iankelleyumpire

May be me BUT I have had terrible luck wuth officials choice lately. Yeah, it seems to be kind of hit and miss with them. Used to be great, but now the site is slowing down and hasn't put any new products out. I get my new package today, so we'll hope everything is in there from them!

My recommendation is to go to the officialschoice.com and buy whatever coordinating $0.77 numbers they offer right now, buy they shirts separate or use ones you already own, then take them to a local seamstress, embroidery shop, or even a Men's Wearhouse store. (I only know this because I work there and all stores have full time professional tailors) Using a shirt you already own or buying a Smitty brand shirt from Ump-Attire.com can save money, plus the numbers for only 77 cents! Having them sewn on wont be too expensive wherever you go, and boom, your new shirt is made for possibly under $30/shirt. Buying the Honigs shirts with the numbers pre-embroidered all together is $39.95 + shipping, per shirt. Granted, they are Honigs and the work is already done, but ever penny counts these days.

My dad and I had talked about it all game, and talked to several fans and stadium workers, they let me in about where and when the umpires usually came out. So we waited and waited, and as soon as I was about to give up, here they came. Royals game are only an easy 3 hour drive from me, so I might just have to travel to some of the rest of their home games, just to meet other crews now!

Haha! Take a guess! It would be easy to know which one you are, just look up!

Travled to Kansas City for their game against Baltimore last night (7/22). The Orioles won 9-2 in kind of an uneventful game, but none the less, it turned out to be a great time spent with my father. It has been a while since the last time I had the chance to go to a MLB game, so I enjoyed every bit of it. C.B. Bucknor was behind the plate, Crew Chief Dale Scott was at 1B, Bill Miller at 2B, and at 3B was Todd Tichenor. After the game however, I had the opportunity to meet the umpire crew!! After standing outside of the roped-off "Home Plate Gate" for almost an hour after the game, chatting with other fans and finding out this is where the umps walk out of, they finally appeared. Todd Tichenor is from Kansas, and had family at the game, so he did not leave with the other crew members. This absolutely made my night and I was so grateful that they stopped to talk to me for a few minutes. C.B. was such a nice guy, as was Dale Scott too. Bill Miller kind of walked on to start their car, but CB and Dale both stood to talk to me for a few minutes. They both were excited to hear I was going to TUS in January and wished me the best of luck. Scott said, "Well hopefully I'll be retired in 10 years so you can have my spot!" Haha! I wish! Only time will tell. Overall, awesome experience to meet these wonderful guys. Thought you all would enjoy! Anyone have pictures/met any MLB guys? Here is our picture:

I try to write down their names after the plate meeting to help remember them. Either on their team's lineup sheet or just somewhere in my lineup holder, that way when I look each time I can somewhat glance over to try and remember what their name is.

The single knee All-Star System Sevens are the answer. There are a lot of other good shin guards out there, don't get me wrong, but IMHO, the S7s are the way to go. I have them and my legs have never felt more protected. I've taken everywhere from 60-mid 90s off of them, never felt a thing. They're not too bulky and fit great under true plate pants. They feature an extra shin insert pad that is great, and a knee pad that is awesome, the "patella plus." They breath well, and you can remove the extra pads and wash them! And the straps/system is really nice too. Highly recommend, love them. http://www.ump-attire.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LGU1000&Category_Code=SHIN-GUARDS&Product_Count=0

I know the patches on the back of the neck of the shirts are 1 7/8" by 1". I'll look into the front pockets more. I believe they were like 3 1/2" by 1 1/2 to 2" or so.

Did you tell him to stop?? After the first several times, I just told him to watch where he was tossing it. Then after it became an issue, I told him to just stay down, and throw the damn ball back, again reenforcing to still watch where he tossed it. Finally once I told his coach between innings, the coach put in a much better catcher to end the last 2-3 innings. Thank god.

In a game the other day this catcher was almost too hyped up about the game. He would rip his mask off and pump fake to any of the bases almost after every pitch. First off, it wasted a lot of time because he never threw anyone out, and second, because half of the time he would chuck his mask back without aim and it would hit me.

Personally, I always use one. Not necessarily because I need it, but because it's better to be safe than sorry. I do the adjust mask to glance at it, but most often it is to actually adjust my mask, too. One tip/lesson I've gotten from my main UIC boss, a Div 1 umpire, is that when you're doing higher levels, and have a true scorekeeper/scoreboard person that is running the 60 foot scoreboard, then you don't really need to keep an indicator, rather just keep looking up at the scoreboard. I'll at least keep the count for the first half inning or so, just to make sure the guy running it is actually decent and on the point about it, if not, then go ahead and use it just to be safe. (And keep coaches/spectators off of you, because thats the count they look at)

That's awesome! I'm going to recommend this to our league director. Also, this is a decent way to evaluate umpires. I recently set up my own video camera in the press box for a birds eye view of myself behind the dish. I thought it was really helpful to watch myself; timing, in/out pitches, mechanics, etc. I suggest trying it sometime!

Hey! You're right, this is a great forum, join in anytime!

Here is my answers I came up with pretty quick. I feel mostly confident in them, may need to explain better, but here we go: 1. 3 outs, run doesn't score, inning over. 2. If R3 scores before the tag at 2nd, run scores, if 3rd out (tag at 2nd) is before R3 is home, run does not count, 3 outs, inning over. 3. Double play, 3 outs, force is in order, inning over. 4. Timing play, depends on when the back tag is made (not the force) and when R2 is home. 5. Depends on if appealed, the umpires call the runner out or keep him safe. If they rule him out, the run(s) do not score, and the third out is recorded because it is on the original force play at 1B. 6. If the run scores before the out at 1B (pending the runner didn't leave early and tagged up), R3 scores followed by the 3rd out, inning over. 7. R3's run does not count, BR out, R2 out, 3 outs, inning over. 8. Tricky one! I believe if R2 is called out on appeal, then R3 run doesn't count, and the third out is recorded on the force out at 2nd. However, if they rule R2 safe and claim he didn't leave early, the third out recorded on BR/R1 tag out, then it becomes time play for R3 scoring.

Foul tip. The pitch is still a live ball even if it bounces, and it bounces before the batter swings and makes contact, followed by the C catching the ball, therefore no chance for the ball to go foul unless he drops or does not catch it, or the ball clearly lands somewhere in foul territory. Basejester's rule he put up puts it in rulebook lingo, but when it comes down to it, it is still a foul tip, as well as a live ball still.

That could be a very good possibility!

I tell new guys for their first time on bases, "When in doubt, call 'em out!" Then I follow is up by, "Unless they're safe by a mile, because then you'll just look bad."

Probably is the unequal, though I had the Champion hard-shell Armor protector and there were times people thought I didn't have a CP on because it was so LP and you could hardly see it (besides the shoulder cups).

I'll be there!

That's great! I will have just turned 19 before I head to TUS in Jan. It seems like there are going to be quite a few of us young guys there this year!

Ump-Attire.com Honigs.com PurchaseOfficials.com

Tab at the top labeled "store" I bought a T-shirt for my wife to sleep in. My size not available or I would have bought one for me. Nice shirt! You mean they don't have 5XLT U-E shirts?! Shocking..

Welcome! Go into with an open mind, really try hard to think of it from an umpire standpoint and not the player aspect; you get an amazing sense of the game and newfound understanding. Feel free to ever ask questions on here! Thats why we're all here.