Mudisfun

I found that when reading the LL book, I understand that it is 100% written as the Majors level only. Then when thinking about other levels, I look for the exceptions which are typically bracketed in... Just made it click for me.

3 man mechanics, when executed properly are amazing. The best is when everyone looks at 3rd, sees the plate guy there and then there is a play at home. Oh no! Who will be there to make the call? Bam! U1 busting it out. Great job 🙂

At the game level, this was the penalty, and of course, they still won. There is no taking back what action previously occurred. When the 2 teams met again, our team beat the tar out of them... at their field, so there was some sweet, sweet revenge. At the league level, from what I understand, the coach who was involved was removed from the team. But they play in a different league than ours, we just inter-league with them, so I could be just passing bad information that I was given.

The pin is roughly 1.75" in diameter with dual pins in the back... for 300 of them it was roughly $500. Yes, we trade them with other umpires and really anyone who wants to make a trade... I'm asking my partners for 2 of theirs. One for myself; I'm putting together a pin board of the partners I worked with throughout the All Star season and then another I am going to make up for our Western Region annual charity auction. People build the boards and then have them auctioned... Even if it makes $50 for the non-profit, that works.

My 13YO daughter designed my regional pin for me. I have so little artistic talent that my stick figures look, well, like sticks. The shark is our district mascot, and the pier represents the Huntington Beach pier, with HB being one of the cities in our district (HB, Costa Mesa, Westminster, Fountain Valley and part of Newport Beach). In one draft, the shark was on top of the umpire, so it literally looked like it was being punched.

Watching my daughters Pony games this season and we had some really, really bad officiating. So bad that I had to get up and move from close to the plate area where most the families were parked and move WAY down the line away from everyone. Most of these parents know me and that I umpire. If I start making comments, then I know it will be open season on the official. Considering most of their games had 1 guy only, and I try very hard never to make comments about other umpires, I just got up an left the immediate area. Bad rules knowledge, bad mechanics, etc... BUT they did have an umpire and got to play, so there is that.

Fair/Foul Catch/No Catch Tag/No Tag Ball/Strike Priorities...

What about building dirt mounds at 2nd base and or chasing butterflies in the outfield? Don't forget about those players also!

For water polo, where rain is not a factor unless there is lightning, I wear a Frog Toggs rain suit. Basically PVC, super light weight and made to go over your normal clothing. Only real issue, being PVC (I think) the material does not breath very well at all. I got mine on Amazon and there are a ton of colors available for roughly $30-$50. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=frog+toggs&crid=37S52VR91R23F&sprefix=frog+toggs%2Caps%2C154&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

I was wondering why you were dragging your right leg on ESPN last year!

... and in the news today an armed umpire at a LL game blah, blah, blah. The problem there is the firearm would most likely be in the car and not where he would need it when this jackass accosts him. The league has banned him. If you see or hear him, tell the league to remove him, call the police or you call the police. You can easily state that you are a sports official and that a parent who threatened you with bodily harm and who was banned from the league has returned and that you are in fear for your safety and need an office to respond.

For our district TOC, the specific instruction given was if the TD wanted music, they will play it from the booth. No individual teams may have walkup music or between inning music coming from the dugouts. We were also told this is not an umpire issue and the TD will be the POC to handle if there is an issue.

Welcome to summer baseball in much of Orange County... HS's rent out their fields, but don't provide any field maintenance items, other than a drag... and not always that. Chalk or painted lines are often imaginary. Makes it fun when U1 SHOULD go out on a F/F ball but has to come in and pivot since he has no frame of reference to make a ruling. PU has to line up 1st and the foul pole to have a chance of getting the call.

For them, or for you?

As someone who regularly umpires LL games, there are ways to handle bat throwers in an manner which typically does not include EJ's. Not saying it is not an option, but normally we don't have to get to that point. And @MadMax, you are right... people don't want to EJ 9 year old kids, so they come up with this call them out reasoning, which like you, I do not agree with. Obviously tell the coach, but I also address it with the player. Hey Johnny, you know when you it the ball, you threw the bat and hit the catcher in the stomach? We can't have that, so this is your warning. If that happens again, we have to remove you from the game. Can you help me out here next time you are at bat? Of course the next time he comes to bat, I remind him... Johnny, I want you to do me a favor this time. When you hit the ball, take 2 steps and then drop the bat. Just drop it. Can you do that for me? More often then not, this works and we start on the road to recovery... But occasionally it does not, in which case I then get to walk to the manager and tell him he only is leaving me 2 choices: The manager can sit Johnny for the remainder of the game, starting now (put your last batter or last out on the bases), or I have to EJ him. 99.999% of the time, the coach takes option 1 which in my experience has the expected reaction; the player is upset, normally cries and starts to understand that he needs to make an adjustment.

I had a youth Pony game a few years back... visiting team had 1 coach. Home team had more coaches than players, or so it seemed. Guess who won?

Umpire : Call me a cocksucker again, and you're outta here. Crash Davis : You're a cocksucker. Umpire : You're... *outta*!

1/2 my buddies do LL exclusively... all volunteer. So the money issue is a secondary motivator for many people.

