MadMax

Good thing my iPhone is splash-resistant. Your mention of a bucket 🪣 does bring up an integral factor of skullcaps vs. HSMs, AKA “buckets”. I will never criticize a HSM -wearer for choosing to use a HSM based on their own personal decision. However, I will criticize* the reasons presented – those that are valid are acknowledged; those that are invalid are countered and/or corrected. With that said, I will mercilessly scrutinize anyone who pushes, or directs, or (worse) compels other umpires to use (buy) a HSM instead of or over other options, especially with invalid or false reasons. “HSMs are NOCSAE -certified!” – Pfffft. Meaningless. “HSMs are better / preventative against concussions!” – Pfffft. False and impossible to prove. “HSMs give you a better view” – 🐂 💩, unmeasurable. Now, if you opt for a HSM (primarily or exclusively) because it provides head protection (bat follow-thrus, close/low backstops, etc), then I’ll concede that’s a valid reason. However, that’s exactly what the skullcap addresses and provides! If you were to say, “It’s not enough coverage on the sides!”, then I’ll again concede that to HSMs. That’s an issue that needs to be improved by skullcap design, and perhaps solved by a unique-to-umpires head protection solution… instead of using a HSM intended for catchers!!! Any time the argument between HSMs and conventional masks (for umpires, specifically) is tabled, I always put forth the “wisdom” of Wilson. Why did they end the Shock FX, which was an ideally designed and capable HSM for umpires?? Because no catcher was buying it, and Wilson was losing money on it. They don’t care about us. I’m going to present that the Force3 Defender actually performs better with a skullcap instead of a ballcap. The weight – that inescapable component of the mechanically-optimized Defender – is distributed across the entirety of the skullcap’s shell. Thus, the harness can be rock-&-lock tight to the skullcap, and the Defender’s springs and shocks are allowed to function exactly as they’re designed and engineered to. So many guys get this wrong. They believe or have been told that a loose mask is desired… and that info is correct – for every other conventional mask. The Defender needs a firm foundation, though, so the springs are activated and loaded by the energy. The Big League guys (ie. on TV) don’t wear Defenders, though, because they’re too weighty. And, if they take a headshot, regardless the severity, they’re exiting the Plate role in today’s game. The AS Skuly is not without its faults. Among MLBUs, you’ll notice that most opt for the Rawlings skullcap over the AS. Why? Maybe because Rawlings is 49% owned by MLB, and is the official supplier of all helmets (rightly so, they’ve done the most R&D work on this) in professional baseball. AS is under no obligation to do anything for (us) umpires, because they’ve got catchers to supply and design gear to. So, once again (for the > hundredth time), I’m blaming and seething contempt on Wilson. On that AS Skuly, another flaw (and one that other skullcaps (Rawlings, Easton, etc) fail to address at all, so shame on them)… why is the concussion-protecting-hi-tech foam… at the back??? Why isn’t it up front?? Because catchers wear the brim backwards. Umpires wear brim forwards; again, no one cares about us. I’ll let a few more responses and posts arrive on the thread, then I’m going to unload a lot of disdain and wrath on college umpires regarding skullcaps.

Some guys in our profession are so old, it’s carbon dating that’s the applicable term.

Ya know, I’m really starting to ponder my career trajectory. At some point, I won’t be able to physically “answer the bell” 🔔 to work the number of games so as to keep a revenue stream flowing… and I am inept administratively, so that rules out assigning. So maybe I should consider polishing my “radio voice”, and go into broadcasting. 🤔 My favorite part of the entire video is the product-placement shot of the DeltaFlex-by-UnderArmour mask harness… for skullcaps… worn with a hat. It ain’t a Wilson, the brand isn’t marked out, and that sure ain’t a skullcap he’s wearing! 🫨 Heh… … is he getting “Bad look!” evaluation demerits?

