Thawk

Yes I am my friend

Emptying my closet. Have 2 POS jackets, Navy Blue 2XL. Price is $35/each shipping included.

So I'm cleaning out my closet of excess equipment. On the list is various shirts. All are 2XL. All are in excellent condition, hardly worn. Price for each shirt is $25/shipping included. If you purchase additional shirts, each additional shirt is $15 (i.e. 2 shirts-$40/shipping included, and so on). Pro-Blue Navy Blue Powder Blue Black

I know that Ump-attire.com, and many other sites have the "old" style shirts. I have seen a comment from Smitty saying they had no intention of discontinuing production of the "old" pro-style shirts because they were being adopted by major organizations- NCAA, Little League, Babe Ruth, Pony, Ripken all have switched their shirts to that style. I haven't heard whether MiLB is going to go to the new ones, or stick with the old style.

In the short amount of time I have been calling games-9 years, and compared to some of my colleagues, that is VERY short- I have seen a variety of ways to approach this. Some guys are just content to stay apart until after the game, some are OK with talking between innings. I would say it's personal preference. Definitely something to cover in the pregame conversation. You want to know what the boundaries are. As far as during the game, When I do talk to my partner between innings, the first comment I make is going to be a positive one. In my opinion, the worst thing you can do to erode an umpire's confidence as their partner is to start attacking their calls/mechanics. Saying something positive first breaks down that defensive wall we all put when we are challenged. If I want to discuss a play, I'll generally wait until at least a half-inning after to bring it up. From what I have observed, and from personal experience, if you bring it up right away, they are still has that focused viewpoint. If you wait, you give your partner's brain the time to stop focusing on the play, which when the situation is brought up, will be more open to other viewpoints. This is something I have simply observed, and experienced. This is not gospel. No 2 umpires are the same, so not one method will work universally.

@beerguy55 what I would like to know is did the PU catch any flak from the HC? If he did, then the lesson was truly lost. If the HC didn't say a word, then he understood why the calls were being made, and was supporting the PU in delivering a message- "You are NOT bigger than the game itself". A lesson many young men & women have learned, and will continue to learn.

Under normal circumstances @beerguy55 I would agree with you about not treating this guy as a coach. But if a parent is going to "pretend" he's a coach, then he gets to have all the "responsibilities" of a coach.

What I was laughing about was the bozo ESPN commentators saying Joe West was interjecting himself into the game. Think they might want to do a little research on the guy. This is "Cowboy Joe" the ump who called a strike on Raul Mondesi while Mondesi was still in the dugout, and Joe had called for him to come up to the plate several times.

Harper's still an idiot for not controlling his temper. In a close game, and with limited bench he needed to keep himself in check. Big crybaby routine

When the hometown announcers even question their own team's players for acting surprised about the PU calling the same pitch over and over all night long, that tells me they were just not wanting to swing the bat.

LL Rule 8.05(a)- With runner or runners on base, it is an illegal pitch when the pitcher, while touching the plate, makes any motion naturally associated with the pitch and fails to make such delivery. I believe that Australia did have runner on first, but can't remember for sure now.

There was one incident during that game where I thought an illegal pitch could have been called, and that's what Kruk was referring to. In the inning, F1 for Curacao raised his foot as he had been doing, put it down, and immediately raised it again. That's where Kruk began to ask about the pitch being illegal. Now, watching the kid, he was wobbling so I'm wondering if he put his foot down for balance, the PU saw that, and let it go.

I thought it was Farrell who got tossed, not Butterfield.

Does anyone know of any company that is doing reftrofits for Wilson West Vests now the Team Wendy stopped doing them? My WV Platinum is in need of retrofit.

I have the 36" Champro bag. Great bag. https://shop.champrosports.com/p-3165-catcherumpire-equipment-bag-36-x-16-x-14.aspx

@Matt really?? talk about being a killjoy. How about reading the whole thing and not just focusing on "what was not done correctly." The whole reason I put this story on the page was to be a "funny story". How about for you just read the story, and say to yourself "that is an interesting play." Just like some coaches, parents, and players out there, some umpires need to stop being so DAMN serious and enjoy the game.

@Jimurray, PU still got to make his out call. My signal to him was me just pointing fair, didn't extend my arm or say anything. Was still dumbfounded by the play.

