Old Nr 24

As one who began his youth baseball experience in the 50s and was drafted as a pitcher simply because I was one of the few guys who could actually consistently throw the ball where I intended, I must agree with the "no curves" rule for youngsters. I know it's "cool" to make the hitter look bad when you throw a good one, I know the coaches love them, and I know a lot of people will tell you a kid will never go anywhere unless he learns the breaking ball early, take it from one who could not lift his right arm to comb his hair if he had any left, it ain't worth it! I had good instruction in mechanics and grip, body movement and positioning, and I was an eager student, as most young kids are, but the pains began in high school, and that's when I knew my future would not be in baseball. I moved back to my infield position at third base only to find one, maybe two good hard throws where I had to "show off" the arm was all there was, and I would probably be in the dugout not long after that second one. Oh no, fellas, it's not worth it, especially when there are so many other ways to teach a young pitcher to throw pitches that move...a pure changeup, a cutter, anything but that dreaded Yellow Hammer!

LMSANS: I guess I should have worded that better. I'm not advocating changing the zone. I have always been what is often referred to as a "pitcher's umpire." I much prefer a larger strike zone, calling those close pitches strikes. In my experience it just makes for a better game, a crisper game, a game that is determined more by the quality of play than by chance. Maybe it's because in my younger days I was often the one standing out on that mound trying to figure out how to record strikes and outs, but I just think if an umpire establishes a liberal but fair zone at the beginnnig of the game everyone gets the message. If he maintains that zone for both teams throughout the game everyone plays better baseball and everyone has more fun. But as I say, just my two cents worth.

Okay, not truly fan interference, but certainly a "fan" holding up the game! One league I umpired in held some games at a field that was on the grounds of a state mental hospital. I know, that sounds kind of spooky, but it was actually not that bad a field. This was an excellent league featuring a lot of very talented players, so the play was generally pretty good. One day I'm on the dish and working a 2-man crew. We are in the middle of an inning, couple of runners on base, maybe one out, close game...when I suddenly see this guy strolling onto the field from right field. He's dressed in the hospital issue "pajamas" and to me appears to obviously be a patient (should I say "inmate?"), and he is merely strolling, head down, across the outfield. I call time immediately as he passes in front of the right fielder headed for center. I yell out in his direction, "Hey, guy! We're playing a ballgame here!" He completely ignores me. The fielders begin to yell at him, and he ignores them as well, still walking, head down, eyes on the ground...and he's walking SLOWLY! Into centerfield, in front of the center fielder, who is now screaming at the guy to get the hell off the field. My partner is on the outfield grass now trying to get the guy to at least acknowledge him, but nothing. I begin walking across the infield, still yelling at the guy, and as I reach about the shortstop position I yell, "Come on, fella, get off the damn field!" The guy slowly lifts his head, slowly turns his face in my direction, still ambling along slowly. He looks directly at me as he approaches the left fielder, calmly and slowly lifts his left hand from his side, raises it with palm facing inward, curls his thumb and fingers, all but the middle one....and shots me the bird! He then lowers his arm, again lowers his eyes, and continues quietly in the direction of the left field line. That was it for me. Both teams and my partner were laughing their heads off, so I just spread my hands and said, "Okay! He'll be gone in a minute, guys, then we'll play." Best response I have ever seen to a whole group of people who are angry at you!

I can't resist just one more comment on this subject. For those guys who are adamant about the fielder touching the bag and/or the tag absolutely making contact, just remember that you must ultimately lie in the bed you make. Consistency is the name of the game, so you have to be ready to apply the same requirements for an entire game, game in and game out, through the entire season. Remember, consistency is the name of the umpiring game! I liken this approach to the guy who is making the pitcher toss it into a teacup in the first inning. I hate to see that when I'm working the bases with that guy because I know if he is true to the code of consistency it's going to be a very long game, especially if the pitching is not that good to begin with, which is the case in many of the lower age brackets. If you are consistent, that zone you establish in the first inning MUST be the zone for both teams for the entire game, and if it's 6 inches wide and 6 inches high, better call the wife between innings and have her hold dinner! Personally I would much rather stretch the zone in the beginning just to let people know we ain't gonna have a walk fest, nor are we gonna stand around watching the grass grow for 4 hours. So, if you apply those rules to the letter just remember you're stuck with that approach, at least for that game. I know, it may only come up once....but then again it may come up several times, so be ready to be consistent!