… and the use of the umpire room, while appreciated and deserving, was completely foreign to them. I bet one of them was bewildered as to why he/they couldn’t just change in the parking lot. Sarcastic levity aside, my main concern has not been the umpires’ physical condition or age. It’s wholly based on awareness, acuity, and… grasp… of 3- & 4- man principles. More than once, I’ve witnessed umpires move or position themselves into the path of players or a (soon to be) thrown ball, or out of position entirely, all because they regress to “habit”, or freeze because they don’t know where to go and they forget they’re on a crew greater than 2. Is that their fault, or failure? Not entirely, nor even mostly. Instead, it’s the fault of the association! Zoom meetings and reviews of diagrams do not constitute training!!! You identify the postseason candidates (“Oh, we’re going to surprise him and reward him, and inform him last minute so he doesn’t get a big head over it” 🙄), you get some time set aside, you pay for their gas to a field or venue, and you get them physically engaged to the point where they become at least – at the very least – cognizant of where they need to position themselves, and where they need to move (and, more importantly… where not to move, ie. “thou shall not pivot in from A as U1 on a 4-man crew… no matter how many times you’ve done it in your career, no matter how many times your association “evaluators” ding you on not doing a buttonhook pivot, and no matter how much that pivot was drilled into you at Jim Evans School”. But, the bottom line is, you get your association to act, beyond lip service and granting post-season assignments on charity, favoritism, or nepotism.

em mine. Huh. 🤔 That’s actually how it works for lone runner on (anywhere), R1-R3, R2-R3 and < 2 outs. Insightful.

You are. Yup. Seriously. So many amateur umpires (ab)use their uniform items (shirts, hats, jackets) simply because of miserly cheapness and laziness. “Ya know, our state (*cough* Ohio! *cough*) requires us to get a new shirt every 2 years, so I may as well use it – or the previous one – for any/all games I do. Same goes for this hat! Ya know, they just don’t make hats like they used to, and this one from ______ (10) years ago still fits me, so why buy a new one?” In fairness, if you’re running a state or private association, and desire / demand uniformity, then you should be providing the uniforms!

It’s probably a no-name brand, or a Dalco, or a Cliff Keen. Heck, it might be an Adams. 😬 There’s no way it’s a “quality” brand, like Honigs, GerryDavis, or Smitty. Why not cause a… ripple… by getting something from GerryDavis, or a style like this? Oooooo… scary to TPTB and their status quo. Especially those in Ohio. No, worse, silver. Why? Cuz they started out heather grey!!!

You make a very valid point. However, as I’ve now pointed out now 3 times in this topic, if you want / expect / require us to wear your uniform, then you should provide it. Now, to be fair, if you are able to and choose to maintain > 2 colors / styles of shirts (I have, what, 18+? Yeesh), you should not be disdainful or dismissive of those that can’t… … or won’t, I suppose. Everyone’s got their somethin’.

Swell. Yet another instance of “same kids are playing it (the game), might be the same umpires calling it, but it depends on who/what underwrites it”. Maddening.

They’re responsive to those people who… let’s say… put a value on their opinions, feedback, and needs being responded to. And, with the volume they produce, there are incentivized discounts and dividends to be had. To their credit, when poly-spandex became the latest trend, they made a very solid set of pants. They didn’t fade towards purple (like Davis polyesters did), were cut just generous enough to be athletic and accommodate different body types, and weren’t diaphanously thin (like the first batches of Honig’s were).

The “NCAA shade” isn’t an actual, quantifiable color value. All that TPTB want (expect, direct, demand) are pants – and indeed, all uniform items – that are clean, wrinkle-free, not faded, and… here’s the big issue… are representative of the time, preparation, and attention that comes with such a “prestigious assignment”. I once heard a college coordinator imbue to the group via Zoom call – “Guys, I got you a 15 dollar per game raise, the least you can do is buy new pants.” They don’t want you wearing the same pants you wore on a 4-game tournament spread on a fall-ball weekend; they want you wearing pants (and hats, and shirts, and shoes, etc.) that appear as if the game they’ve assigned you to is the best-funded and most important game on the docket.

