MadMax

Catchers who have a less-than-contemptuous care for their glove, insomuch that they use it to prop themselves up, sweep off the plate (I have a brush, ya know), draw gang symbols in the dirt (they weren't smiley faces or ponies!), etc., generally getting all manner of dirt, dust, pebbles, mud, etc. in it. Of course, the _next pitch_ is just above their mask, and POP!... and I'm now blind, and caked with mud in my face. As I've said before, I was a catcher for 15 years, and _still have_ the glove I started with. It's now 28, faded, but in remarkably good shape.Like some of the other guys expressed above, I'm none too thrilled with catchers who set up in the opposite batter's box and not only hold the pitch there, but expect that to be a strike (or worse, are doing so because the coach (often some angst-riddled "pitching coach") expects that to be a strike). In the meantime, I'm sitting in my normal position, back over here by the plate... where the strike zone resides... if you care to join me.Same as a prior post, the F2 that calls for time to do the YMCA dance in front of the plate when there are R1 & R3. Guys, it's a live ball that I really don't want to make dead, just because you want to relay to everyone in the stands that your team has fruitlessly dreamed up some elaborate ruse-play to pick off the two runners. Besides, I doubt your pitcher is going to pitch with you standing 2 feet in front of the plate.

Man, I hope that wasn't me you saw... I was only on a webcam field as PU twice (IIRC). I'm not a left-hander... the indicator-in-the-right-hand, while improper (I've already been beaten up by my fellow umpires at CDP over this), is the one "bad" habit that I can't seem to break. I was a catcher for 15 years, and also a hockey goalie for more than a few, and I've gotten accustomed to my left hand being my glove hand and my right hand holding my paddle (hockey), that it just felt natural with the indicator in my right hand. Hey, I broke one bad habit this past year, and now take my mask off with my left hand. Why did I take my mask off with my right hand before? Because, which hand do you take your mask off with as a catcher? Uh-huh. In my defense, I have never flung an indicator while making an out call, or a safe call, or pointing, or making my strike mechanic. Never. My fellow umpires were gobsmacked that I have it in my right hand, and were questioning if I'm even able to turn the dials on it. Of course I can! The only ones I need to turn are B's & K's (and the occasional Out, but not really), and I rarely look at my indicator anyway. If I need to brush the plate, I drop my indicator into my bag, grab the brush, brush the plate, then drop the brush in the bag and retrieve my indicator. If I need to throw a ball back, same thing... So yeah, you're going to see an indicator in my right hand in any photos from CDP.

It isn't the grounders to F5 or F6 that are the problems, it's the liners to F9 (or the rare one to a cannon-toting F8) that are the impetus for this weird rotation. I worked a game as BU where of the 36 outs recorded, 8 of them were F9 to F3, and 1 was F8 to F3 (like I said, the cannon). The two reasons they encourage / demonstrate this rotation hinge around (umpire) awareness and speed, as well as the short dimensions of the field relative to the talents of some of these 12 year olds. Bases empty, and a shot goes at about eye-height between F3 and F4, and then drops and skips towards F9. If it was a grounder that F3 or F4 could handle, you (as BU) would take your step or two in onto the infield dirt, away from the line, but since it has cleared the infielders so fast, you're stepping right into the firing line. If it was a fly ball, you'd do your pivot with your eyes on the BR, trusting that your PU has the catch call... but it's not. You're now stuck. So, we're encouraged to wait at A until the throw from F9 to F3 is made; the PU is to come up the line as normal, and start to bend in towards what would be B. The reception of the ball at 1B is still the BU's call, but if there's an overthrow, the PU is in position to take the BR to 2B and on to 3B if needed, and the BU is to rotate down the line to Home _if_ the ball is thrown around and there is a play at the plate. This is the only time this rotation is implemented. The F8 to F3 put-out was done with nobody on, off a scoop-job. If I had stepped even a few steps into the infield dirt, I'd be picking a ball out of my skull. The call was a banger. At another game on another week (I was there for 4 weeks), we had this exact scenario play out, and while this rotation is very unorthodox, it worked perfectly. The hit went to F9, who tried to scoop it, but couldn't and I had to rule it a "No Catch! No Catch!". F9 still came up firing, and overthrew F3. The BR rounded 1B and headed for 2B, where my PU took over. F2 recovered the ball, and fired towards 2B, but that skimmed by F6, and into the outfield. BR scampers up and heads to 3B. During this time, I was trotting back from RF towards 1B, and upon seeing the overthrow at 2B, and my PU headed towards 3B along with the BR, I light the afterburners and head down the line towards the plate. I arrive there before my PU starts his "SAFE!" call and mechanic at the slide-job at 3B. He looks over his shoulder towards the plate to see me there, and has this stunned look on his face. Time is called, and he remarks, "Holy crap, you move fast!" and several players and coaches from the Away dugout call, "Nice wheels Blue!". In our post-game talk, we pretty much figured that that play was the reason for the Odd Rotation.

