Cav

I was a F150-guy through and through and all served me well. I started umpiring baseball with a capped and carpeted '90 which was easy to work out of and went over 260k with no serious (re: expensive) mechanical issues. It finally succumbed to "skin cancer," which was/is so often the case with that model. I liked the crew cab on the '99, although after my college-ball days, the parking lot became the locker room du jour and I missed the overhead cover provided by the '90's rear cap window when scrambling to change after banging one due to rain...or snow. It, too, succumbed to "skin cancer." (My clubby never liked the "rust-bucket' image both eventually conveyed.) We're now out in the country, so we appreciate 4WD/AWD. When we got my clubby an AWD Mountaineer, she handed down to me her 4WD Explorer. I am pleased at how well operating out of an SUV has worked out. The rear cap provides even more cover than did the rear cap window of the '90 F150. It is very near the 200k hilltop and is still going strong and looking good, albeit dated. The same can be said for me. My guess is her Mountaineer will be my next, and probably my last, ump-mobile.

Our group is so screwed up, they've already assigned me (ME?) nine games for 2016, sending me contracts back in January 2014. Advantage me, because I signed and sent them in before they got a chance to see me work last year or next. Ha!

In days of yore, I had a fight in game one of a weekend series. Participants were from the same team! It was a dugout clearing, bats and buckets brawl between a couple of visiting middle-infielders. HC was in the 3B box at the time. He trotted across the infield to his 1B dugout and said in passing, "I'll take care of this." He did just that. I wrote it up in my game report, but made no EJs.

grayhawk, I respect your opinion, but I didn't make it up and I offered no excuse. On the other hand, I will defer to your expertise on what coaches appreciate and accept your words of wisdom. It is likely different in SoCal, but we here in NoOh are admonished to follow the NFHS Umpires Manual in those games sanctioned by that organization, and many of our local summer leagues also follow its dicta. On page 38, paragraph 3, of that manual, it clearly declares that: Yes, it is. No, there can't. And, no, they can't either.

The status of the ball is dead when you're brushing the plate in one-man: no outs can be made; no one can advance.

Barring an injury in youth ball, I try to remember to neither call "safe/out" nor "time" until the play is complete, and the play is not complete while a fielder is still in the act of tagging a runner. On a good day the teams make the adjustment; some sooner than others.

Murphy says: An umpire that wears hundreds of dollars worth of protective gear will get hit on a five-cent application of sunscreen.

Be safe. Be legal. Be humane. Be grateful. Be happy.

Nanu nanu, funny man.

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Hudson was in my class at Brinkman's in '92. He stayed out of trouble there, too.

OBR-E2 (F3 was never going to handle that throw); and, NFHS-Time! That's interference. You, you're out.

Check out what protection is available and what you can do to help at www.naso.oog

HS, summer, $60, tourney game; double no-hitter with one unearned run; 61/2 innings, was in the locker room 55 minutes after the scheduled start. Winning (paying) coach busted my chops complaining that the crew was making more than $1/minute.

Good job on taking care of business with the AC. I have no problem of you doing what you did, or of F2 doing what he was told to do. OTOH, what was the rest of the situation? Outs? Other runners? I'm thinking the D can pull this off for only 3 or less ABs, then the problem corrects itself without exposing you to any collateral damage.

I was taught by R (of J/R fame), have often used those (dated) references in my own instruction endeavors, but have not come up with a current "authoritative" source. I am not privy to a MLBUM. Recent campers (those that remain conscious) have "pushed back" when thumbing the NFHS manuals while seeking a reference to this "old dog's" teachings. Their point: a fielder's "step" for a misplayed ball is movement from "his original position."

Where is the "step and a reach" criteria delineated? I, too, was taught that concept, but cannot come up with a reference.

Knowing what is right and wrong is admirable, but doing what your coach says is what gets you in the line up.

I have a big, bright yellow, banana cup in a UA strap and they both served me well yesterday...very well, indeed!

Summer league playing NFHS rules for the most part. I was looking forward to working two teams in a twilight twin-bill on a beautiful evening with a light breeze blowing in and the sun setting behind me. The teams were from different leagues and both have descent school programs. But now it's just Dads in charge. I think this is where is started going south. My dish for game 1. Nothing is going good for either battery; pitchers popping hitters (I stopped counting after the 4th HBP); novice catchers selling anything they can catch (when and if) but only the fans and dugouts are buying. After about 2 hours, we were in the bottom of the 6th, 5-11, bases were juiced and there were less than 2 outs. VF1 sent ball 4 to the wall. R3 trotted across while F2 looked at me like I was going to give him another ball with which to play. When I saw the light come on in his head, the proverbial foot race began; F2 to the ball, R2 and F1 for the plate. The ball had ricocheted off the knee-wall back towards the plate. F2 scooped it up and threw it off balance over F1's reach. It touched down out by the hill. R1 decided to join the race for the plate and the BR booked for 2. When F3 (?) recovered the errant throw, he decided his best chance for an out was to go to 2B against BR, but no one was there. That's when he made the unfortunate decision to hit the moving fielder (F6?) which, as you may have guessed, didn't work as planned. The ball tailed off into CF and the BR never broke stride on his way to 3B. So the outfield decided to get in on this snowball fight. F8 came up with the ball and sent a 135mph fastball towards 3B which, if thrown and caught by somebody(I didn't really know who was where at this point) would have beat the BR by several body lengths. But in my world, the ball caromed off the dugout edge (LBT) and back towards the hill where a reasonable person would have expected to see F3(?) kicking the dirt after HIS last involvement. Nope. Now all remaining fielders, eligible substitutes, one or more coaches and more than a few fans (deliberate exaggeration!) got in on the foot race which, as it turned out, was to no avail. BR scored uncontested. That was 4 in and a 10-run mercy. Game 2 started 20 minutes later. Ugh!

Talking to the press...never a good thing unless specifically instructed to do so by your super.

I had this happen three days ago in a NFHS postseason game. I was looking at opening warm-ups by the HT's starter. He completely stopped during his wind-up motion. I told F2 that his starter can't do that and I recommended that he tell him so before we began. After a few warm-ups, I started walking towards the HT's dugout while holding a couple new baseballs out in my hand as if something were wrong with them. The HT's HC came out to see what was up. I explained what was going on with his starter and what I told his catcher. He and his catcher went out to the hill when warm-ups were completed, briefly talked to their starter and we were ready to go by the time the VT's coaches were in their boxes. No charged conference. F1 made the necessary adjustment. I'm not saying he didn't occasionally revert to his "interrupted" motion, but neither my partner (2-man) nor I called it. I was taught so many years ago that the wind-up motion had to be "smooth and continuous." Those are words I use, although the NFHS book reads, "...without interruption or alteration." That said, why the motion is not legal makes little sense to me. I see no greater "interruption or alteration" in F1's wind-up motion than when he drops the ball during delivery. That act is not penalized if no runners were on. And, even with runners aboard, what is F1 to do once he begins his wind-up motion? It's not like he's going to "freeze" a runner by "hanging his leg" from the set. F1 stopping his wind-up motion would only give moving runners more time to advance. Back to last week's game: I had worked several regular season games with both of these teams this year. I had seen the HT's starter a few times already, but never before had I seen this particular "hitch" in his wind-up motion. Where do these kids come up with this stuff? By the by, we went scoreless through eight. The VT put three on the board in their half of the ninth. The HT managed to only answer with one. When I started my car to leave our crew's "lounge," the clock showed it was only two hours, one minute after the game's start time. It seldom works out that way for me, but when it does...

Insect delay?

From one lurker to another, if I may, welcome.

Thanks, all.