2016. Hence why you’ve seen me tab it as the “2016 Panel-style”. The actual style was prototyped in 2015, when Majestic made a significant reengineering of their CoolBase fabric. They had purchased a substantial quantity of it, but MLBU’s could not settle on a style change in a responsive manner, so Majestic made them in all-black. They also made a navy & red version to market to (stubborn) amateur organizations. You’re right on 2019, but it was showing up as early as 2017-18 in a few small college conferences. In classic NCAA fashion, though, the first (3?) rounds of playoff baseball were conducted with the 2010 VS-style shirt… because there was a backstock of those shirts already emblazoned with the NCAA blue circle 🔵 logo. You’re seeing that now with the 2022 “Fanatics” style, with the contrasting placket at the collar. Black w/ sky blue placket; Sky blue w/ black placket. If the organization foots the bill and provides it, then they can tell us (me) what to wear. If I have to buy my own uniform, without stipend or arrangements, then I will be choosing what to wear, when. In a word, compliance. TPTB take it as symbolic compliance. If you’re not compliant with their (uniform) rules, then which other baseball (or softball) rules are you not compliant with? That’s my single greatest gripe against NFHS. They deify us (umpires) and load us with all manners of absolute authority, responsibility – and all the conjoined liability – but yet will not allow us to choose our own attire?? 🤨 God’s not compelled to wear a brand, or color*. I’m with you on this. I was gifted a black w/ pink trim, and a pink w/ black trim from TheOfficialsChoice because I’ll only wear them on Awareness or memorial games. I lost a GF to ovarian cancer when we were in our 20’s. It’s a wretched illness. Without seeing PatchLatch (thanks @kylehutson ), it sounds like it’s for soccer, football, lacrosse, and basketball… which use circular patches instead of rectangular. Who uses rectangular? MLB. Where is it placed? On the pocket. So five of my/our summer leagues redesigned their logos, all ascribed to a rectangular shape. 🤔 Guess where they’ve been designated to be attached? Yup, pocket. Why? Looks like Professional baseball. * - I heard He has an affinity for white, but who knows? He might favor sky blue.

… but yet, trying to also appease any/all grievances and sources of input/influence. The CCA Manual has several notable departures / differences from the OBR/MLBUM, among them “rimming”, and – directly relevant to @Richvee’s entire inspiration for his topic – a potential DP & FPSR (at 2B, specifically). And college “evaluators” hammer umpires on this, expecting and enforcing a measure of compliance and conformity. It could be simpler… but does it go against the CCA Manual, or (worse) go against what So-&-So instructed at X Clinic? FTR, I’m not against clinics, manuals, training materials, or instruction. I’m concerned with how they’re conducted & conveyed. “Here, read this”, doesn’t really have effective results.

This is a different form of viral umpiring. This stems from a (local) umpire looking for balks. Whether influenced by his own misinterpretation of the rules, or by some local association discussion / directives (a “clinic” perhaps?), or from observation of another umpire call (or tell about) this, he jumped on this because it “didn’t look right”. The others supporting him stems from “reinforcement bias”; by their very nature – judgement calls – balks are extremely troublesome to refute or “overturn”. Can’t protest them, can’t go back and correct them… and by an umpire or official adjacent to the action/game in which it occurred stating that it wasn’t a balk, it erodes the discernment of umpires, or it affects the umpire who originated the call, and he feels betrayed and unsupported. As @noumpere alludes, it is near-impossible to step/move/fake/throw to 2B, not disengage the pivot foot, and then resume a pitching position.

