WIUMP

I see them on Instagram but I'm not on many other platforms for personal consumption.

Over the last few years, the algorithm has decided I need a steady diet of umpire influencers. GoPros on masks. Meta glasses (had to Google those… I am, in fact, uncool). “Day in the life” content, mic’d up clips, etc. Is there any real value here, or mostly content for content’s sake?

Didn't he give his to the Hall of Fame? Maybe OP has a potential buyer.

Saw a helmet tap in a men's league tournament today, playing not umpiring.. All in good fun. We were up by two touchdowns. Plate, dressed in an untucked black shirt, navy ball bags, and base pants glued to his shin guards, got a kick out of it.

Absolutely. This doesn't even have to be negative. You or a partner may know that a particular coach uses the player-DH rule or likes to squeeze with R2 & R3, or any other uncommon situation in your area. But you can definitely discuss coaches who may be a problem or rivalry games or teams with bad blood. As an AD, I've reached out to officials, usually football or basketball, when a game was going to have heightened intensity. Having both coached and umpired, I've had umpires tell me that they pre-gamed for my 1st & 3rd offensive plays and my propensity to re-enter my DH and re-enter the player in who's place he was hitting (which usually got arguments from confused opposing coaches).

When I stepped away from umpiring, I spent time as the commissioner and assignor for a HS-aged summer league. We had a few rule differences in the playoffs—mainly removing regular-season rules that were there for pace and participation. Our playoffs were not intense but some years we were able to play at some nicer college facilities and had more personnel on board (public address, score keeper, score board, etc.). Here's what I would discuss in addition to the regular pre-game conversation: Codified changes or differences in rules and/or enforcement for playoff games. Added administrative responsibilities (if present): communicating with an official scorekeeper and press box, lineup submission and verification, ground rules if at a neutral site, game reporting to league or organization. Game management strategies. Trust my AD experience, ejections and restrictions are messier in the playoffs, especially in education-based athletics. Not that you should take more SH*# in the playoffs, but discussing game management with your partner may help you both be proactive in avoiding situations before you get to restricting and ejecting. EDIT: I should have added additional discussion for working crew of three, crew of four, or crew of six (ha!).

Looks like Willis got the night cap off after having the plate in the afternoon game. When there is a double header, do they always bring in someone to give the plate the other game of the DH off? I can't remember this happening before but, being in Milwaukee, we never have home double headers.

This is what I thought watching live, especially with the emphasis on calling obstruction. I guess F8 dropping the ball on the tag bailed out the umpires from making the much less palatable obstruction call after review. It seemed that B1 was asking the bench to look at obstruction in determining replay, not the dropped ball.

I've been coaching for 21 or so years, most of those as a head coach. I've never felt the need to have a sign like this. 1.) I'm not trusting my catcher to call pitches any better than the umpire. 2.) What am I actually going to do with the information? 3.) This is just teaching excuse-making which is something I can not tolerate. 4.) At all but the highest levels of varsity baseball, we're not trying to execute a specific game plan against a specific hitter and even if we were, the chances that a 14yo pitcher and catcher could implement and execute said plan are almost zero. During the few years I coached state-ranked varsity teams, if my catcher felt we weren't getting a certain spot that we needed, we could discuss that between innings and how to adjust our game plan against certain hitters.

The ninja is on it.

I would like to see how many correct strike calls are actually overturned. I would guess it will be far fewer than the number of egregious 2"+ misses that are overturned. Time will tell. Would a 3D ABS have been that difficult technically?

My first gear actually came from a local sports complex trying to lock in new umpires for their “daddy ball” leagues—they were handing out free sets through a deal with Wilson. It came with a Wilson DavisShield. That abomination is actually how I found this site… because I couldn’t believe it was supposed to protect me from anything north of 60. 😅 Upgraded pretty quickly after getting some good advice here. Makes me wonder how many guys actually took the field with that thing—and at what level. **I am assuming that #12 had very little to do with that chest protector besides cashing the endorsement checks.

I picked up the Enduro to replace my venerated Schutt VX. I don't have the fit dialed in quite yet but the amount of R&D they put in to the product is evident. I wonder, however, how they can do this with no other markets. The other big companies' R&D budget encompasses both their player and umpire lines, with the player line being much more lucrative. Realistically, the typical entry level umpire is probably choosing the $100 Champro or Champion off the shelf at the local sporting good store. The market Davis is shooting for seems exceedingly narrow. Plus, and I may be wrong about this, many umpires (not the ones not on U-E) keep their gear forever.

