Kevin_K

Brings a whole new meaning to punching his ticket.

http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=30940821 Ummmmm....... wow.

Running is not baseball. My miles generally are within about 5 seconds of each other from start to finish.

I would not get in the car for $30

Wasn't there a discussion some weeks back about base umpires wearing "plate coats?"

I have had two intentional drops this year! Both my partners had the deer in the headlights, wtf do I do now look. I remember watching that game when I was a kid. Based on the sound of the voices, I think the announcers are (in order of appearance) Tony Kubek, Joe Garagiola, and Tom Seaver. That might be why they knew the rules. Then again, many announcers today, including the idiot who calls games on the south side of Chicago, were professional players as well.

And D'Arnuad has the bill of his helmet facing forward. As noted in http://umpire-empire.com/index.php/topic/54742-catchers-helmet-under-mask-bill-forward/

lmao!

Wow - that is more expensive than my HS board, college board and hockey board combined! We have to buy our uniforms, but can use vendor of our choice (except for college board), but once you have them it is just up-keep. What do you get for $200.00? Hosed?

I am told by a female that has done several baseball regionals that women can't put it their pocket, hips don't allow it. Evidently throwing it in takes too long so traditionally LL has used the shirt. Then maybe they should be allowed to wear a pouch, get pants with bigger pockets, or throw the balls in since it's dead ball anyway. Never heard that crap about hips. :-( Are you suggesting perhaps that they wear a ball bag on the bases?

Very good crew - they have lots of experience and had fun at the same time.HP - Paul Sammon 22 yearsU1 - Wayne Beaumier 15 yearsU2 - Keith Allison 20 yearsU3 - Ken Peterson 33 years it shows. They're wearing PWs, their caps are creased. They look like they belong in uniform. And Paul looks like he's been to a camp or 10. Very polished and professional crew. They way the corner guys stand ready is the way I'm told its taught at HWUS. And the way I see MiLB crews do it. I have worked with Paul. Top notch in all respects

Take a look at the link below for a recent example of a pitcher taking warm ups and not facing a batter: http://www.closecallsports.com/2013/08/ask-uefl-patton-substitution-to-start.html

The state of NJ requires all high school athletes to take that baseline exam as well. Going further, all officials must get concussion training awareness every year or they cannot work in any sporting events.

Maybe he is auditioning for a role as an Oompa Loompa the next remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

As a wise veteran told me when I first started in the umpire business.... Don't go looking for trouble. You will always find it.

One of the checks I received from a team bounced when I deposited it. The deposit was three weeks after the game was played. I received the original assignment through an assigner who has a great many clients throughout the area. I contacted the manager via e-mail providing my home address and phone number, and he said he would get me another check plus the bank fees and made some excuse about a deposit not being credited.. I waited a week. No check came. I once again connected him via e-mail (I have no phone number for him). I waited a week. No check came. I do not want to be a prick, but I would like to be paid. I received the original assignment through an assignor who has a great many clients throughout the area. What are your thoughts about contacting the assignor versus another message to the manager?

When I was growing up in the 1970s and living in Northern New Jersey the school year was September through June. I wondered if they were still doing that. Around here school started last week on August 1st and goes through May. The goal is to finish the Fall semester before the Christmas break. School in NJ generally still starts right after Labor day and goes until about June 20. Four more weeks of summer vacation left!

Willie, Mickey, and the Duke. Whitey. The Babe. Pee Wee. Yogi. Need a last name - or a real first name? Hahahaha! When I get to umpire those guys I won't worry about lineup cards, BOO, or anything. It will be like Field of Dreams. Or, I'll actually be dead. (Well, Willie and Yogi are the only ones living.) Now, if you are saying some youth travel ball players are known across this land by their nicknames, then I must be working the wrong travel ball tournaments! it might come as quite a shock to Whitey Ford that he is no linger living.

Must be your good looks that gets you there. I am working hard at it but I will admit I do not have a feel for it like I do for soccer or baseball. It will come. Focus on mechanics, rules, and communicating with your partners. One of the things that helped me was to attend local college matches to see how it should be done and to ask a lot of questions. If you get the Big 10 channel, they carry womens volleyball live on Fridays and Saturdays. Saw a lot of good things on those telecasts. It take a few years for me to really feel comfortable, but you will pick up the nuances of the game a little at a time especially if you are working matches as a lines person with partners who are good.

Volleyball may be one of the most difficult sports to officiate properly. Just as baseball has different responsibilities for umpires, so does volleyball. Most spectators only pay attention to the play near the ball, but there are so many other aspects of the game that officials have to be able to recognize instantly in order to officiate the game correctly. For example, the down official needs to ensure that the defensive team’s players are in the proper positions as the ball is put into play. That may seem easy, but when teams substitute continually, the official needs to track which players are in the set and which of the six positions each should be in throughout the match. The up official also needs to track the order of the serving team and the receiving team to ensure that not only are the teams in proper alignment, but also that both team’s players do not return the ball improperly if they are supposed to be in the back row. I have officiated volleyball for about ten years. It took me about four years of constant attention to master the teams’ rotations, alignments, and other things that the casual fan knows nothing of like back row attacks, jousts, and illegal libero replacements. In NJ, girls’ volleyball is a fall sport and boys’ (which is a completely different animal) is in the spring. Boys’ volleyball does not have near the participation that the girls do, so springtime is for baseball first and volleyball second. Girls’ volleyball starts in three weeks. The fees for volleyball exceed baseball, as the norm is to have varsity followed by JV. Typically, an official will earn $105-$115 for the combined matches. Freshman matches are solo and typically run in the $70-75 range. Volleyball coaches get on bad officials (like they should). Girls rarely give any lip, while the boys can act like animals if you let them. Game management is critical for boys, but not so much for the girls. The fans can get surly in big matches, but who cares about them? Volleyball is a great sport when played and officiated correctly.

