Mudisfun

My opinion, the primary responsibility is seeing the touch of home, or if not going to watch that because the ball is heading towards an opening and BDT, assume the touch and rule the runner safe accordingly when they tagged him. I think the PU could have taken a couple steps backwards 3BLE, opening his field of vision and gotten both the touch and the position of the ball, but again, not being there, who knows.

Living in Southern California, lightening where I am is a fairly rare occasion. The few times I have seen it while a game was in progress, I shut the game down. Most the time here, if you see lightening, it is not 'sheet' but bolts, and when I see those cracking across the sky, everyone else is also seeing it crack across the sky. Have never had anyone complain when we called or suspended those few games.

Part of the reason this myth stays around is that in most rule sets in Softball, failure to pull the bat back is a strike. People confuse the two sports/rule sets.

The restrictions when the pitcher take the rubber apply to the pitcher regardless of the actions of the batter.; he/she is obligated to not perform any illegal action which can result in a balk. There is nothing in the rule about the batter being in a ready position to hit. The pitcher with the batter out of the box is easily relived of any potential for a balk by simply stepping off. This is a coaching issue and I bet the pitcher does not repeat this error in the future. As mentioned, the rules are there regardless of the position of the batter, and since F1 in your scenario failed to follow those rules, you have a balk.

This is where as an evil umpire you hope and pray someone properly appeals so that you can call the out, take a run off the board and fulfill your destiny or ruining a kids day!

You have gotten some good advice in this thread, but one I would add, which may have been stated and I missed: Not my job to get teams ready 30-45 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Once you said hi to the coach and he gave you push back, let the TD handle the issue. He runs the tournament, so let him be the bad guy as your pre-game interaction set up this team to already be on edge. Not saying you actually did anything wrong, but perception is reality, and the reality to this team is you were pushing them. Had a coach set his catcher way out in a TB game a while back. Pitch went straight to the glove, no movement. Called it a ball, even vocalized the 'that's out' to make sure they got it. Coach whined 'he didn't even move his glove!' My smart ass retort? You're right! I'll call that a strike when you are up to bat, okay? Shocking... not another word about ball calls in the batter box... IAWE - Ignore, Acknowledge, Warn, Eject Ignore - You ignored way too many ball/strike complaints. Miss the first one, but then move on to: Acknowledge - let the coach know you heard him. How you respond is on you. If they are just chirping, I find a "I hear you coach" fixes the issue quite often. Others use the stop sign or that's enough, I don't wat to hear any more. When they move past this: Warn - Coach, we are done arguing balls and strike, or judgement or whatever. This is your warning. If you continue, you will be ejected from the game. Eject - He went past warning, now time to hit the showers. This coach hit the eject button long before you even got to the profanity in the 3rd inning. Nip their arguing early or send them away. You said the next game you had them, they were quiet... I wonder why? I have a short leash in tournament ball, especially when I watch other umpires not handle their business and then I get stuck having these coaches in the next game. End it fast or your day will be ruined.

Hey Kevin, works best for me. Hey umpie or umpy might make me less than agreeable, and I am in no way a red ass on the field. I gave you my name at the plate meeting. I took yours. In fact, I even wrote it on the line up card to make sure I used your name versus 'hey coach'. Flip the script... would you be good with me calling you 'coachy' in front of all of your players and families?

I see it quite often, mostly with guys in our unit who are also working college ball as well. My assumption, and it is only an assumption, is that they are teaching this at the clinics these folks attend. One of my evaluators suggested I try it, to which I declined as I typically am in the Gerry David stance.

Because they were dumb is the only answer I have...

https://youtu.be/GICk5QGzQ3E?t=112

The qualification for IFF is fly ball which can be caught by an infielder using ordinary effort. Nothing in the rule implies that the fielders need to be in their traditional setup. Call the IFF provided the conditions are met.

If he stepped off the rubber and faked, that is nothing. On the rubber, faking a throw to 3rd in OBR is a balk, regardless if R2 was actually stealing or not.

Call on the base is safe, other action is happening and DHC comes onto a live field without asking for permission or time and then due to him being an ass hat another run scores? Sucks to be you dude... I'm not putting them back. Now if play was relaxed and everyone pretty much assumed time was out and then R3 bounced to score, most likely he is going back.

10U... assuming rec league skill sets, I call 'hittable' pitches strikes within the boarder of the knees at the bottom and the armpit at the top and pretty much line to line assuming a 4" box offset. 10U travel or select where they actually can often times pitch? I call a less favorable to the pitcher zone. Rec league, no one came to watch little Johnny walk... as long as the zone is reasonable, the batters will swing, occasionally they will hit the ball, people will cheer, kids will run, fielders will field (or not), things will happen and maybe, just maybe, fun will ensue.