"To eliminate the existing ambiguity within the "fight rule" to ensure a more consistent understanding and application as described to eliminate undue ejections and suspensions for players who do not participate or incite a fight. As a result, only players who are deemed to have participated (including through the use of video review, when available) in a physical altercation or confrontation shall be penalized." Granted, I am no expert in the NCAA rule code, but this was issued in 2024.

Getting back into this after about a decade away—now with 9 years as an AD and 21 as a coach—I’m concerned by how little standardization exists in basic umpire training. In my state, you can get games at Level 0 — meaning you’ve paid your fee and that’s it. No exam. No rules video. You’re on a field. Our ranking system only impacts tournament assignments the following year, so there’s almost zero real-time accountability. I’m all for states having some autonomy. HS baseball in Wisconsin—even at the top level—is very different than Florida or Texas. But there should be a baseline for entry-level training.

I’ve got MC on F1, but I’m open to being talked off it if there’s something I’m missing from other angles or on-field info. Here’s where I’m at: F1 is running at BR — not the other way around. So I don’t have anything on BR here. After fielding, F1 gets his head up. This isn’t a bang-bang, one-motion field-and-tag where incidental contact just happens. The force of the tag feels excessive relative to what’s needed to secure the out. This is the “unload” @The Man in Blue referenced. And while it’s not part of the MC decision itself, F1’s behavior after the play doesn’t exactly sell “whoopsies, hard tag, my bad.” My gut reaction watching live: in a HS game, we’re probably getting F1 (MC or possibly post-play) and there’s a decent chance BR gets run as well. Obviously, we’re working off one angle and no on-field audio with the benefit of watching over and over.

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I'm back in the game after a several year hiatus. I've been using the F3 Defender for a few years as a men's league catcher, so it was a logical decision to replace my beat up steel Dyna-Lite with TW pads. Speaking as a catcher, the biggest adjustment to this mask was how much farther the bars were from my eyes compared with other traditional masks. Thankfully men's league pitchers aren't sitting 96 with a slider at 89. Having read the @MadMax At Face Value treatise, I'm intrigued by the next generation of magnesium masks by Davis. I don't at present, however, feel the need to possess two high dollar masks (plus the trusty Dyna-Lite) to work 15-20 high school games. This is probably not in the spirit of the U-E community but it is definitely in the spirit of staying married.

This is definitely a weakness of the system. I think if it helps us weed out the umpires committing egregious offenses, like umpiring under the influence, it will be useful. We're definitely not in a position to nit pick umpires. Adding a degree of accountability is the goal.

If I recall, umpires can see their year-to-date average, three- or five- year average, and the state year-to-date average. As an athletic director, I would like to see more evaluation of officials across all team sports. With challenges scheduling officials, though, I'd rather hire that official for a contest than have them show up to evaluate the other officials. In your situation, it seems like a logical solution and great opportunity for that assignor/association.

Head coaches. Our state rating data is not shared with schools. It is used only for determining playoff assignments. Truth be told, I'd really love to have a system where a master umpire evaluates umpires in our conference. Unfortunately, I'm the most experienced umpire in the employ of the district and our current assignor is probably not capable of offering that level of support. We would have to build some infrastructure before that could happen.

Once he reaches into his glove he has to continue coming set "without interruption and in one continuous motion."

I used to be active on here about a decade ago when I was a rookie umpire. Back then I worked a bunch of summer HS games (when WI still had sanctioned summer baseball) along with some youth/travel ball. I even had the chance to work a 14U championship with @MadMax. Around the time Wisconsin moved to a single spring HS season, I became a varsity head coach and later an athletic director, so my umpiring opportunities mostly disappeared. I still picked up a few games here and there and spent a few summers assigning for an inner-city league. Fast forward to now: I’m no longer coaching, but part of my role as AD is overseeing baseball for our district. After losing a long-time assigner, we’ve had a rough time finding quality, competent umpires (and yes… sober ones—unfortunately not a joke). 😅 So this year I’m getting back on the field myself. I’m also implementing an internal umpire-rating system for our conference and hope to take over some or all of the assigning next year.

Very important. "No" is a very tiny but very important word.

What is meant by "deep B?" Are we just setting up a bit deeper in B or are we in softball B behind the fielders. I'm not familiar with 60' mechanics. Do enlighten.