3rd out of the inning

So working state LL majors tournament this weekend. Had a play that made me and the PU say, "did that just happen?" So bases loaded, BR goes for bunt (team was blowing out opponent 14-0 top in top 2nd-coaches were keeping foot off the gas). Bunt goes straight down, strikes the plate and bounces straight up. As the ball flies up of the plate, F2 reaches out, grabs the ball out of the air, and lands with ball on the plate. PU stands there for a second, looks up to me down the 3B line (I was working 3rd). I give him a fair ball signal, and he then calmly calls the out. R3 looked like someone had shot his dog. Afterwards, crew got together for debrief, and had a good laugh about the play. Not one of us had ever seen that happen.

If you slow it down and watch it you actually can see the catcher extend his arms after initial contact. To me though, that is on the runner. The pros have gotten rid of that play even, so there is no excuse for it.

I was rolling when I saw that. And what was even funnier was the smile on the umps face when he picked the ball out of his glove.

@HokieUmp this is why I'm glad our association sticks with 2 colors. Minimal issues

@Tksjewelry and @Umpirechick1 I can't imagine the feelings going through your mind and heart at the time those remarks were made, but I applaud your resilience for not stooping to the level of the idiots. If I had been a parent of one of the kids on those teams, I would have walked into the dugout, picked up my kid's gear, and walked out with them, and never looked back.

If it wasn't Sunday, and it wasn't a "friendly game" yeah I probably would have tossed him. But I was honestly trying not to laugh at his ignorance and attempt to make everyone (himself included) believe he was a baseball know it all. Dealt with this coach in the past, so I knew what to expect, just not that extent. One moment I didn't put in the original post was the in the 1st inning the HT pitcher threw a pickoff to 1B, and the VTHC started crying saying it was a balk because the pitcher didn't "gain ground" If I was a parent on the other team, I would have walked over to him, thrown a rule book in his lap and said "read this, and stop making a fool of yourself."

12u AAU game yesterday. Last game of a 3-game round robin set. Hot day, humid, players, parents, everyone wants the game to go quickly and be over. Well, almost everyone. VTHC for some reason felt like he had to open his mouth every 2 seconds. His RH pitchers were trying so hard to get me to call strikes on pitches that were ending up in the LH batter's box on RH hitters. almost every time they threw the pitch in that spot, the catcher was reaching across his body and over to catch it. And every time the VTHC would ask his catcher "are you setting up outside?" catcher would shake his head "No", and the coach would gripe about it saying that the it had to be a strike since the catcher caught it in the middle of his chest. Never mind the fact he took two steps over to get there, but apparently he ignored that small detail. So we get close to the time limit the coaches agreed upon at the plate conference (no new inning after 1:45), Top 5, HT up by at least 5 runs. I tell both coaches last AB for VT. We roll through the top of the 5th, I look at my watch, we have less than 5 minutes to cutoff. Talk to the HTHC, he says he's good, so I'm ready to call the game. All of the sudden, VTHC starts crying saying that we should play out the inning, there's still time left. HTHC looks bewildered, but agrees. Then, out of no where, VT takes the field, needs no warm-ups, and before I even put the ball in play, pitcher is firing the pitch in. Immediately I call "no pitch" and step out. VTHC starts crying that if I want the pitcher to hold up, I have to put my hand up. Fine, you want to play that game, let's play. So every pitch I'm taking a few extra seconds holding up the pitcher. HT does down 1-2-3, VTHC gets his players running off the field and says "OK, we get one more AB, let's kill 'em!" I look at my watch and see 1:47 elapsed. Game over. VTHC starts crying saying "really, 2 minutes, you're gonna call it over 2 minutes? We're supposed to be out here to help the kids practice and learn". I say nothing, but as I and my partner walk off I hear him cry to the other coach, "you wanna keep going with out the umps since they're a bunch of quitters?" Where was this desire to speed up the game earlier when you batters were taking forever to get up to AB, I had to keep telling them to keep a foot in the box, and you called a lengthy timeout EVERY inning to talk with your players or cry about something. Never mind the fact that your players gave up at least 4 runs on mental mistakes in the field. My partner and I got back to our cars and just started laughing. We couldn't help ourselves.