The discussion of wet baseballs and how to treat them brings to mind an amusing situation that had the potential for jail time. My partner and I were working a JUCO pre-season scrimmage between two local schools in the Baltimore area some years ago during a particularly wet spring. The field was damp and tacky when we started, so the home team manager approached my partner and me at the plate conference and produced a plastic bag about one-third full of a whitish powder. He handed it to us as two county policemen sat in their cruiser just outside the field area, there to watch the game. It was, of course, drying compound for the balls, but I had this sudden explosive vision of all of us being hauled to the klink in our uniforms and underoing extensive drug testing! And as for that ammonia-water compound -- it does bring down body temperature, but take care. Use a very low concentration of ammonia and don't ever over-use the resultant compound! It will tend to dry out your skin, leave your pores wide open, and if you use too high a concentration of ammonia, can even cause fainting if you are over exposed! Ammonia-water compounds are normally reserved for bringing down a very high body temperature as quickly as possible, so if you were to use it for just being hot on a hot day you could wind up having some serious side effects. You might even want to try an alcohol-water mixture since that will also work, though I don't think Jack Daniels would qualify!

Amazing how the mechanics, positioning, and timing have changed over the years, isn't it? And here we all are, standing on the shoulders of those old goofy looking guys who used to show up in starched shirt, tie, and dress coat to do a game in Philadelphia in August! God bless them all!

Just some comments in passing since I am no longer actively involved in umpiring. I can't really talk with any intelligence to how the economy is affecting the job, but I am thinking that maybe this idea of a shrinking amateur baseball program overall might not be a good thing in the long run. The sport on the amateur level, and specifically the youth level over recent years has exploded, especially when compared to how it was say 30 years ago. In most areas of the country there are now hundreds of teams, dozens of organizations, travel teams, select teams, and on and on. In my mind this has been the primary factor in creating this "big fish in a little pond" situation and developing what I have come to call the "ignorant primadonna" in amateur sports. By that I mean the kid who has been told since he was 3 years old he's the second coming of Babe Ruth or as good as Nolan Ryan at his best, and the kid begins to believe it! It's been a sore spot with me since I first got into youth sports as a helper on my son's team. Just possibly a shrinking of programs might put a larger number of better athletes on each team and get away from that "one super star" situation. You've all seen it, I'll bet -- one kid on a team whose job it is to win every game. Well, if he is generally successful he receives undue praise and usually becomes one of the primadonnas....a bad situation in my opinion. But let him fail a few times and see how quickly his ego is crushed, how total the collapse, and that is equally sad. Baseball, after all, is predicated on failure and how one handles that failure. If a player fails to fail now and then he has no clue how to handle it when it occurs (notice I said "when" and not "if") later in life....or in other aspects of life outside sports. I am a baseball fanatic, and would love to see very kid participate at every level possible, but maybe a bit of a downturn will be a good thing. Maybe the sport on the amateur level will return to what it was years ago....fun for everyone concerned. Just my two cents worth.

Very interesting reading, guys, and I have to chime in with my two cents worth if I may. I fully agee the umpire should call what he sees. That goes without saying I think. That said, I think two traditional comments about umpiring have to be considered here. The first one is "Don't look for trouble." So, if you are going to make a safe call on what appears to everyone on the field and in the stands to be an out, be prepared for the fallout. I'm not saying don't do it, just know ahead of time you are creating a situation rife with potential problems. Also consider that on most plays where the defense executes the play in an apparently proficient manner, everyone in the park expects an out call. It has been my experience that an umpire catches much less static on an out call than on a safe call, especially if that runner appeared to everyone to be out. The second saying is "Perception IS reality." We teach this to new umpires as it relates to their appearance, their demeanor on the field, and their conduct of the game. What did one umpire say? "You not only have to know what you're doing, but you have to look like you know what your're doing." So if you are the only person in the park who saw that shortstop's foot an inch or two off the bag, or saw that phantom tag, are you ready to go against everyone else's perception of the play? Bottom line in my book is, of course, call your own game. No one can (or should) force their game on you and your style. However, just know ahead of time that you may be going against not only baseball tradition (and yes, some good and some bad), but you may be going against those two umpiring axioms, so be prepared to handle the fallout. Are you prepared to toss an irate manager or player based on your decision? Are you prepared to let a relatively well played game get out of hand because of an inch or two? I'm not saying it will happen, but it certainly could happen.