In keeping to what @wolfe_man is saying, the dangling throat guard (DTG) is an annoyance, albeit an ever-so-necessary one. As we’ve mentioned, Jorge Posada was the first catcher to get the “modern” mask with an Extended Chin Guard (XCG/XTG) that could serve as its own TG, fixed in place. This was not only to decrease the hinderances that a loose, dangling TG has on a catcher who is trained to tuck his chin down against his chest when blocking a ball in the dirt, but also to allow the highly-marketed Yankee catcher to prop his mask atop his head without a TG dangling in his face. And so the Nike “Icon” Titanium was born. Its XCG was nearly straight down, with minimal forward rake. Ideal for catchers. Heavily treasured by umpires, but when several began to try and hang a DTG on their Icon, the DTG couldn’t free swing, and would often jam against their CP. So, they resorted to… ~barbaric~ methods, often chopping the XCG off entirely. Savages. Savages, I say! Around 2016 (from what I’ve been able to research), Nike reduced the length of the XCG, but did not alter the rake. Other companies (such as Wilson and +POS) introduced more noticeable rake so as to allow DTGs – which they sold as branded accessories – to attach more easily than on an Icon. Wilson went so far as to rake a model of their mask, the Platinum, out to 25-30° (and, conjunctively, stitched on a 🤬stoooopid billow pad on the Platinum CP to eliminate the “CLACK!”, as a marketing ploy). More civilized Pro Umpires began altering / enhancing / augmenting their masks, instead of chopping the XCG off, they’d just tie their TG to the front of the mask, increasing the length, and also obscuring the Team Wendy logo they’d often have… but we’re forced to obscure because of that 🤬stoooopid Wilson exclusivity crap. Jeff Nelson, famously, had his mask custom-modified with a welded on, pharaoh-esque XCG, while Chris Guccione tied on his All-Star wire-cage between the FM4K Mag mask frame and the pad, so it stayed rigid. Others have continued to tie their DTG on the front as well, all in the efforts of extending the XCG’s length while still restricting the free-swinging aspect. Because of how (much) larger these pro catchers are over amateurs, there are much less chances of a fouled ball bouncing up and under.

This sort of “directive” irritates me to the point of “civil defiance”. Why? It’s real simple – Are you (the league / tournament / event / etc) providing the uniform? No? Then pound sand, you’ll have to trust that I’ll wear something of my own choosing that satisfies convention. My college conferences figured it out; they issue (sell at a discount 🙄) us patches and hats, and have an expected standard of presentation (pant shade & cleanliness, etc). This is not brand-specific, nor color specific. Whatever color or style the crew wants to wear, they can, provided they match (or complement), and conference logos are present. What these conferences expect and demand – wholly justifiably – is that we do not wear logo’d uniforms – including hats – for non-sanctioned games. … and yet, I still have either naive (new) colleagues or stubborn jackA$$ partners who wear their sanctioned HS shirts during tournaments, or wear (for example) USSSA hats during a PG or TC event! The naive ones – the ones who don’t know any better – I will gladly give shirts and/or blank caps to. The jackA$$ guys? Yeah, they’re on my sh!tlist. 🤨 It ain’t hard guys, or all that expensive! You don’t have to buy expensive Smitty shirts! Other manufacturers make shirts aplenty, often at good price points. If you properly fit your CP, you can even get one size of shirt, to use on plates and bases! Oh, but it does! The vaunted NFHS Rulebook states nothing about style. To that end, I’ve got 3 different navy styles – traditional, single vertical (red) stripe, and navy w/ red panels… for the express purpose of inciting (reactive) arguments. Seriously! I’m that much of a petty a$$hole to do it. Why? Because… again… unless you (the association) are providing the uniform, either FOC or as part of a stipend, then you have no say in what I choose to wear (within representative reason). I’m in a position in my life and careers that I’m getting patches made of any/all logos that I need, and then using magnets or Velcro to attach them. Then, you can get all huffy-puffy you want over what color or style I – again – choose to wear. I know how “the game” under the table or behind the scenes works, and I’m done playing it for your benefit any more. I’ll contest you to a draw, but you ain’t gonna win.

Okay, so he did… and shouldn’t have. This will be reprimanded / corrected by a supervisor, and he won’t do that again. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Professional umpires aren’t perfect; they’re all equally fallible. Two key differences here – in Professional ball, the chances of a Runner – in lieu of a Balk call WP – going 1B to 3B are exceptionally rare. The F2’s are just too good at hastily retrieving a wayward pitch, and throwing out runners. So had the PU not called Time post-pitch, does R1 reach 3B successfully? Chances are low. I’m not pardoning his mistake, merely presenting the “numbers”. The second difference revolves around the aftermath of a mistake / erroneous call in NFHS (or any non-college amateur) ball, wherein the umpires have minimal to no corrective oversight, or feedback, for that matter.