Time. Hey, don't do that. Next time you may have runners on and either you're interfering OR maybe actually helping the defense against your own team!

Had a situation like this in a 10U game a week or two back. HT was cheering only, nothing directed to the other team, everything on the level. One of the coaches from the defensive team thought different and started yelling at the offensive coach how this was unsportsmanlike, bush, etc. I called time and walked over to him and we had a friendly chat. Explained that there cheering was fine, they were not attempting to distract the pitcher (no crescendo) or acting in any unsportsmanlike manner. On the other hand, him yelling at the other team was not acceptable and could easily escalate. I took this as a learning opportunity for this coach. Explained that in the future if they have an issue, the best course of action is to ask for time and to speak to the umpire and let us handle it from there. He got lucky that the opposing team was really laid back and did not take offense to his comments; we all know how hot some youth coaches can be. Finished out chat and the game proceeded without any other issues.

Had a protest the other night. Not any real fireworks, but thought I would share the scenario and the outcome of the protest. LL Majors. Coach has not spent the season developing his battery and only has 2 pitchers. After they are burned, every team hits them like batting practice. Game one of the playoffs and the team is throwing their best F1, lets call them the VT. HT is trailing in bottom of 5. 3-1 with R1/R2, 1 out. VT pitcher retires the batter for out #2 and ends that at bat with 86 pitches. For this age level, F1 is now maxed out. HT manager is tracking pitches and is aware of the situation, but does not say a word. VT pitcher throws the first pitch to the batter for a ball. HT coach asks for time, notifies the crew that F1 is over the limit and wants to protest the game as per violation of LL Reg VI. Crew confirms with the scorekeeper, yes, F1 is over his max pitch limit. F1 is swapped out, P is put into the book and the game resumes with a 1-0 count. Next pitch is wild, but somehow R2 gets caught napping and ends up being tagged out at 3rd to end the inning. Top of the 6th, VT puts 2 more on the board and strikes out the side to end the game, 5-1. HT coach files the protest as required under 4.19. Umpires send in the report as well. Protest committee meets that night as we need to know what the outcome of the protest will be since with this being playoffs, schedules require knowing... Protest committee decides that the one pitch thrown in violation of the rules did not materially impact the game, especially since A) the HT was losing by 2 runs at the time, B) the pitch thrown was a ball, so technically benefitted the HT, and C) the next pitch of the at bat by the new pitcher caused the 3rd out of the inning. Protest committee decided that the game result will stand. However, the conduct of the VT manager who at the game placed blame for the pitcher going over on everyone except for himself, and who by rule is the only person responsible to ensure his player does not exceed pitch count, was held accountable. This manager was suspended for the next game and will miss their 2nd playoff contest and of course if this issue repeats, will lose his team for the remainder of the season. There was also a conversation with the other manager regarding knowingly allowing the pitcher to exceed his count versus notifying the other team, umpires or even the scorekeeper of this fact just for the reason of opening the door to a protest. This manager is a member of our BOD, so we were less than happy that he would not recognize his larger duty to the safety of the player versus allowing a weak chance of winning via protest when on the actual playing field they were losing. Fun Fun at the LL field this week. Kind of a boring story, but the only think of significance this week I have run into. Stay safe out there!

Well, there always is this gem to consider:

In our HS unit here in Orange County, we are on the opposite side of the game counts. With the low number of umpires available, we have lots of 1st year guys assigned 20,30 even 40 games if they are available. They may be solo, Freshman/JV level games for the most part, but if you sign up and have availability, the assignor will work you until you cry mercy.

Had this issue come up in a LL Majors game last week. F3 kept putting his foot on or almost completely over the bag when taking throws from the infield. Umpires warned him to stop; not for violating a rule, but because they knew what was going to happen to F3's foot. OHC asked me how many warnings does F3 get? Come on! Explained that he was getting warned so that he didn't get injured; that there is no rules violation per se... BUT, if the batter runner actually showed that the foot/leg being where it was obstructed them, then they had a good chance of getting 1st base awarded for that rule violation. It would accomplish 2 things... teach the runner to play as the rule intends and teach F3 there is a consequence other than having his Achilles stomped on. Next play, F3 set up the same way, close play but this time the B/R pulled up and demonstrated being obstructed... B/R was awarded 1st and miraculously, on the next throw to 1st, F3 put his foot on the side of the bag and did not throughout the rest of the game put his foot where it really had no business being. I 100% know F3 was doing this on purpose... if he wasn't, then the OBS would not have fixed that issue so quickly, he would have continued to put his foot where he was use to going. This F3 knew he was getting away with something until he got called out on it.

