kylehutson

Had a situation tonight that I wonder if I booted... High school JV (FED rules). Home team's jerseys have large sleeves - enough that when the batter is in position the sleeves hang down about 3" below his arm. Pitch comes in high and inside and barely brushes the hanging-down sleeve. Runner takes off for 1B, and I call him back and call a ball. HC argues. I said that clothing only applies if it is "reasonably well fitted" (2-40-1). However, in reading 8-1-1, it appears that that only applies if the shirt is not being worn "properly", and all the uniforms are that loose. Batter ended up getting ball 4 on the next pitch anyway, so it didn't make any real difference, but I'm trying to make a learning opportunity for myself from this.

The second situation nearly describes the only time I've ever called it....kid stepped so far across the plate that not only was he standing on the plate, I couldn't even see the pitch or pitcher anymore. Didn't even hear a peep from his coaches, it was that obvious. I caught no static from that one either. I did catch crap on my first one. Coach was arguing that I shouldn't be watching that since I wouldn't be able to see it if I was watching for balls and strikes. *rolls eyes*.

I've only called outs on batters box twice. First time was a kids rec league game where the rules were that once the batter had drawn four balls, the coach would come in and pitch two more (really a good rule for games that become a walk-fest). Kid sets up with his front foot right on the front edge of the batters box and took a huge stride before hitting it. Also, I didn't have to call strike or ball, so it was easy to watch his feet. The other was high school, right-handed batter hits a bunt that would have beaned a left-handed batter. Foot was entirely in front of the plate.

After reading this thread the past couple of days, I had a 5-pitch inning, and felt pretty darn fortunate even at that. (1 ball, 1 foul, on top of the three grounders).

What languages/platforms?

I'm a sysadmin for a HPC (High Performance Computing) cluster at a D1 public university. Prior to this, I spent about 10 years in small business computer/network consulting, but that's a young man's game and I'm getting too old for all-nighters - loved doing it though.

In our association, we work with different guys nearly all the time. Get lucky to work with same guy/gal more than once. So that is why we pregame about 16-20 things (will have to look at my sheet) to include rundowns. Don't think it would hurt to do it pregame, but maybe if you are working with same guys/gals over and over no need to do that. What is the harm in doing it pregame? You nailed the communicate part and splitting of responsibilites as they are vital. Any chance you could share that sheet? I'm in the same situation, and I always feel like I'm leaving something out, so having such a checklist would be useful.

Our state high school activity association says all officials are to be paid prior to taking the field. It keeps a disgruntled AD from saying "I didn't like your calls, I'm not giving you the check." No check, no officials. With rec leagues, etc., YMMV.

Hehe. Not a problem. I live in the thriving metropolis of Westmoreland. It might be more helpful to say that my day job is at the main campus of K-State.

I joined a few days ago because I had a specific question to ask, and have been reading lots of forums since and learning lots. I coached my kids' rec-league teams until they got too old. My oldest started umpiring for the younger kids, but was too young to drive himself, so I would drive him to (very basic) clinics. That got me interested, so when I stopped coaching, I started umpiring. That was about 5 years ago. I enjoyed it enough that last year I registered for high school.

As a fairly new umpire (2nd year at high school level), I'm glad you brought this up. I played catcher, but only on rec league through middle-school - our high school didn't even have a team, and none of the pitchers ever threw it hard enough that I even noticed when a foul came off my mask or chest protector. I wouldn't have even thought about it, once F2 says "I'm good". I'll definitely take this to heart and give my catcher some more time next time he gets banged up.

Thank you, Rich. I saw "legal gobbledygook" and skimmed that part.

I've searched this online, and found this forum because of that searching. Seems like a friendly place to ask a question, so thanks for letting me join in! I started umpiring several years ago for a rec league that uses FED rules. I'm now in my second year at the high school level, also using FED rules. I was asked to work a tourney next week that is using USSSA rules. I've looked and haven't even found what USSSA rules are other than http://www.usssabaseball.org/rules-by-laws . Those 13 pages don't even come close to covering all the rules, so do they use OBR except the ones on this list? If so I can consult http://www.stevetheump.com/nfhs_pro_rules_dif.htm , which I've seen widely cited. If not, what do I need to know to go from FED to USSSA?