tiger49

I will cut them some slack on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, because they are least got the Spink award right. http://baseballhall.org/news/press-releases/bob-elliott-wins-spink-award

22 years 1,001 total

??? One of the leagues I do, our local team is the only team in the league who does promotions in between innings. It is more to make sure the pitchers and catchers know they have extra time. Also televised games have the full 2-minute break in between innings. There has also been a concert in between games of a DH, which made the break in between games a full hour instead of 30-minutes. Team management also has a history of forgetting to communicate these things to the crew and the visiting team. So if we can get the home manager to give us that info it is a bonus. They also run a few promotions that won't allow for the players to warm up during the promotion. As you can see in this clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDLc4ZRuWM

Mine is pretty simple; Introductions Lineups Ground Rules Make sure managers are aware of any special promotions/events

One more thing you can't have in Ontario. That $1.05 bat would be $1.19 out of your pocket, and the $.05 ball would be $.06. For an overall total of $1.25. Damn sales tax.

It looks like interference without a play. The runners weren't advancing, so kill it before you get problems. 24, this is part of the reason behind the new BC interp that would cover this situation.

Our local association has walked out of the league based on their way of handling discipline issues. The league way of handling suspensions are beginning to have very little effect on the few players that are causing most of the problems. They will often not look at a player's past history when considering a current incident. One player in particular has been suspended 4 times in the last calendar year with two happening at the end of last year and two so far this year. All have included personal attacks against the umpire's integrity. The latest happened while he was even appealing a recent suspension. The suspension he was appealing even got reduced despite the new incident hanging over his head. All things considered we have walked as we have lost trust in the league's system of discipline, however rather than meet us halfway they have continued to strong arm us by reducing the suspensions handed out. The have also started using replacements in the form of untrained players umpiring games. Some of the players who are umpiring in place of us have taken shots at us via social media. Included in the comments are some of the following: "WS" said "Any umpire reluctantly supporting the cause at the expense of feeding your family, I have a $100 grocery gift card for you!" He also added "Cannot believe I am getting paid to help people enjoy the greatest game on earth!", "True what they say "chicks dig umpires" got 5 phone numbers at the bar last night!" & "umpiring debut! First step to MLB! Been watching Leslie Neilson in Naked Gun all day!" With others saying "At (park) making (league) umpire debut. Couldn't help but notice a few MLB umpire scouts in the stands." I know a few of those are meant in jest, however their comedic delivery needs to be worked on. I am beginning to think about helping them with a little training exercise by going out and filming an inning or two of their work and posting it online for the umpiring community to evaluate their "work". Would you guys help I would be very great-full for your help.

Took a shot last year that cracked my cup. Luckily for the ladies there was no damage to its contents. Years ago I also took one off the foot that put a dent in a brand new pair of +Pos Plate shoes (Metatarsal Plate). I have also had a few counters break after getting hit in the hands. Other than those things nothing out of the ordinary. I consider masks bending part of the business.

Part of my ruling would come from the Baseball Canada interp 8) Ball Going into Player’s Uniform Existing Rule 5.09(g), 7.05(f), 7.05(g), 7.05(h), 7.05(i) If a batted or thrown ball inadvertently goes inside a player or coach’s uniform (or lodges in the catcher’s face mask or paraphernalia), the umpire shall call ``Time.`` The umpire will place all runners, including the batter-runner, in such a manner that in the umpire`s judgment, will nullify the action of the ball going out of play. In no circumstance may any outs be recorded on such a play. This does not apply to situations where a batted or thrown ball lodges in a fielder`s glove. In that case, the ball is alive and in play. A fielder may legally throw the glove with the live ball lodged in the glove. Any fielder in possession of the glove containing the lodged ball is considered in possession of the ball for the purpose of the Rules. This is taken from the MLB/MiLB interpretation as well. I believe that they put out a press release in 2003 or 2004 about this, but haven't been able to find it.

I would rule the same in the same way you would rule on a ball lodged in a player's uniform. Play is dead. Award bases such as to nullify the act (of lodging in equipment) which in this case would be, R1 to 2B or return to 1B depending on where you think he would've gotten. Keeping in mind that you can't give the defense an out.