Maybe a bit off topic, but I see several references in this thread to working on timing. I think we will all agree that's one of the biggest problems for new umpires, and in my old association's new umpire school we ran a drill that I know helped a lot of new umpires behind the plate. The drill consisted of having a pitcher and a catcher, and the student behind the plate -- blindfolded. The student's instructions were to call each pitch any way he wished, incorporating both ball and strike calls. It was a very useful tool in helping the new guys get the hang of waiting for the pitch to arrive since they made no call until they heard the sound of the ball in the mitt.

Absolutely, the standard clockwise rotation, or cover your partner's back. Sounds like your evaluator takes all these mechanics as gospel and doesn't understand they can (and will/usually do) change with the flow of the game.

Thanks, everyone, for the support.

I feel like I need to apologize for my "handle" being plastered all over this wonderful site in just a couple of days. However, there are secret and mysterious factors at work here, mainly timing. You see, I discovered the site on a Saturday afternoon late, in February as the Florida Grapefruit League is about to kick off (pitchers and catchers report this week!), and Sunday and Monday are my days off from work and my wife is out of town this weekend! Need I say more? My old lust for things baseball and umpiring sunk their claws in me before I knew it, and I had plenty of time to explore the site, each post bringing back something to mind and fueling that fire growing in my belly, which happens each spring about this time. As you all may have already deduced, I have never been shy about shooting off my mouth and expressing an opinion, good or bad, right or wrong. So, I ask that you bear with me for a bit until this blaze dies down, and I will do my best to cut back on my posting for a while. I don't want to become known as that old fart in Florida who always ties up the threads with his BS! But man, am I having fun and enjoying all the wonderful reading here. And I must tell you having done some umpire training in my day, a newbie could do a lot worse than learning from this site if he is unable to get into a good school! Thanks, guys, for understanding the passions. Dave Harris Melbourne, Fl.

I loved working both bases and plate, but I too was a bit of a plate whore given my choice. Just remember the words of Ron Luciano when he said, "Home is where the heartache is."

Umpire compliments are kinda like cops....never one there when you really need it. No offense to my friends in law enforcement, just quoting the old saying. Well, I've had a few compliments over my years of officiating, but since the one thing everyone says they want from us, and the one thing to which we all aspire is consistency, I have to say I got my best compliment from simply overhearing a comment from a Legion team manager. In a pretty close ballgame with a runner on second, his batter takes a sharp slider with 2 strikes, and I ring him up big time. Heck of a pitch. The batter is so angry he could eat nails, and he grumbles about the pitch being outside as he heads for the dugout, and apparently complained to his manager sitting on the end of the bench. His manager tells him, "Son, he's been calling that pitch a strike for 10 years. You gotta take that ball to right field and drive in that run. Now sit down." Consistency?? The next season this same manager, who was notorious for beating umpires like a rented mule (he was a rules guy who knew his baseball and played to win, and some umpire refused to do his games at all), paid me another compliment of sorts. He was taking a team to The Neatherlands, I think it was, to participate in the European championship series, or something like that. They were offered the opportunity to bring along an umpire from their league to join others in working the games, and he asked me. Unfortunately, other things prevented me from going, but I considered that a compliment as well.

Bad games, just like bad calls, must be put aside quickly because there'a another one to handle just around the corner. Learn from our mistakes, try not to make them again, and move on. Besides, as my father once told me, a man is never as bad OR AS GOOD as he thinks he is!