Sometimes, it is best to accept the words of others, silently digest the advice, and continue to do as you choose wthout engaging in a debate on the virtues or drawbacks of either your viewpoint or some one else's divergent view. Often, simply thanking some one for their thoughts will earn your far more credibility and good will than anything else you might say, especially if you do not hold a similar opinion.

HS varsity game on turf in late March. RH batter laces a one hopper to F5 who stops the ball with the bridge of his nose. The ball ricochets to his right and rolls to the left field fence beyond third base. R1 advances to 3B and BR to 2B as F5 is on his hands and knees with a considerable amount of blood coming out of his nose onto the carpet. F6 ran to retrieve the ball and started to run it in to the infield. Once he got to the inside of the infield and the runners stopped their advancement, I killed it. Nary a peep from anyone as the home team cleaned up the blood from the carpet. F5 came out of the game and we moved on. That said, the level of play, the age of the players, and common sense all have to be considered. Every situation that anyone contributes is a HTBT and unique.

Quite honestly, I don't care if he beat his wife and murdered someone. He's the all-time hit leader and it's a travesty he isn't in the Hall of Fame. You get into the Hall of Fame based on your performance as a result of your God-given abilities. Until you remove guys like Ty Cobb from the HOF there's no excuse to keep Rose out. I was at the HOF today. Prominently displayed in the locker area of the museum are the rules posted in every clubhouse and dugout in every major league park. Gambling has its own section. The prohibition on gambling is explicitly detailed for all participants, for obvious reasons. Pete Rose violated the cardinal rule of baseball that goes to the root of the integrity of the game. He agreed to a ban. He claims it was temporary. Unfortunately, Bart Giamatti is dead and cannot refute Rose's claims. The agreement indicates that Rose can apply for reinstatement. He did. The commissioner had decided multiple times not to act. Rose has since admitted to gambling on baseball. Seems like the commissioner made the right decision. Hence, the ban will likely remain in effect until Rose has passed on. As far as Cobb goes, it is intellectually dishonest to judge a man’s behavior using today social customs and mores. Cobb was a racist. It is likely every other player in the major leagues at the time was. Some of the most revered men in American history owned slaves, That is far worse using today’s standards to judge their behavior, yet Jefferson, Washington, and Andrew Jackson all adorn American currency. Should their status in America’s pantheon of heroes by taken away because they acted as their society presumed they should? Cobb belongs in the Hall because his behavior, while considered reprehensible today, did not undermine the foundation of the core of the game we love. Rose agreed to the ban and it should stand.

How ever did you remember his name?

In addition to the normal protocol in these tournaments I would say about 10% of the BU's go to short RF between innings. Most of them either lean up against the fence or stand and talk to the first base coach between innings. I think part of the reason for this is that when doing 5-7 games in fairly hot weather, sometimes keeping cool trumps protocol. So since so much of their time is spent hydrating between innings it seems kind of pointless to make sure all other times they are in short RF. I make a point of doing it because it's what you are supposed to do. But most of the guys I work with in these tournaments do not. So I probably have more conversations that I should simply because they are coming in and talking to me for no reason. If I adhered to all the proper protocol (once again I adhere to most of it), I would literally be the only umpire doing it. So at some point I just take the attitude that I will do my thing and they can do their's. I'm not going to correct guys where no one else is expecting them to do anything different. My advice to you is that if you truly want to improve, don't follow the sheep (who are using sub-standard methods). Sometimes being the "only umpire doing something" isn't necessarily a bad thing - maybe some of these umpires you post about will start doing the right thing once they see you doing it. Or they will ask in postgame, "why did you do...."; this is the time for a teaching/learning moment, not between innings. I will now defer to you so you can have the last word Sorry I think I was a little unclear. I don't "follow the sheep", but I also don't go out of my way to correct them. If it's a newer umpire that does not know, then I'll tell them what they should be doing. But if it's an experienced umpire that just figures in this tournament he doesn't have to bring his "A" game then all I'm going to do by telling him is create an adversarial relationship. I won't be telling them something they don't know, I'll just be telling them something they've made the choice not to bother doing. When I go out there I make every effort to follow the proper between inning mechanics. I make a point of being on the base line of the team that is hitting for that half inning when PU, and I'm always in short RF as BU. The protocol that I don't follow is that I don't shoo my partner away when he comes to talk to me. Maybe I should, but it just seems like the negative outweighs the positive in that situation. You could also walk away without saying a word as though some pressing concern has gotten your attention on the other side of home plate. Even the most obtuse among us should receive that message after a couple of innings.