I own and use the All-Star LGU313's and heavily endorse them. They're lightweight without feeling flimsy, and breathe exceptionally well. They do have a floating patella plate (more standoff distance is a big + ). I've done high school _age_ club ball with them, and felt fine. The only two shortcomings I'll convey are lackluster protection on the ankle (sides) and no top thigh cap. They do, however, fit very well with plate shoes, especially mid-top models (like my NB460's), and you feel incredibly mobile with them. I still play competitive soccer, and have played hockey (will be embarking on becoming a linesman or referee some day), and I was using my catcher's shin guards until I got these – those catcher's guards were driving me nuts. The point is, any shots I've taken with these have done less damage than taking a full-speed kick to the shin or a puck to the shin. I know what to expect. If I start doing 18+ ball or college or Minors or exposure league, I will probably consider getting something more substantial, but I've been happy with them.

Have the tan TW's on my FM4000. Fit just fine. It's my workhorse mask.

This particular situation was 90' BP. With a fast infield and a wound-up F6 (this kid had to be on something... copious amounts of sugar, perhaps), I did _not_ want to be in the way if anything came this direction. So, I just went where someone wasn't. I'm not saying it was blue-ribbon quality positioning (PBR me!), but it's what I did. I often found myself in a similar location on 60' BP's with U10's, because it gets real crowded in there, and you as the BU have to watch the pitcher _and_ the BR's to make sure they're not leaving their base until the pitch crosses the plate.

Holy cow, get any rain in Virginia? Play on Turf? That's one fast infield! We've gotten so much rain up here, you need a WeedEater if you're a middle infielder, and a shot to the outfield dies after about two skips.

Nope, not a troll. I'll be the first to admit that my initial positioning might not be kosher, blue-ribbon approved all the time every time, but I get to the angle/position I need to, and my partner PU has never pointed out something otherwise. I caught wind of what you (@jimurray) are alluding to – that by being outside the base path I'm not in an Approved By The Manual position – two weeks ago when a rookie umpire, fresh out of the classes asked, "And we stay on the infield at B and C the entire time, right?" Instead of being a complete @$$ and replying "No, I actually go outside the base paths when there are runners on, in a U11 game, and with short base paths, space gets pretty tight in the infield...", I just said, "Sure". Yeah, he's probably right – he just had the Manual in his hands a few days prior. So in this case, a wound-up U13 F6, with R1 and R2 and no-one out, and a RHB coming up, asks this Umpire to move, because I can see he wants to jump on a grounder his way and either start a DP or get to it and flip it to 3B... Point is, I stepped back into what might be described as C-deep, just a step or two towards 3B off 2B and no more than 3 steps off the base path. I felt it gave me the best vantage point to A) be out of the way of a play, B) get to 3B if R2 breaks for it, C) get to a good angle to see 1B if the play goes that way. If Mike Prince or Maven or RichMSN or UIC weigh in on this and whump me for being out of position, I'll listen...

I don't understand the underlined part. I must be missing something. Why is this a problem? The pitcher does not have to step off to throw over. Ah, here's an incident burned in my memory. It was at CDP, and during Wednesday and Thursday's elimination games, I had taken a game off from my field and was watching a team that I had connections with (from NC) play an academy team from Florida. The FL team had pulled a fake-ball trick several times earlier in the week where their pitcher would step off, wheel, and fake dramatically towards the R2 at 2B. The covering F6 would make a wild lunge, and the F8 would go scurrying after what would appear to be an errant throw to centerfield. All they were looking for was that moment of panic in a BR when they react to the activity, and get back up to get separation from the bag... Then F1 calmly tosses the ball to F4 and tag, R2's out. They were the ire of several teams who it befell. Well, in this NC vs. FL game, I knew the guys in that working umpire crew, and when NC put a BR on 2B in the 5th inning, it set the stage for FL to pull that trick again. So they did it, but this time, it was called a balk by the 3BU, and the explanation he gave the irate FL coach was that this time, after legally stepping off the rubber to initiate the fake, F1 made the fake and then planted his right foot smack dab on the rubber, and then threw to to his F4 to apply the tag. I saw everything he saw, and he summed it up as "second contact of the rubber... illegal... Balk". The resoluteness of his call struck me, and I remember it ever since. Was that call made in error?

