Stk004

It looked like Gibbons was arguing that he could've been coming out for a reason other than to argue the balk. Thoughts on that?

Protest is a "backwards P" from our perspective. Max, also consider how to signal a double switch or any other scenario where the sub goes into a different spot in the lineup than may be expected.

UmpsCare has a bunch of the holiday masks.

A FORCE PLAY is a play in which a runner legally loses his right to occupy a base by reason of the batter becoming a runner. By definition, the batter runner can't be forced.

For what it's worth, he doesn't appear to step anywhere near 3rd in that video. It's not even close to not being a balk.

.............I'll give you forty dolla for it.

It's been a tough few weeks for umpires on Yankees games.

@MadMax uhm....... what is this?

Obligatory correction of "foul tip" to "foul ball." I've found that most of my flinching issues are solved when I trust my catcher. If I know he's going to get his glove or body in front of every pitch then I can relax and focus on what I need to focus on. Once you get hit off a pitch that should've been blocked, that instinctual trust starts to fade away. Then when a batter swings at that up and in pitch, you think "This is going to hit me square in the face." Don't get me wrong, I trust all my gear that I put on, but instincts are hard to fight. You should find that when you do better games, like the 16U games you had, you'll flinch less and see the ball better. I'm sure you don't need reminding but this is EXTREMELY dangerous. If all else fails, keep your mask square to the pitch so that the ball hits you where it's supposed to.

To Jeff's point, here's the top All-Star pad (bottom) compared to the top pad of Wilson memory foams (top).

Yeah somehow that didn't make the trip to my dorm room.

That's why I included that top-down picture. That was my first reaction when I bought the mask, then my reaction again when I got on the field for my first game with it. You get used to it pretty quick, but yeah the bars (or "blades," if you prefer) are quite thick.

I apologize for the delay. I keep my mask in my car (shocker) and haven’t brought it back to my room. I have two games tomorrow so I promise I’ll take some pictures for you guys tomorrow night.

Bump. $100 shipped.

Bump. Looking for $265 shipped ($250 plus shipping).

Yeah I'll take some tonight.

The FM4000 Magnesium has been my primary mask this year. It's very light, won't bend (according to @MadMax and his materials science knowledge), and the pads are really comfortable. Yeah they're massive but they're comfy. The bottom pad has a plastic plate in front so that the blade-like bars hit the plastic and distribute the force instead of having a localized impact (right, Max?). Now the top pad is tiny because the mask is designed for catchers, and they wear a helmet. Mike Everitt got drilled on the top of his FM4000MAG and was concussed. I've only taken one good shot to the jaw and I didn't see sparks fly. I didn't feel the impact either, so the mask did its job. I'm pretty sure the top of my head isn't exposed when I wear this mask, but I'll double check in a mirror sometime.

How do you store your shin guards? I usually put one inside the other and put them in the F3 bag. They should come straight down. You might be able to bend them back into their proper shape.

That's designed for ankle protection. The little "bubbles," for lack of a better term, are really hard. Leave them on the outside of your shoe for ankle protection. I wear the 18.5" F3 and they do stick up a little above my knee. I wasn't sure how I felt about this until I got hit on the top of my kneecap the other day, and boy was I glad I had some more shin guard up there.

A FORCE PLAY is a play in which a runner legally loses his right to occupy a base by reason of the batter becoming a runner. 5.08 How a Team Scores (a) One run shall be scored each time a runner legally advances to and touches first, second, third and home base before three men are put out to end the inning. EXCEPTION: A run is not scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made (1) by the batter-runner before he touches first base; (2) by any runner being forced out; or (3) by a preceding runner who is declared out because he failed to touch one of the bases.

I had a similar play last summer. Top of the 1st, R1 no outs. Can of corn to center field, R1 retreats to 1B as the BR rounds 1B. F8 drops the fly ball and when I look over at my runners the BR is 15 feet past R1. I pointed with my left hand and said/yelled "That's passing, batter's out! Batter's out!" with my right arm raised in a hammer. This is tough because everyone knows I called somebody out, but they really aren't paying close attention. R1 started to slowly jog towards second base as the defense stood around looking confused. I started to jog closer to second base to be ready for a play, indicating to everyone that R1 hadn't been retired without actually saying so. Eventually the DTHC got the memo and shouted "Somebody tag him please!"

OBR 5.09(b) Retiring a Runner Any runner is out when: (6) He or the next base is tagged before he touches the next base, after he has been forced to advance by reason of the batter becoming a runner. LL pretty much aligns with OBR, so I'd bet you can find this in the LL rule book.

@MadMax