LittleBlue

Yep that's the one. Note the squared away ear extensions compared to the more rounded extensions on the newer version.

Not sure if it will help but when uploads fail for me I take a pic from further away and then crop it. Always seems to upload then.

I did once because I had a stomach bug. Puked in short right field between innings. No one even noticed. F9 was right there too. Must have been too busy throwing the ball around. I was none the worse for the wear so we moved on. I'm convinced that to this day no one in attendance at that game even knew what happened.

Should they be allowed to stay on the field? No, it is a detriment to their health and as others have said the liability would likely rest on the site director if he refused to let the umpire off of the field. Of course I was of the problem a few weeks back. Here in NJ it was sweltering maybe a month ago and I had a 9 inning game that I was no well prepared for (hydration wise). Well around the 4th inning I started to feel the effects of the 98 degree/110 heat index weather. I was losing it fast. Headache, dizziness, felt like throwing up (I did after the game). My partner asked a few times if I wanted to come out and I maintained that it was a playoff game and I didn't need to come out (though I definitely did). Well I managed to get home and that's where I passed out. I went to the hospital and they got me right but they said I should have stopped when I felt dizzy and felt like throwing up. So my case is different than yours in that I needed someone to stop me from myself but there has to be more awareness of the dangers of heat exhaustion/heat stroke. I'll tell you what though if I felt that I physically could not continue because if I did my health would be in danger and the site director told me I had to stay I'd tell him what he could do and then never work in that league again. The clearly do not have your best interests in mind.

Bumpity bump bump....

Just out of curiosity, has anyone heard anything new about this helmet?

Gotta love us Jersey boys huh? No, but in all seriousness why is this just becoming an issue now if he started umpiring back in 2007? How did he go through with all of the training then and how did he make it to where he is now? Did he request to have them hire a sign language interpreter then or did he just start asking recently? These are all questions that will need to be addressed, but if he has made requests to have a sign language interpreter present from day one and they've completely ignored him, then I can see where he's coming from. Umpires should always look to help fellow umpires and officials in general not make their already difficult life harder. This coming from a Jesery kid.

Probably would have been better if just letting the catcher go out and talk to the pitcher until West goes and gets him. Maddon drew the acknowledgment of West by yelling at the catcher. You can even see West tap the catcher so he can listen to Maddon from the dugout. Maddon could have stalled better and I'm surprised that an experienced manager like him didn't do that.

Things like this always make me think that no matter what level we work, in the grand scheme of life, it's just a game. What a terrible tragedy for Rob and his family. Hopefully he takes all of the time he needs and finds comfort during this incredibly difficult time.

MM, I always appreciate and enjoy reading your opinions regarding umpire equipment. At least for me it has be a great help when thinking about equipment to buy.

Totally agree with you. They're cool to own but they're no better than other masks and since they're titanium they bend easily. I owned one and it didn't see much action because I wanted to keep it looking nice. Eventually I asked myself "why did I buy this thing if it's just gonna sit on the shelf"? It didn't make sense to spend the money I did to never use what is essentially a tool. I sold the mask a few months later. I'd rather invest in something useful like a Force 3 mask or otherwise and save some dough.

For me, this is a balk all day. I'd like to know who saw what to overturn it and what their argument for overturning it was.

Totally agree! When it's obvious on replay and the four guys on the field can't see it, why not get help? Hopefully they add this to the list of reviewable plays.

With which part?

As of 2014 he was serving as a special advisor to the president of minor league baseball on umpire related matters. While this seems more like a middleman job between the umpires and the president than a training position, he still seems to be involved in umpiring at least at the minor league level. Source: http://m.milb.com/news/article/20141126102507214

Are they any good? Sounds interesting.

And if someone does it, I will not mirror the signal back to them.

If the crew ruled INT on R2 the ball should have been dead immediately. PU holding his arm out like that is the signal for delayed dead ball during OBS. Not sure why he felt this would be a delayed dead ball. PU knew he had something and likely kept the play alive thinking it was a delayed dead ball situation. As you say, they ended up calling INT anyway, but the play should have been killed.

Time out, play, infield fly, yes he went (point), did he go (another point), that's obstruction (even more pointing), awarding bases (we sure do point a lot don't we lol). That's a few right there but I'll let others answer too.

Besides the obvious difference in the ear guards, of course...

The throat extension doesn't look like a Nike or a +POS. It's probably a powder coated version of this Wilsn Dyna Lite. Not sure how this version is different than the one we usually see (if at all).

One guy I work with regularly has one. In my opinion it feels really heavy (too heavy for my liking). The only problem he says that he has with it is that the chin pad has more padding on one side than the other and it causes the helmet to sit askew on his head. I told him to call and order replacement padding. Not sure if this is a known problem or not. I tried it on, though not in a game, and I would say I prefer my Wilson Shock Fx 2.0, but to each his own. I'd like to try the Force 3 mask as I have transitioned from HSMs to traditional masks this year.

One field that I work at regularly has a pretty nasty lip on the foul grass down the first and third base lines. Batters know not to give up on seemingly foul balls because that lip has cause many balls to roll back fair. Never seen anything like this with the spin causing the ball to come back fair, but I know is always possible. Good job PU!

Always liked the color of the natural tan that you used to sell with the Wilson titanium. If definitely buy the natural tan pads if you were to sell them alone.

Just a quick search of Mike Everitt on Google earlier brought up a few articles with headlines like "Mike Everitt: Ump Show." I'm not saying that he shouldn't have tossed them but all the non-umpires get up in arms when they see that many people get tossed.