Chip

I suppose they would have to be ruling that it just bounced out of his glove onto his hand and the whole thing was a bobble not a catch. Hard to see it that way myself, but it's the only explanation I can think of.

I had a similar situation last year in a 10U game with F2 who spiked the ball after a close play at the plate that didn't go his way. Coach was out of the dugout and on top of him right away telling him he couldn't do that, which probably saved him. Explained to coach that he needed to keep his player's behavior under control. Coach came to me between innings to say he had talked to F2 but wasn't sure he got the message so I might have to EJ and he would support it fully. Fortunately, the rest of the game was uneventful (perhaps because F2 got moved to a new position).

SAME play. AT full speed also. And at full speed I'm even more convinced it's INT and MC. BR is out, and gone. I agree. To me, it appears that the BR clearly changes his path to initiate contact. He also raises his arms to brace himself for the collision and even looks like he may add a shove.

So what do mean by "non-basebal leagues"? Other sports? "No coaching from the stands rule?"....And the officials are to enforce it? wow... If Mommy says "C'mon Pete, follow through on that jump shot""..is that coaching from the stands? There's a local rule that might might have me saying "thanks, but no thanks" to my assignor. Yeah, I meant other sports. Not sure why I wrote it the way I did. Anyway, I have seen it a number of times in youth soccer where the officials said something to parents. I also know the rule exists in a local basketball league, but never saw an official enforce it. I agree this is something I wouldn't want to enforce, just sharing that some folks seem to think it's a good idea for some reason. No idea whether it is designed to relieve pressure from Little Johnny or what. A few years ago I did see a U10 soccer tournament game where one team had parents strategically positioned along the sideline to serve as an extra set of eyes for the players to help them with positioning. It was absurd, but I don't want officials dealing with that.

Ejecting the coach for talking to his own player makes no sense unless the conversation was a backdoor way to have an argument with the umpire. On the parent piece, I will say that I have seen some non-baseball leagues around here that have adopted "no coaching from the stands" rules -- and the officials do try to shut it down at times. I suppose it is possible that there's some local rule along those lines that he might have been trying to enforce, but still not a good idea to be hollering into the stands.

This article speaks to a similar play in a 2005 MLB game. Looks like the umpire screwed up the penalty based on the description -- can't imagine an interpretation that would get them to that outcome that isn't a screw-up, even if the article labeled the call incorrectly as BI. http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050802&content_id=1155006&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

Only if the defense appeals. (unless this was HS in whtever the one state is where the umpire just calls the runner out) To the OP -- base awards for throws out of play (except by pitchers on the rubber) are always two bases. It might be two bases from time of pitch, or it might be two bases from time of throw (and here they are the same). It's never "the base he was going to plus one" and it's never "from the time the ball went out of play". True. Although I guess it would actually be more accurate to say he must retouch, but it only matters if the defense appeals. And there are lots of things like that.

Agreed. Also, even though it was not asked, probably useful to note that R1 must still retouch first.

Those first year pitchers in 9/10 games can be very dangerous because they are so oblivious to what's going on around them. I have seen them pitch not just without an umpire behind the plate, but also occasionally without a batter anywhere near the batter's box. In addition to watching out for yourself, you need to watch out for the batter. It's not unusual for some of the younger, less experienced kids to be a bit spacey at the plate, so I try to keep an eye out for when they're not paying attention and the pitcher is getting ready to pitch. At higher levels, I'd let generally let it go since they know enough to ask for time, but some of the 9 year olds are so worried about imitating their favorite MLB player's pre-pitch ritual that they risk getting drilled without even knowing a pitch is coming. With all youth leagues, but especially these players doing kid pitch for the first time, safety needs to be a top concern.

This is a great list. I had to look up the broken mirror trick. Hadn't heard of that one before. I'm the UIC for a local Cal Ripken league and we use a mix of volunteer and paid umpires. This year we did a training not just for the volunteer umpires, but also the coaches. Most of the coaches mean well, but don't know the rules as well as they should, so hopefully that will help, too.

Image not reversed because "Wilson" reads properly on mask.

How often have you had to take over for the plate guy? I had a couple of games last year where the plate guy didn't show So then wouldn't you just get dressd for the plate? I too am confused by the "in case I need to take over quickly" part of your post. If you need to take over, the "extra" time it would take to put on the jock / cup would be negligible. That said, I always wear a cup on the bases. Yeah, probably true. Just saves me the time of setting up a privacy shield in the parking lot, but that's really only an extra minute or two. Really a moot point now though since I am convinced to always wear a cup on the bases after watching that video.