Some thoughts... The vast majority of umpires (really, any official) I know started as volunteer umpires due to their kids participation in youth sports. Most people in our avocation don't wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly think to themselves: self, you know what is missing in my life? Someone throwing baseballs at me. The more our local leagues which are begging for volunteers to fill the role refuse to address poor behavior, the faster the quality of their program declines and the quicker the BS in their leagues escalates. Covid, at least with the groups I associate with really hit us hard. Many of our officials from the youth level through HS were already 65+ and suddenly they went from 3-7 games a week, being physically active to suddenly sitting on a recliner for 12-18 months. Some of them straight decided to move on, as the habit of officiating had been broken and which was really the only thing keeping them involved. Some did try and come back, but the 12-18 months of not doing 200-300 knee bends a night suddenly hit them with a vengeance. They found that they were seriously out of shape for umpiring (solo in many cases) and the 5-6 day bounce back time, the pain and stiffness was just not worth the $70-$80 bucks they received so they left. And of course there were actual Covid cases which caused us to lose people, be it their passing or having survived but experienced side effects which made them unable to officiate. And the elephant in the room, which we all talk about, but which does not seem to be getting better: overall people behavior. I don't care if it is a player, assistant coach, coach, manager, TD spectator or parent, the crap being hurled at us from inside and outside the fence is ridiculous and is only becoming more pronounced. Web pages devoted to promoting bad behavior, Facebook posts showing officials being assaulted and the comments, many of which have people actually agreeing with the assault because of some perceived 'bad call' all tend to enforce the poor behavior as acceptable. Municipalities, leagues, PD's and DA's refusing to punish the offenders in the most harsh manner available to them either by suspending, removing or prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law the people actually crossing the line from yelling to assaulting just emboldens the next crowd of upset people. Personally, the issue we are seeing is a reflection of the current behavior model in our society. I am not responsible for my actions, someone else is at fault. We have a generation who have poor interpersonal communication skills. They see something online and they post a reply; no consideration to the reply being inflammatory or just plain rude, they have no filter between their brain and mouth. Now these people are out in public and since they have not been forced to engage a filter, they continue in their behavior model, which then emboldens others in the crowd and then we get to a critical mass where people lose their minds. It has to stop somewhere... enforcing the rules, policing the leagues and enforcing the laws when it gets to that point is really the only solution. Until that happens, we will continue to see a decline in officials.

My $.02 and a cup of coffee will get you a cup of coffee. You had OBS at home, even though there wasn't a play happening. Point and announce 'that's obstruction'. You don't have to blow out anyone's ear drums, but I would make it loud enough for both the defensive players to hear it. By not acknowledging the act of obstruction, you do a couple of things: the defense may believe that you are unobservant and not going to catch obvious infractions, they may think you are indecisive and willing to let improper acts slide. I would 100% have addressed the hip check when it occurred, and more loudly to make sure the offender knows I saw it. As for the bat throwing... LL will not sanction an out on that infraction, however, as we all know, many leagues create their own house rules without them being approved. if this has been an all season rule and only internal teams are playing in this game, then there should be no conflict. Under LL rules, you really only have 2 options... ask the coach to bench the kid for the remainder of the game or eject them, that is really the only options. And don't rely on 9.01(c)... A knowledgeable coach, especially if you are playing other outside teams will put a P in the book and they will most likely win any protest for a misapplication of the rules, especially as we go deeper into TOC's and All Stars. Last... thank you for addressing the bat throwing, no matter the outcome. Kids flinging bats is dangerous and it amazes me how many umpires will ignore it, especially at the lower levels where we should be addressing it.

Yes and yes... when the ball is in play, they should be in the dugout and not on the field. If a coach steps out to signal their fielders, positions the defense and then steps back in, I don't have an issue with that. However, if they are just milling outside the dugout, then they need to go back inside.

Just remember that most likely there are 15 cameras on you at all times... every parent, grandparent, recruiter/scout at a 12U game... whatever. Trust me... I made it to the front page of the 'Umpire Hate' Instagram page with a safe/out call at home taken from outside the fence, down the 1st base line... cannot even see the plate in the video and was amazed A) by the number of my friends who called/texted me literally 2 minutes after it posted, B) the number of people who, without even being able to see where the plate is decided I blew the call and conversely how many people without being able to see the plate agreed with my call, etc, etc... What really blew my mind was how many umpires subscribe to a page named 'Umpire Hate'. Felt like watching rattle snakes commit suicide. Moral of this tale: call what you see and don't make up calls. No one is going to know when you are getting internet love that you did not ask for, that the game was 20-0. All they are going to see is you making a call which after being dissected frame by frame in slow-mo is obviously incorrect, or in their mind is obviously incorrect.

Where it gets fun is determining where the runner is placed and if he properly retagged... R1, ball hit deep and he achieves 2nd base. F9 catches the ball and then thinking it is the 3rd out, tosses the ball to the fans. Umpires award 2 bases from time of throw, which in this case is home for the runner, who you will notice has not tagged up. Scenario 1: runner trots to 3rd and then home, scoring. The defense can now appeal when the ball is live (or in HS a dead ball appeal is fine) and the runner should be declared out on the appeal for failure to retag properly when they throw the ball to first and appeal the running error. Scenario 2: runner recognizes he failed to retouch. Runs back to 1st, tags and then is awarded third since his award is now from 1st base. Scenario #1 is more fun...

Thanks @JonnyCat...

I was noticing that someone seems to have fallen off... last time @Rich Ives looks to have logged into the site was back in January. Anyone know of something happened to him?