@Jimurray - As I said, I was in C position, but just behind F6 at his request. LBR = Lead Base Runner (R2) and TBR = Trailing Base Runner (R1). As soon as the infield fly went up, I called it an Infield Fly, pointed straight up with my right hand, and stepped into the infield. I also pointed at the batter with my left hand saying, "Batter is out". I may have said my PU "jogged up the line", but that might be a guess on my part to explain how he ended up out from behind home plate and a few steps towards 1B and the mound. He told me later he called Infield Fly as well, and then trailed after the batter telling him he was out. Evidently, no one on the offensive team, who occupied the 3BL dugout, heard either one of us, except the ODH. F3 flubbing the catch started the circus.

OBS and INF are called much too often in Fed because Fed applies to, typically, HS and below, where we as a culture still bubble-wrap our kids too much. Any contact of any kind needs to be, in the majority of opinion of the witnessing audience (i.e. the parents), meted out as some sort of penalty. I've had parents freak out because a tag was applied "too hard" and that their kid must be safe because of it. If you watch the above play, F2 initially sets up in the batter's box, and then scoots out of the box up the line. I can't tell, but either because he received the ball and then moved, or then adjusted to where the thrown ball ended up so as to field it, I would take that into consideration before ruling OBS.

@maven - understood. Then the simple answer is the Umpire on the Scene was completely wrong, and made the call about himself rather than about the rules. May his ball bags be filled with juvenile electric eels.

In my opinion, you said something dangerous – "if you want the win, you can have it." In essence, you've conceded the game's outcome to the other team, which is, more or less a forfeit. I'll bet, if asked, the other HC proceeded with the confidence that his team was already being ascribed a Win, and that the following "game" was more or less a scrimmage or practice. Whether or not the game itself is rescheduled, or if it is handled as a forfeit, is up to your LBOD, but I can almost guarantee that play is not suspended and reconvened later on, at the bottom of the 5th and the score 4-0. That "game" never happened, and that would surely be the perspective of the opposing HC. The Umpire probably called the game considering he didn't want to see any more players get hurt (or wore out) on account of it not really being a valid game anyway, since the outcome had already been determined (by your above statement). He probably used the only vernacular he could think of to explain it – "forfeit".

The key element is whether or not the ball was still live and/or the play was in progress. A) If all these actions are part of a progressing play, and the ball is still live (and I'll assume that the LBR has not crossed home plate, as per your description), then the LBR has the right to return to 3B as if it was an overrun or over-slide, and the action taken upon him has to be a tag – provided that the TBR hasn't passed him or occupies 3B as a result of the play (you said single, not triple), and that the LBR hasn't left the general base path to return to 3B. B) If the ball is dead, or the LBR has crossed home plate, then the action taken upon the LBR is an Appeal (as Maven said), which can be executed by either tagging the LBR with the ball, tagging the missed base with the ball, and/or indicating your Appeal to the Umpire. IIRC, in NFHS and lower, all it takes is a verbal appeal to the umpire once the ball is dead, the LBR has crossed home plate, or the next legal pitch hasn't been pitched.

Pitcher's plate is the higher concern than bases, mostly regarding pick off moves and legal pitches. At U11, the pitchers are just starting to be required to go from the stretch, and there are all these questions as to whether or not s/he is in contact with the rubber or not, or if s/he contacted it twice while stepping off to throw over, etc. And when the entire infield is a sea of monotone crushed stone or dirt, that rubber usually disappears. Bases usually aren't a concern, except 2B which gets mounded over by kids sliding with the force of a quarry excavator (down, not at). The only thing I do is, if warranted, is sweep my foot across the two base path edges of the bag, just so I (and the BR's) can see the white of the bag better, again amongst a sea of monotone dirt. To treat it like a Bonzai Bag, and prune/sweep it every half-inning, that's a bit over the top.

No, it's not to that point. It's not to the point where you _have_ to do anything. For me, it's just a carryover from my catcher and hockey goalie days – I want(ed) my gear to match and look like a cohesive set. I'll never put down someone for having what they can afford. I _will_ knock someone down a peg who is ignorant of what they could have, or could be using, despite being able to afford it (I'm not saying you, Jax, or anyone here in particular is). Look at it this way... If you look professional, and act professional, the coaches and players and parents have a much greater chance of treating you in a civil, respectful manner than if you look unkempt and shoddy. Dress for success. If you do the best you can with what you've got, then so be it. If you're a commanding presence like BigUmpire, you can wear whatever the heck you want. Probably black.