Oh, you’d love me. *deep breath in* 2022 Fanatic black 2022 Fanatic sky blue 2016 Panel black 2016 Panel sky blue 2016 Panel grey 2016 Panel navy 2015 All-black 2010 vertical stripe (VS) black 2010 VS sky blue 2010 VS grey 2010 VS cream 2010 VS navy 2010 VS red 2010 VS black w/ pink trim ✝️ 2010 VS pink ✝️ 2010 VS Bermuda blue 2010 VS olive green 2010 VS maroon Overcast camo (grey-based) Columbia camo (blue-based) Classic (two-stripe collar & sleeves) black Classic “polo” blue w/ black collar Classic navy … and I’ve given away (or ragged) my Classic red, Classic white, Classic cream, Classic grey… and that hideous Classic “powder blue with navy and white trim” shirt… that softball still holds out and relies on. My Classic navy is buried in a Wisconsin-based tote in storage, just in case some jack@$$ wants to spar with me. Most of my more modern shirts are in Arizona. Yes, I have multiples of each, and even long-sleeved versions (black, typically) of each style shift. I love how my 2016 Panel navy inspires and incenses those I show it to, in equally divided (and divisive) amounts. That 🤬 stupid line in NFHS Rules that states “[shirt] shall be navy” doesn’t say anything about style… so why must it (the shirt we wear) be that arcane “classic” one??!! Hmmmm??!!! I’m Mad Max, and this is my (competing, apparently) TED Talk.

I don’t know the particulars of LL, per se, but at other tournament events I’ve operated within and staffed? Yes. No question. Done. [facetious] We’re supposed to be all eqUals, are we not? [/facetious]

For sanctioned games, the absolute minimum is 2 umpires. So, if this game was supposed to be 6, or 4, or 3, you just excuse or exempt the “missing” umpire, and go down to the lesser -man system. There are plenty of stories in recent Pro baseball where they’ve finished a game with 3 umpires (from a start of 4). In one noteworthy case, an Umpire (ie. Pro guy) was on furlough, and just happened to be in the same city wherein an Umpire crewmember either got injured off-field or ill (I don’t remember), and the furloughed Umpire reported in, used the spare uniform, and executed the game alongside the other 3 Umpires. Many high-end tournaments and leagues have an on-call or on-site spare umpire. Youth/rec ball, unless they started solo, can complete a game with a solo umpire – even if that means calling B&Ks from behind the mound. 😬🫣 However, in that same rec/youth ball, if there is a “qualified” or competent umpire in the crowd, then by all means, if they’re willing to take up the role, facilitate them. I’m grateful to the College umpire who gave me my first opportunity to call college baseball (outside of scrimmages). My apartment bordered one of the city parks in Milwaukee that hosted a stadium-esque 60-90 with 300+ fences, and the lights were already on for warmups when I pulled into my driveway after work. I peered across the street, and saw that the players were fairly large, much more mature than young teenagers. So I headed over just to see who was playing, and it turns out it was a local small college (D-3?) hosting a non-varsity club team from a BIG D-1 school (if you know me, you know which one). I only saw one umpire standing at the backstop, in plate gear, and I approached him through the fence. It turns out that his BU partner got sick or indisposed, and he was about to do a college-level game, solo. So I asked him if he was willing to give me a try on Bases. He asked, “Do you know so-and-so?” “Yeah!” “Does he know you?” “Yeah, I worked with him 2 weeks ago!” “Well, I can’t pay you, because it’s paid electronically, but if you want to, sure… “ I flew back to my apartment, changed into Base Umpire uniform within seconds, and flew back… stepped into the field in the bottom of the 1st inning, and went from there. I learned a lot that night. Far more, and far more promptly, than any camp, clinic, or classroom could ever teach. … and I got paid $40 cash… $20 from each team. 🤑 We can all look back on our careers, and we can identify those 2-3 games that defined our careers. This is one of them for me… all because I was a last-second fill-in.

