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Simply put, yes Tried to attach a picture of my 1B mask, Honig's frame with black Wilson pads, but it failed. Cool. Thanks Chris

Indeed I did, just on another board: http://forum.officia...o-much-ask.html JM Great reading there JM, thanks. The one I'm thinking of though is more recent, and the discussion turned to this in the confines of another thread topic, so I would be hard pressed to find it, although it may have been at the ABUA site, and these are the only two I really follow, with some Officiating.com thrown in for spice.

I'm having a little trouble seeing this. So your saying he starts with his feet open to the batter, and then comes set in much the same fashion? I would say the bigger question is whether you view him as pitching from the "set" or if it's more of a "wind up" position since he never closes his feet and/or shoulders. Obviously if it's a wind up and he does a "set/pause" type of motion he has just balked. I see plenty of F1's today who start out with their feet apart, almost like a wind-up where they have a good view R1, but they close their stance as they come "set". Not 100% sure I'm seeing this clearly though. How has would he have balked here (in bold above)? It could just be me, and the way I'm picturing it. The point being that If he is in what is considered a wind-up, and he's bring his hands and feet together then "pausing" (as you would in coming set) it's not one continuous motion, and thus would be a balk. He wants to start the set with his free foot somewhere on the 45 degree line, OK, I might see that, but he isn't gonna be coming set more towards 1B than HP.

I have a Honigs K-95 Single Bar that I'm moving over to back up duty, and it's in need of pads. I have never been a fan of the wrap around pads before as I always thought they looked to uncomfortable. I figured now would be a good time to try them out on my back up, and then upgrade my new Dyna Lite if I like em. Anyway, my question is, do the wrap arounds work with any type of Frame, or is it limited to certain frame set ups? I know Kyle has mentioned his Rig set up several times, and always like the wrap arounds, and I'm pretty sure they will work with the Dyna Lite but thought I would see if it will fly with the Honigs Cage system. Thanks Tom

Nothing better for training than working on staying focused. Same principle I try to use in games that are less than competitive. I work hard to focus on specific mechanics of whatever position I'm working at the time. I also keep in mind that those folks are paying me to do a job, and much like any other job I'm expected to leave my personal issues outside the gate. Course those things are easy to say, not always easy to do. Take it one play/pitch at a time and before you know it the game will be over and whatever you have to deal with is still going to be there. Who knows you might even find an answer to your problem while working the game! Good Luck

I'm having a little trouble seeing this. So your saying he starts with his feet open to the batter, and then comes set in much the same fashion? I would say the bigger question is whether you view him as pitching from the "set" or if it's more of a "wind up" position since he never closes his feet and/or shoulders. Obviously if it's a wind up and he does a "set/pause" type of motion he has just balked. I see plenty of F1's today who start out with their feet apart, almost like a wind-up where they have a good view R1, but they close their stance as they come "set". Not 100% sure I'm seeing this clearly though.

EXACTLY! Mostly perpetuated by Coaches that don't bother to learn the game, and instead look for quick and easy ways to "coach em up" :cheers:

It's more about what is expected at that level and that particular league. There are plenty of places, mostly smaller diamonds, where you have to grab whatever strikes you can, but when your at a level that F2 should be catching a ball your going to get more flack about balls that are rolling around behind you being called strikes. It's one thing when F2 just butchers the catch and it winds up in the immediate vicinity, but something that goes out of the immediate reach is making both of you look bad. I'm not an NCAA guy, though I do a good bit of NAIA and JUCO during the summer, and we have a very competitive Adult League here. I have never had an F2 who questioned a ball/strike call when he didn't catch it. I know JM recently talked about this in another thread, but I can't remember the name of that thread, so maybe he can jump in and shed some light.

Can you give me an example of this? Just Kidding! Let's see, how best to describe this in writing.............hmmmm..........I would wait for him to get close to the line with play continuing, and then I would envision your avatar and Yell in my Loudest Voice "HOOTERS!" Now it's gonna happen. See what you have done. I will share the ejection report with you later. :cheers:

Point to the right, always the right. I hammer swinging strikes w/o a verbal of course! Now, just for Mazz: U3K I will back flip with a standard split, signal no catch by flopping on the ground, and then check with my partner after all hell has broken loose! I like to keep it simple. :HS

If he gets close before the BR has reached 1st (on a walk) in a normal tone, tell him to hold up and point at the advancing runner. He will either get it or ask you. In most other situations, and once you are on a big diamond, just call time when he is making the trip, and you can see that everything else has relaxed. If play hasn't relaxed, use a large voice to get him to stop. It will only happen once, and he will have learned an important lesson in either case. Just ignoring it and letting it go doesn't solve the problem down the road. As 24 pointed out, you don't need to go picking boogers here, but offer up a little assistance.