How often have you had to take over for the plate guy? I had a couple of games last year where the plate guy didn't show

I usually wear a jock but not a cup on the bases (under the theory that I could quickly slip the cup in if I need to take over plate duties). Don't think I'll be quite so cavalier about the risk on the bases after seeing that.

The local league claims that it was because they had too many coaches on the board, so some coaches resigned to fix it. Hard to believe that's all. I imagine there's much more of a backstory here.

Eggs with some sort of carbs (potatoes/toast) plus a banana. Then Larabars between games. Maybe a hot dog along the way if it's a particularly long day.

When I was younger (and not an umpire), I subscribed to the notion that players/managers should get a little extra rope in high-stakes games. A defining moment for me as a Red Sox fan was perhaps the Roger Clemens/Terry Cooney incident in the 1990 playoffs. Now as an umpire, I don't think that the line should change in those big games, but I do expect more "chirping" from fans. I think it's important to tune that out and make sure that the volume and persistence of that chirping doesn't unintentionally lead to a shorter rope by virtue of that irritation. In other words, make certain that the ejectable incident is sufficient on its own and not influenced by what others (especially fans) may have been saying throughout the game. Since we're human, it can be hard to separate things, but it's important to do so in all games -- especially these high stakes ones where the volume is turned up.

Thsi is deeply sad. As a baseball dad (my son is is 13, moving from PONY to a not-too-serious travel team right now), I gotta say I really appreiate it when I see the umpires who actually know what they are doing and who put in the effort. I try to say thank you to those guys after the game -- but it's not always possible. When you do a kids game, and know what you're doing, know that there are a lot of dads out there like me who really appreciate what you're doing -- even if you don't hear about it. I do mostly 12U and 10U games and the vast majority of people are like you -- even if they might be griping vocally during the game. Many of the teams in the games that I umpire often have volunteer parents with basic rules knowledge and no education in mechanics doing the umpiring, so to see someone show up in uniform with a command of of the rules and procedures is somewhat novel to them -- and they appreciate it. Last year I had a parent come up to me before a game and say "it's so nice to have a real umpire for today's game ... we don't usually have that." Hopefully she felt the same way when the game was over!

go to a high school football game and watch the refs SPRINT off as a group after the game. HS basketball too. There's always a handshake line but the officials are headed for the locker room as soon as the buzzer sounds. Sent using Tapatalk Since my kids are still 2 years from HS, I can mostly speak to sub-HS games. For those basketball games around here, the officials generally stick around for the handshake unless they took a lot of abuse during the game, in which case they get off more quickly.

Our area also has handshakes after almost all sporting events, and I like it. I suppose the umpires should be able to waive it, but it seems odd for umpires to dictate something that we're not going to stick around for. On the one hand we're saying we have nothing to do with it, but on the other we have some level of control over whether it happens. Interestingly, baseball seems to be the only sport where the officials leave before the handshake around here.

I'm sure it feels good to be getting back out on the field. As for the date night, my wife and I often do basketball games with me on the clock while she's the official book. So I understand the unusual date nights.

I sense a new rallying cry for fans who want different calls. Instead of "get that ump some glasses" ... "get that ump a bucket!" I agree. If it's that close that you have to justify the location then it's close enough for a strike. Disagree. A belt-high pitch 8 inches inside looks GREAT to DC sitting on his bucket.

I make a brief mention about keeping the changeover tight because I do mostly 12U and 10U games that have time limits. Do you cover all rules and mechanics at the plate meeting? Seriously: the plate meeting is for just 3 things: Everyone legally equipped? Lineups Take us around, coach. Now we play. Keep it simple. Guys who go on and on at the plate meeting come off as confrontational and looking for trouble. Don't create problems at the plate meeting, just deal with them properly when they arise.

I know what you meant on this (over the plate but up or down), but I couldn't help but chuckle since I do some 10U games where I wonder if the catcher might actually confuse high and low

Definitely odd. Since I umpire mostly in one small area I have people come up to me regularly who see me as "the umpire." Folks I know well will sometimes good-naturedly bring up a previous play, but I have yet to have a stranger do so.