jocko, Man, tough crowd. Does it matter that the pic was taken AFTER the game? JM

Worked a 16U tournament game at beautiful Trout Park in Elgin, IL with UmpTTS43 & a friend from my association earlier today. Beautiful day, but the teams were not evenly matched and we mercied in about 55 minutes. Not a whole lot for the umpires to do....

It was a HS game. Train wreck. Live ball, play the bounce. If R3's miss is appealed for the 3rd (or "apparent 4th") out of the half inning, no run scores on the play. PU did not appear to be in a good position on the play. JM

Bump.

I agree. It was a shove, but not much of one. If F1 had ended up face first on the ground, then MC would be warranted. grayhawk, Maybe, maybe not. Depends. While a given outcome might influence, it is not in and of itself probative. JM

maven, Well that's understandable. I believe you had suffered a severe concussion from the roundhouse, and I understand that can cause "memory impairment" affects. Now, to my everlasting embarrassment and chagrin, I am compelled to admit not ALL of our contests have gone as that one did. (See: "impartial") And of course, regardless of the outcome, I always enjoy "slugging it out with you". (IIRC I never really apologized to you for the "low blow". Nor will I now. ) 'Til next time. JM

noumpere, I think you raise an excellent point - both in respect to umpiring per se - and in respect to discussing umpiring in fora such as this. Namely, the "Maybe I'm envisioning the play differently from everyone else,..." part. It called to mind a memorable "donnybrook" from a few years back, when maven and I went "toe to toe" through six rounds, before I landed the following "roundhouse" and his corner "threw in the towel". (He may have still been trying to recover from the "low blow" I had snuck in immediately before the roundhouse - an intentional tactic which I'm not particularly proud of, but it's very effective, and I can be a VERY competitive person.) To wit: The point being, it is at least a nearly impossible task to use words so precisely that they convey precisely the same picture to everyone who reads them. It is quite common for people to get materially different pictures in their "mind's eye" even though they just read the exact same words. It is a source of some frustration to me that this frequently results in endless and pointless discussion about a potentially informative and interesting topic, because people are "arguing" with each other on the different "word pictures" they are seeing, and don't even realize that's what they are arguing about it. As a result, the learning points get obscured or lost all together. Noumpere clearly "gets this" as does maven, & so do many others. I wish everyone did. JM

rolo, You should hear what he had to say about YOU.... BTW, I can't quite put my finger on it, but you somehow look a little "different" in your new avatar photo. Have you lost weight? JM

grayhawk, Jeez.... What a redass! Just messin' with ya', man. Well, mostly. Couple of thoughts for you which you are free to take or leave, as you see fit. #1."Ignore" works for me here too (at least if it's the first "significant" one I've heard from him). But, if you think about it objectively, you'll likely admit that probably "looked bad" from his perspective. And his batter was called out on a pitch that looked bad. While there is a risk in doing so, I have, on occasion, found the opportunity after the inning ended, to discreetly say something like "Mike, I know that probably looked bad from where you were, and the pitcher did miss his spot, but the whole ball was over the plate (it's OK to exaggerate a little in this part...) and it was a strike. If your pitcher misses his spot and it's over the plate, he's getting the strike too." You don't want to be the least bit "apologetic" or "defensive" about it, but I don't think there's anything wrong with telling him what you had. #2. You were there and I wasn't. But, as I read your description, I get a picture of a snot-nosed JV kid pissing off an umpire, and the umpire letting it show. You never want to let it show when a kid pisses you off. It's like throwing chum into a shiver of sharks. You certainly "address it", but I wouldn't do what you did. (Nor would I have ejected him on the spot.) Can you think of another way (or ways) that you might have addressed it that might have been better? #3. Ignore. #4. Nice job. How fun! (Good job catching the "disregard" condition. Easy thing to forget in all the "excitement".) #5. Sounds OK to me. Needed to be addressed, you addressed it. In similar situations, where one player reasonably believes an opposing player has done something "unsportsmanlike" to him when he really didn't, I have given the "offended" player an explanation. "I understand why that annoyed you, but I was watching real close, and he didn't do anything dirty. He just thought the needed to tag you." You say it your own way, not my way. All in all, I must say it sounds like fun! JM

Jocko, I'd like to see THAT! carolinablue, I'm giving him 1B. Think about it. Pitch "chases" the batter out of the box and he is hit with a foot outside. Are you going to keep him there? If you do, I guarantee you will shortly have an excellent opportunity to exercise your "situation management" skills. JM

BalkHawk, Exactly my point. Well said. JM