JM, You can't have Interference without a play, when you have a play. J/R defines a throw from a fielder to another fielder in an attempt to get an out as one of the five potential plays. Also looking at the other end of the stick what would stop an OM from telling his batter to hit the pitch to prevent the possible throw back to 3b, while letting a errant throw go through allowing R3 to score. I could see calling Interference without a play, when the pitcher steps off and throws home (without calling time) for the purposes of requesting a new ball. All this being done while action is relaxed.

I never thought I would see the day when of all things a team loses a game by mercy rule, however still throws a no-hitter. I almost got there but not quite. The home team in the game I had yesterday scored 16 runs through 3 innings before getting their first hit. By the time the game ended they had 20 runs on just two singles. How bad did things go the three outs of the bottom of the first were as follows; Batter ducks out of the way of the pitch, which strikes the bat and is popped up and caught by F2 for the first out. Second out, pitch once again over batter's head hitting the bat, but ends up fair. R1 never leaves 1st and is forced out at second after ball is brought in from the outfield after F2 couldn't come within 10 feet of the bag with the throw. Third out was the BR being tagged at 3rd after a walk, 1-5 for the putout. F2 stood there waiting for me to hand him a new ball.

How soon before the game are we talking about? We don't take control of the games until we get the home team's lineup. This to me is something you note and report it to let the higher ups deal with it. It is just another reason to change away from the diamond.

If, as ump_24 states, the manager is also frequently a player on the team, at what point do you find it circumventing? If he's F8, how far do you let him walk in before you charge the conference? If the manager is in the dugout, how far do you let him walk toward the field before he can turn around and walk-off without a conference? Interpretation: A player manager is the person who is designated by his team and is recognized under the roster requirements. 1) A player (or player coach) may visit a pitcher as permitted by the umpire whether or not time has been called. This would not be considered a trip to the mound. 2) A player manager who leaves his position to talk to his pitcher, whether or not time is called, is subject to the same rules provisions as a non playing manager. Therefore, a trip would be charged to the pitcher. The rule is more in reference to the "timing" of the trip. It was written in such a way so that it appears regardless of the situation the manager has the same time to speak to his pitcher. The only change in my handling of the situation is to wait until the manager reaches the dirt circle before until starting my visit sequence (clean plate, record visit, short pause, walk up to break it up etc.) Also a large number of fields are completely dirt, therefore there is no dirt circle.

PU is the only one that matters. 9.04 A(2)

What if Skip never enters the dirt circle? So - what's the answer here? Tell them to take it to the mound. It is circumventing and still a charged trip, same as talking to F6 and then having him go directly to F1. In the paper world trip starts when he enters the dirt circle, in the real world not much changes.

I'll take our "screwy" interps anytime. Interesting comment coming from the land of FED rules!!! What I think he means there - and correct me if I'm wrong, Mike - is that BC takes the OBR ruleset, and provides a differing interp than what we have here. And that's when the interp comes from the EXACT same written rule in the book. Which looks screwy. Yes, FED does wierd things. But it's also an entirely different ruleset. They don't interpret what happens with a balk differently than OBR - they have a different rule. Does that distinction make sense? And Mike, is what I wrote where you were going with that? In Australia, they use the IBAF book, which is still mostly OBR, but what they do that I liked when I was there was they don't have 3,000 different youth rulebooks. They just add things to the basic IBAF framework for the younger crowd. So, everyone's working off the same basic ruleset. For rule interps, I think they use PBUC, but I can't remember. Basically the same thing in Canada most of our rule interpretations that differ from PBUC are in place due to the changes that you see in amateur ball here. At the Senior level I would say at least 50% of the teams have at least one coach who is also a player, and therefore never crosses the foul line when he has a visit with his pitcher. This interpretation on paper gives a coach coming LF, SS, or the bench the same parameters on his visit.