It does not matter where his foot eventually lands. There is only one question to answer, was he in contact with the pitchers plate when he made the move? If it's a jump turn then yes he was, if he stepped off, then he stepped off AND THEN threw to the base. Two distinctly different actions, and once he steps off he's no longer a pitcher attempting a pick off, he is a fielder attempting a put out, which is why the distinction for awarding of bases is so important to understand. This is your quote from above: Absolutely not true and this can be very misleading for newer umpires trying to understand pick offs. Using this rationale then the Balk for feigning to 1st base wouldn't exist for RHP, since they would always have to step off, and therefore would never be able to feign a throw to 1st. It's not about where his foot or feet wind up (with the exception of gaining distance and direction towards the base)

IMHO, this is really the only part you can do something about. Hustle, timing, positioning, and presence will be the things that leave an impression with alot of those folks. It's a fun experience, but as others have said it can get tedious when partnered with the wrong people. In those cases, just work on the things you want to improve for yourself, and Don't Suck! Good Luck man!

Jax; This is from the JEA Annotated: From Section 2.00 Definitions The Announcement is part of my official duties of being an umpire. Announcing "Time" tells everyone what is going on. Simply yelling "Dead or Dead Ball" is only going to have some people wondering what died.

Call it the Ty Cobb rule..............crime prevention as you round the bases.

as a rhp he has to step off to throw to first. Negative. RH or LH makes no difference, only in appearance, and the ease in which LH throws to 1B vs. RH. Nothing in the rule requires F1 to "step off" to throw to first. He has to gain distance and direction to the base if he is throwing from the rubber, which is accomplished by most RH with a jump turn. The jump turn is a move that originates from the rubber, where his feet eventually wind up has nothing to do with being on or off the rubber. Think of the awards involved for each action by F1. If he steps off, he is then considered to be like any other infielder and should he throw the ball OOP it's two bases. If he attempts a pick off move while "engaged" to the pitchers plate, the award for the same ball being thrown OOP is only one base.

Is he maybe trying to call it "set" since he just takes one step after bringing his hands together? I'm having a little bit of trouble picturing the whole thing, not the pieces, but the whole thing and how it would appear. It sounds like what Dix and JM have said, just a funny looking Windup.

Yeah right! Visiting my sister who is a professor at Marietta College. The OH/WV border is a mile away, and I had to fly from Tallahasse to Charlotte to Pittsburgh! Also bringing back a new/used vehicle and decided to bring the little one along for an adventure. Gonna run through NC on Friday and catch a Knights game spend the night and head home from there. Good opportunity since there isn't any decent MiLB within a reasonable distance of home. Thanks for the advice on the smartphone guys, I'm gonna try it shortly, as I'm getting ready to get bounced off this laptop.

So here I am on vacation in West Virginia thinkin I will be able to keep up to speed with everyone here only to figure out I have ZERO clue on how to get my favorite umpiring site to not look like a full page on my Blackberry! Am I missing something? I can't find a Blackberry App (or maybe I'm just missing it) but I know I have seen people posting from their phones. Any help would be appreciated, I'm not Very tech savvy but if someone can point me in the right direcction I would be most grateful! Thanks Tom

Write up Ejection Reports! To the OP, it's a good toss, don't sweat it. Coming here to get some feedback will help you learn about the finer points of handling situations as you move through the ranks. But a long story short, anybody that wants to accuse you of cheating should get dumped immediately.