You don't have many other options in harnesses. I got a navy one and put it on my FM4000 with tan TW's for the games I do with shirts in navy trim. Otherwise, my other two masks have black harnesses. For a second, I thought you were announcing that TW's caved and are skinning pads in silver! I deduced, though, why they don't... I have a guess that the microfiber they use to skin their pads is, while exceptionally soft, not too cheap or durable to hold up against being chucked into the dirt and mud and dust and grass that catchers' masks do. I thought that, for certain, they'd market their pads to catchers, but they'd have to offer them in no less than five other color options, just to start with. Catchers routinely throw their masks, while us Umpires are much more... civil and respectful of ours. @csabo17 – I'm jealous as all get out. Around here, some crazy "navyphile" sits in on the rookie Umpire classes and tells all the rookies that they should get navy to start with, and then powder w/ navy trim as a "possible second". I'm one of the few umpires in our area that has grey, let alone other alternate colors.

@JaxRolo - For starters, since when do Cubanos know anything about fashion? And matching my partner be d@mn3d... I'm lucky if my partner is even wearing pants during some of these weekend tournaments. I usually get the "kids" as a partner, and 2 weekends ago, I got the just-graduated high school senior who had grey track pants on and running shoes. I had a spare Grey umpire shirt, let him use my shin guards and Diamond iX3 mask and a spare hat I had, and threw a borrowed catcher's CP on him (under the shirt) to PU 2 of the 6 games we had assigned to us. @flastyle727 - yeah, at Gerry Davis: http://www.gerrydavis.com/mm5/category/Umpire_Pants/product/B08PT60521400 Notice the first paragraph, and I quote: "Here's the product softball umpires tell us they need and they want. Heather gray umpire pants without pleats! They're also popular with baseball umpires who just don't like pleated pants." Well, stick me in that group of baseball umpires. Pleats suck. I am awfully tempted to take GerryDavis up on their offer to tailor-make a set of flat-front charcoals. I keep looking through the photos of MLB PU's in action, and not once have I seen a... Uhm... "embarrassing pants" situation. Not only do pleated pants bunch up funny when you get in a crouch, but they also advertise you've got a NB on. We're talking, like, ballet codpiece proportions. I mean, there's the possible allure to a SBM (single baseball mom), but I've got a pair of Dalco flat-front heather greys, and they don't have this happen to them! The MLB plate pants are probably custom-tailored, but still...

@dl1340 - Please locate my posts regarding this topic (one recent). Not to overshadow Rich's (fellow Sconnie represent!) and Mike's insights and wisdom, but I wrote some pretty exhaustive stuff about this from experience. I once was a hockey goaltender, and I was a catcher who wore the Traditional Mask for most of my catching years, and took a bat to the side of the head that knocked me clean out... And I still wear the TM every game of umpiring. It is, as Mike says, a personal choice. I'd re-post all my stuff here, but I'm mobile at the moment doing this on an iPad... I just had to get your inquiry answered.

As per the title, does _anyone_ make a pair of combo pants in charcoal with _flat fronts_?! I got the Smitty charcoal combos, and tried them out... But I purposely left the tags on and didn't get them hemmed yet. I then ordered a set of Honig's charcoal pants, combo, in a 36 (I'm a 34)... And they're pleated, and yet again, they are crippled by that which befalls all pleated pants. It's like a beacon. Even when you get in a ready position. Embarrassing! Has the entire attire community lost their mind and imposed pleats upon us? Or is there somewhere still making a flat-front in charcoal?

As per my Mask Porn thread post, I have a FM4000 with TW tan pads and a Honig's navy harness. That's for all games with navy trim. I also have a Diamond iX3, black, with tan MacGregor doeskins for my black trim games. I liked it, and still do, but after being BU while a 18-year old kid borrowed it (I let him... Better that than the 2-ton Rawlings PWMX the facility had in the gear bin) to be PU during a tournament, I saw what it looks like... And I ordered an Easton Speed Elite. It's the only mask I've found that looks like the Nike Ti without being fetching that price tag. It has stock black pads, but I'll be putting TW blacks in it. I wear this on black-trim games that are overcast... Bright sunny days, I'll use the black Diamond. Please note, the FM4000 in the above photo is PMY1 (production model year 1). The way you can tell is the ear guards. PMY2 and PMY3 (which we're in right now) have more streamlined (narrower) ear guards. I ordered from a place that used the PMY1 photo, hoping to get it (I even ordered the catcher's version), and I still got PMY3. Particular? Bordering on AR? Sure, but I've already heard my fair share of whistlers go past my ears this spring/summer!

And it happens in Cleveland's own home stadium! I feel for the ball boy down there, but you can imagine Francona hunted down the HR Director of "The Jake" (Progressive Field) and questioned why ball boys are even needed. If the ball boy had had an even bigger brain cramp and fielded the ball thinking it was foul... It's not FI, so how is it assessed, awarded and scored? Would the batter be awarded 3rd anyway?