Nope. Polar opposite… soft, overly-sensitive, and “sissified”.

I really feel for today’s generations. Way too many chemicals and synthetic hormones in the food & water supply.

17U Fall Classic Academic All-Star “Game”. 13 innings in length. MBO, with separate fielder/hitter “pool” and pitching “pool”. Runs in and of themselves didn’t matter. 6-batter threshold (I can’t remember if 3 Outs ended the inning as well). HBP could be counted as a Ball (Dead), instead of an award of 1B. Drawing a walk was not a desired outcome. As the night and innings wore on, the pitch quality faltered, and there were a lot of 3-0 counts. The (my) zone would stretch – without complaint – so as to get a (next) better pitch (hopefully). Late in the game (10+?), a particular batter said to me as he entered the box, “Call everything a strike”. I replied, “I won’t go gross.” “Works for me”, he said. This “fudging” became a trend, as the pitch quality started to really wane. Several batters started to take “token” swings at “stupid” pitches, just to keep from taking a walk. I picked up on – these kids didn’t want to necessarily take bad swings, because they wanted to maintain form – since there were (supposedly) scouts and coaches watching. One such batter, a really confident, gregarious kid, had the count go to 3-0. On the fourth pitch – well off target – he looked back at me with a sly grin after I called “ball out”, and asked, “Did I go?” I met his eyes, and relayed to my BU partner (in A), “Did… he… go?” (spaced out for effect)… My fellow Vulture and BU partner figured out exactly what was going on, and responded, “Yes he did!” Next pitch… repeat. “Did he go?” “Yup!” I don’t remember how this resolved, but the “game” completed, without incident, gripe, or complaint. This was about the performance of baseball players, not about the score. This is the kind of attitude that should be in (most of) the amateur game(s), outside of actual sanctioned contests or leagues. Context matters.

@dumbdumb, you’re on to something… but, in fairness, what the League does is the League’s business. If the participants want to act like clowns, and WWE “wrestlers”, and throw at each other, and “brawl”, then what say do we – outside the fence, despite being amateur umpires – have? Where this behavior and stance affects us is when amateurs carry it into their/our games, and are “shocked!” and “outraged!” when we “shut them down” – as we’re directed to do so by TPTB. Then you’ve got those noodle-spined PTBs that cave, and don’t support us when we do what they direct us to do. However, to be fair, in the absence of direction – published, enforced direction – we’ve gotta stop with this “not on my field, not on my game!” pedantry.

So… you’re saying that 1.37017% of your games are 3-man, and 1% are solo? The bulk of the challenge on teaching U1-in-3MC positioning isn’t so much a play (attempt) at 2B, it’s more about the play at 1B and/or who has BR’s touch and potential back-pick into 1B on a hit. The propensity of a U1 to IP right on the 2B-1B baseline, or even just past that towards the outfield (thus called B-beyond) is understandable, but even with that (good) intention, amateur U1s often handicap themselves on plays at 1B, fly balls to RF (are you out? or in?), and fly balls down the left field line that take U3 out, especially far enough that R2 is tagging to advance on, and/or R3 tags and feints an advance… and, invariably, there’s a play upon R3 (diving back in) at 3B. Why is this an issue? Because amateur umpires tend to default to “staying put” and ball watching. Ya just can’t, and hope to be (consistently) successful in 3-man. Pre-pitch preparedness is essential; you have to assess and prepare for plays, and then alertly and adroitly react to them. Ya can’t just stand there, next to 2B, watch a play unfold around you, take a few hastened steps towards that base (3B or 1B) and then, once the play is over, tap your chest a few times in the quasi-universal apology of “sorry, guys, my bad”. So, I say all this to say – where exactly you position yourself isn’t important so long as you are aware of where you need to be to react effectively to a play. Me? My IP is on the grass/dirt line (infield side)… so B-deep, in the strictest sense.