Cut off the hand, it does nothing more than slow the game down. Think about it, the moment you call time, or raise your hand everybody relaxes. Now they all have to get reset to start play again. Just check out the pace of a game where it isn't used and you will see what I'm talking about. 3 years ago I was grinding game management techniques into my new crop of up and comers, and we abolished the use of the hand altogether. Keep the ball in play whenever possible, it keeps them in the games, moves it along, and the players will play better. Once in a while you get this pitcher who wants to quick pitch it. First time it happens, let out a LOUD "Time" and make sure he understands that he has to wait for the batter to be ready. Later, chat up F2 and ask him to wait for the batter to get set before he gets to sign happy. This is no different than calling balks. Once you call it, with command and respect, the lesson will be learned. As to the giving of the situation, though I understand it on a small field, we are not coaches. There are a plethora of people around the new pitcher coming into the situation that should be telling him what he's got. Sit back and let them handle it. If he asks give him the count and outs, but anything else is just hand holding. These kids aren't dummies, they will quickly learn to figure it out. Neither Umpire has anything to do in the vicinity of the pitcher warming up, so why waste the time? My .03 cents, ymmv

There isn't really any rule support for killing the play outside of your judgment of the situation. As the others have noted, pause and see what happens next. In your case the player continues the action on the field, there really is no reason at this point to kill the play. Think of other scenario's where this could get tricky. How about a batter that cranks a shot to the right/center gap, while moving up to 1st he trips and falls down, he might be hurt, are you gonna kill it there? Where are you going to put him once the ball is put back in play, since killing the play robbed the defense of any chance to retire him. Most of the time on field injuries that require the immediate action of stopping play are very evident when they happen and generally you will be able to sort out runner dispositions once the situation has been cleared up.

Tell the Umpire. Definetly. As I said before, you may just find out that someone had an off day or is struggling with something they need help with. What to tell the coach? Make him give you details, specifics, facts. Is he just heated up over the game let him vent. Get it all out, just like on the field, you don't need to say much if anything, you certainly don't need to discuss the umpires performance or your schedule. My primary point is that you have the opportunity to do something positive with the umpire, and the coach if you handle it properly. No way am I going to allow him to dictate who's doing which games and when, that's a contract I don't need. The other side of the coin is what you are dealing with. Is it a contract I want to keep? Is this guy just gonna be an overbearing a$$, and if so then maybe I will just run that guy out there the next six days. But the fact is you've gotta be able to read it for what the situation really is. We all have good days on the field, and the occasional bad. There's no need to put your Association and the Umpire in a Jam just to beat on your chest and say that I'm right and I'm sending my guy out there to prove my point. Don't punish the umpire, but you also don't need to either

Make the Right Call is the name of the book itself, and it is the "case book" for Little League Rules. Couple of things here. Many rule sets, USSSA, LL, Pony, etc. are based on the OBR (Official Baseball Rules) which are the rules for MLB. Many of those organizations modify their rule books to allow for safety measures and differing field dimensions and age groups. If your doing Little League, you will want to get a copy of their official Rule Book for 2011, which you should be able to get from their web site. Make the Right Call is the case book that helps umpires to understand some of the tricky parts of the rules that aren't always clear (NOTE MRC is not the rule book). Many of those other Baseball and Softball organizations have Case books, that are companions to their rule books, which again show sample plays and try to help clarify rules and procedures. Little League also has a very specific Interpretation Manual call the RIM (Rules Interp. Manual) which goes into immense detail about their rule set.

I'm not an assignor - and wouldn't want the job - but my solution would be to ensure that coach sees that umpire for the next several games in a row. Players play. Coaches coach. Umpires umpire. Assignors assign. And I say that, assuming that this umpire is a solid one. I'd "old school" the coach to let him know that, just as I don't tell him when to hit-and-run or change pitchers, he shouldn't tell me how to schedule my guys. If it were that easy there would never be any conflicts. Honestly, my first inclination in this sitch is as you stated, I'm sending that guy right back out there. Easy thing to say, not necessarily easy to do. Besides it's really situation dependent. If I know the HC's argument is complete crap, OK it's now super easy to run the guy back out there, as my HC is just stompin on my crank. Next question is who is the HC in the scheme of things? Now as an umpire I really could care less, but as the Assignor who needs to worry about the contract and providing said games to the masses of umpires, I need to find a balance depending on who's running the asylum. As a general rule, it's almost like a chirping on Balls & Strikes. Many times I'm going to ignore the first one and just make a mental note. Maybe see if it's one of my newer guys if there is something I need to work with him on it. If I start getting the same sitch then I've gotta take a look at where the problem lies, and a solution is not going to be found by igniting the fire of a coach by sending the umpire back out.