I have to be careful because this is the internet, anyone can read this, and with my blog, the tie-in to my shirt number, hometown, etc etc, it really isn't that hard to figure out who I am. That being said, I do not see the reason for some of the interpretation amendments that currently exist and contradict standard OBR practice. But I do not make the rules, I merely enforce them. And that's all I'll say. PS Mike - try this one on for size: if you're playing a game under Ontario (OBA Rules), the trip to the mound begins when skip crosses the foul line. If you play under Baseball Canada rules, as above, it begins when skip enters the circle of the mound. But any game in Ontario uses all Baseball Canada Case Play Interpretations. Have fun figuring that out It only took me eight years. Gotta remember outside of Ontario there is a large emphasis on Senior ball (22 and over). At this level there are a lot of playing managers who are already in between the foul lines. Also at the lower levels they wanted to make it clear that a coach is free to visit any other defensive player without being charged a trip, provided that the player visited doesn't visit with the pitcher right after. Same goes if the pitcher meets the manager half-way. 24 Under Baseball Canada rules the two trip limit applies to all levels, not so in Baseball Ontario. The added rule interpretation manual that this rule comes from was put together for use at National Championships, some provinces use bits and pieces from it as they seem fit.

A few questions on this... WTF was R1 thinking just standing there... he would've at least been on 3B or could've even scored. As F2 never went after the ball. Also wondering has Verlander now found a way to intentionally hit a batter legally? Or found a way to hit him twice, once with the fake move then with a real pitch?

2.00 A FAIR BALL is a batted ball that settles on fair ground between home and first base, or between home and third base, or that is on or over fair territory when bounding to the outfield past first or third base, or that touches first, second or third base, or that first falls on fair territory on or beyond first base or third base, or that, while on or over fair territory touches the person of an umpire or player, or that, while over fair territory, passes out of the playing field in flight. FAIR TERRITORY is that part of the playing field within, and including the first base and third base lines, from home base to the bottom of the playing field fence and perpendicularly upwards. All foul lines are in fair territory.

Apparently the space between the line on the pad and the pole is foul. Crew chief Dana DeMuth declined a request for comment after Friday's game, but on Saturday he told sportsnet.ca that the home run was overturned because, "the area between pole and the line is foul." He declined to elaborate any further in a terse chat. The umpires can't be blamed for the confusion. There's nothing in Fenway's ground rules that governs the decision-making in the right-field corner, so DeMuth and his crew may have been essentially making things up on the spot. "There's nothing that addresses right field," said Blue Jays manager John Farrell, who spent the past four years as the Red Sox pitching coach. "Everything in the ground rules is based on the stripe in centre field, the ladder (on the Green Monster), the top ledge, the railing on the left-field side. That's not to be critical of anything, that's just the way things are stated." Lind said the initial explanation from the umpires was that the ball never touched the wall, and later was told the ball was in between the two lines. http://www.sportsnet...i_on_peskypole/ (also a pic of the pole in the story as well) Even after going to the replay you can still protest the application of the rule, however if they told Farrell that it never touched the wall, any protest would be mute, also he couldn't argue the judgement of if it did or didn't touch the wall. I would fully expect a new ground rule to come up to address this situation by this time next year.

The NCAA will be the very last to switch to wood. I fully believe FED would be first. A large part of the teams budget comes from sponsorship dollars associated with the logos on the bats that they use. Switching to wood would remove this revenue stream for the schools.

You guys are lucky. Up here it hasn't snowed since the end of February, but there is still snow on most of the area fields in some places. A month from today I will finally see my first action of the year, barring a Semi-Pro exhibition game being held earlier.

This would be my preference. You know what's going on. He knows what's going on. Now he knows that you know what's going on and are ready to put a stop to it. Any coach worth a crap would take the hint and end it right there. No Good can come of doing this as BU. First you would have nothing needed to be clarified to bring out a notepad. Secondly if the convo goes south it looks like you baited him. PU would have the advantage in pulling out the lineup cards. I don't like doing this at all after they visibly didn't like a pick-off call. Not much BU can do here except "look harder for a balk" As PU first thing I would do is send F2 with the message that they made their point and to get playing, if they don't I will look very hard for any possible balk, and of course find one.

In 2005 umpire Ed Hickox was working home plate and wearing a mask given to him by a Wilson Sporting Goods representative. According to a complaint filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, during the game at RFK Stadium "a foul ball struck the throat guard of Plaintiff's mask. The impact dislodged the mask's metal frame from the rest of the mask. The ball's force pushed the frame into Plaintiff's ear canal, then pushed the entire mask completely off of Plaintiff's head and onto the ground. The Plaintiff suffered numerous injuries, including but not excluding, a concussion, broken bones in his left ear, and an inner-ear fluid leak from his right ear." Hickox had surgery to remove the broken ear bone and have it replaced with a titanium prosthesis That sounds like he may have been wearing an FX prototype.