Thatsnotyou

Appreciate the reply. HS at some point could be an add, but shorter term, it would be helping my community cover 10-16u travel games.

Let’s say you’re a HS baseball umpire of 15-25 years or what have you. Know the game and rules well and have advanced far at the HS level. For s*** and giggles, let’s say you want to add softball for whatever reason (not transition, just another game you’d be able to work, be it travel or HS to fill needs), but have never worked softball. How hard would it be to pick it up? Rule differences and pitching would be a huge issue I’d imagine. How many games would it take to feel like you’d be varsity softball caliber? Besides rules, what are the biggest differences…could be mechanics, game management, etc. Would it be hard to teach a baseball umpire…softball habits?

Ah OK. Seemed under the radar as an option for umpires. I haven’t had an issue with the longer bill and like the look of it.

All star now has one with a longer bill - so that problem has been solved. I just bought that one.

First game wearing the skully is in the books. Universe was aware - took two good shots off the mask bottom one. Didn’t feel much. I’m sure the helmet helped a bit. It couldn’t have hurt, I figure. I wear a F3 with the original harness. I had to really focus more on pulling way out so I didn’t take the bucket with me. I have the axis pro, so the bill feels somewhat normal length. One of the shots took my mask off to the ground to the right of me. I think I understand why. I had to open up the harness a bit to get the elastic part to go lower on the back and stay secure. The mask wasn’t loose or sitting on the brim, to be clear. But with it stretched further, any hard movement - combined with far less friction than a hat (and mine is smooth, not sandpaper finish) - is going to want to snap the harness up and off that spherical, smooth finish. My question is this - should I go to a different harness than the stock F3? Will a delta flex style hold better? I know there are options from all star, force 3, ump life. Any other adjustment to make? Pull it down even more (it felt like it was almost to the bottom of the cap when I’d pull it on and make sure the band was sitting flat on the back and all the way down)?

Yeah….that’s way too long. Maybe he forgot that umpires spend a fair amount of the time standing. Looks really bad.

Did the same, just got it today. Seems to fit well. Will break it out next game. I’m over caring what people think and too old to care. I thought about it this way. Some people may think it looks weird or whatever. How many of those people would visit me in the hospital, or worse?

I grabbed the one with the longer bill from all star - the axis pro or whatever it’s called.

The bench jockeying nonsense - where teams are more concerned with dissing the other team than just cheering - is filtering our way. They think they can laugh after calls, chirp us etc. The problem with baseball is we have limited tools. There isn’t a penalty box, a flag to throw, or a technical foul to assess. Those are easy things to toss out there. Immediately hurts the team and/or player. Gets everyone’s attention. In baseball…you can remove them from the game. Nothing else matters. If I don’t remove you from the game, you’re going to hear back from me. No, I’m not ignoring it. I can’t believe the number of players that will chirp at umpires. And if the coach is a moron, going to him isn’t going to help anything. I wish we had something else. Removal for periods of time. You’re next at bat is an out or forfeited. Your team loses an out or the other team gets a runner. I don’t know. But we need something.

I’m going to join the skull cap wearing crew.

This would fix a lot of things. I know we can’t do MLB but having…nothing to really help puts you at the mercy of your pitchers. No one’s counting to 20 and calling it. The only time I’ve done it is when I’ve had two pointless step offs, and it’s usually not the first time he’s done it. We should just be allowed to yell out to the mound “work quicker!”

As long as the foot is the first thing that moves, yeah, I’m not calling that. I’ve called it multiple times when the hands separate just before the foot moves.

Agreed. What used to be considered hybrid is now legal. Just go back to the old hybrid, pitchers!

Update: “Some umpires pointed out that since we have interference, one of the offensive players involved in the play must be out because of the interference. The batter struck out on the pitch, so he’s already out before the interference happens. R1 is the only other option for an out because of the interference. The umpires who contacted me think this answer is the better option. The batter is out because he struck out, but he interfered with a potential play on R1 at 2nd base. R1 is also out. I agree with their thinking. That’s the intent of our weekly quizzes … Get all of us (including me) thinking about common (and not-so-common) plays and their correct rulings.”

If I hold a date for you/conference/schools, and then I don’t get a game out of it (and likely don’t know until that day), I should be compensated somehow. I get why assignors do it - it rains and I have guys held. But if you don’t have games, only the umpire suffers? It’s overbooking the flight with no repercussions. That or TBDs have to be agreed upon going in. I’m willingly clicking on this - I’m OK if I work, I’m OK if I don’t. Don’t assign me a TBD and tell me it’s a contractually held date.