What rule set are you referencing? LL? Are you referencing regular season rules or tournament rules? Basically, if CBO, the starter can be pulled anytime, but the manager must make sure they receive their mandatory play. The substitute must meet mandatory play of 6 consecutive outs prior to being pulled. Since they are batting CBO, their having 1 at bat is not part of the equation since that is obviously a non-issue. LL Rule 3.03: A player in the starting line-up who has been removed for a substitute may re-enter the game, in the SAME position in the batting order, provided: (a) His or her substitute has completed one time at bat; for the purposes of meeting the requirements of Mandatory Play, is when a player assumes the position of batter with no count and one of the following occurs: * He/she is retired as a batter; or * He/she is retired as a batter-runner; or * He/she reaches base and scores; or * After he/she reaches base, the inning or game ends. NOTE: For the purposes of satisfying the requirements of Mandatory Play, when appearing offensively for the first time in the game, a player must remain in the game until one of the following occurs: * He/she is retired as a batter, or * He/she is retired as a batter-runner; or * He/she reaches base and scores; or * After he/she reaches base, the inning or game ends. (b) has played defensively for a minimum of six (6) consecutive outs; skipping (c) as it is about pitchers (d) a starter and his/her substitute must not be in the line-up at the same time, except as provided in 3.03 NOTE 3. Once mandatory play is met, a starter and substitute(s) can enter/re-enter for each other as desired, but must re-enter in the SAME position in the batting order, (e) Defensive substitutions must be made while the team is on defense. Offensive substitutions must be made at the time the offensive player has his/her turn at bat or is on base. NOTE 1: A substitute may not be removed from the game prior to completion of his/her mandatory play requirements.

So you actually have a rules violation which they can protest. By rule, you and all other umpires, if any, need to re-examine the play and determine if a rule has been incorrectly applied, and if so, fix the error. What that means? Yep, you kicked it. Yes, you should fix it. Time - Coach, get R2, put him back at 2nd. B/R - you are out on the tag. Go tell the other coach why/what happened at that the initial ruling was incorrect and you are fixing it as required. Do not entertain any complains about R2 being out for abandonment or any other nonsense, since your call is what put that player in jeopardy. Don't dwell on it. We all miss calls, we all make mistakes. Learn from it and try not to replicate it the next time something similar happens on the field. I called a ball foul with a stealing runner into 3rd the other night. Pitch was inside and I thought it got by... called foul and THEN discovered the catcher caught the ball. Runner went back to 2nd and I had an opps moment. Thankfully the next pitch was hit for a double with R2 scoring, so it didn't hurt anything, but I knew I kicked it and by killing the ball; I screwed up.

The issue of coaches out of the dugout, standing or on buckets in my area varies by type of baseball. LL - not really an issue since we have enforced and trained our coaches on this for years. The local Pony programs? Yeah, not so much. When doing their games I just tell them at the plate meeting that unless they are occupying a coaches box on offense, I need them all in the dugout and yes, you can plant yourself in the dugout door opening. So far, it has worked by being proactive and I am not having to stop the game before we even start to corral all of the adults into the dugout. Travel and other programs, the thought of having to follow such a bizarre and uncommon request to be in the dugout is met with looks of complete incomprehension.

Top Pic: Alex Serafin, Chris Costlow, Gerry Davis (yes, we made him a staff umpire in our LL district), You, Galel Fajardo and John McLuckey. Bottom pic is small and I can only make out George Rodrigues, Gerry Davis and Dean Butler. Joe Chavez Day: Joe was a retired Marine, thus why the camo hats. His kid played at HVLL and Joe was a long time volunteer there. After his kid aged out, Joe continued to umpire until his untimely death from cancer a few years back in his early 70's. He attended pro school several times, just to learn, get better and to pass that information on to his friends and students. Joe was a regular attendee at the Western Region week long, again, just to get better. He trained our LL volunteers for many, many years and was an all around great guy. I had the honor to call Joe my friend and I miss him very much. Wish I could have been there, but my daughter was playing at Costa Mesa HS's fields and I had games there to cover. Let me know if your coming next year and we can try and partner on a game. Or if you are up this way, I'll jump on a game with you anywhere. Hey Joe! So good to see you again! Joe: It's great to be seen. Simper Fi my friend.

Chatting with one of my assignors the other day and he relayed a story that happened a couple days prior. He assigned an umpire to a youth game, who when he walked up, the teams started bitching as he has had them 3 or 4 times this season. Umpire told them all to piss off, walked back to his car, called the assignor and quit on the spot. Guess on the positive side, they did not have to complain about him officiating their game and they all got to go to pizza early? Solo game of course, so no game. Just amazes me what people expect us to put up with. SO many of the videos people post just show the crap the official has dealt with up to the point where the umpire finally ejects. 90% of the time, these videos just make the coaches, players and fans look and sound like spoiled children; which of course often they are.