JamesC

Had something similar to this happen once before. Was calling 11U USSSA ball and as the PU had a play at the plate. The ball clearly beat the runner but the throw was low and the catcher caught it between his legs while on his knees in front of the plate. The runner slid into the catcher and his glove and immediately I said, "show me the ball" (there were no other runners on base), but the boy did not do is so again, immediately I said, "Let me see the ball", and the second time I asked the boy started fidgeting around between his legs, which IMO it made it seem like he was trying to either get a grasp on the ball or he was trying to find the ball so immediately I called him safe and pointed to the ground. Well, the coach(es) for the defensive team didn't say a word but the owner of the team on defense (which from what I have heard from many other umpires and now from personal experience, is a complete ass and doesn't know the rules of baseball) comes out raising hell and wanted a protest and all. This was my first USSSA ball game to call so I didn't really know how to handle the situation. I clearly should have tossed the guy because he made a complete ass of himself and basically tried to make one of me too. About an inning later we had a play at second base where the boy tried to turn a double play (against the team that was in the field in the above situation) and when he caught the ball at second and went to relay it to first he lost the ball. This was clearly "on transfer" and the BU got the call right but the RAT came out again and before he even got 2 feet across 1st base the BU tossed him! Just what the doctor ordered.

Does anyone else ever have any problems logging in? Sometimes when I try to login, I'll put in my information and it will say "Welcome JamesC - If the page does not refresh...yada yada" and then it will come to the page that says, "Welcome guest, please take a minute to register if you haven't already", or whatever it says. Just curious if anyone else ever encounters this?

I think I'm missing something here...The pitch was up and in but the catcher blocked the dirt ball? how is this possible? And what was the batter doing? Did he hit the deck or just duck or jump back or what?

Where can a person go about getting a shirt/SS jacket like the umpires wore in a few games during the Men's CWS? The ones I'm talking about are the black ones that appeared to have a white stripe across the middle section of them. They looked really comfortable and quite sharp I thought.

Bought the cup the day after I posted the original message and got it in for a tournament that weekend. I love it. Only thing, it does seem to still ride up on me a bit and every so often I have to push it back down, but in regards to not noticing the cup on me, very true. Cannot even feel it like you would a normal cup. Thanks!

It is not completely true that he has to leave the game in FED because a starter can re-enter, therefore him moving to 1st base could be considered him re-entering the game for the 1st baseman as a sub, which was never in the batting order and would assume the 8th position on the batting order. However, were the first baseman to re-enter the game he MUST come in for the 1st baseman (which was originally the starting pitcher)

haha that's nice! lmao

Ok, so I was a catcher all through my career on the diamond, and now I become an umpire because I love the game so much. Although I love getting behind the plate calling balls and strikes, once again I find myself in the situation of having to adjust my cup after about every 2-3 pitches. All the up and down, side-to-side movements between pitches is getting old. I guess what I am wanting to know is if anyone else out there has/has had this problem and if so, what they have done fix it or at least adjust to it better. I wear compression shorts currently and I have even tried a jockstrap with the compression shorts but it just doesn't seem to work for me. Any help out there?

I've been calling local ball and summer league games and all star tournaments for 8 years now. I'm a junior in college and have always loved being on the diamond and once I finished playing I knew this was the only way I was going to be able to continue my love. However, this is my first year umpiring high school ball and my girlfriend went to a game with me this past Saturday. She usually goes quite regularly with me and no one really knows she is with me, so she listens to what everyone says and will tell me about all the comments after the game. After 8 years of calling, I have never heard the comment I heard Saturday. My partner and I were working a game in which I was on the bases. As we would make signals occassionally to each other (infield fly rule, outs, coverages, etc.) there was a lady in the stands who just insisted that he and I were giving the other team signals and were helping the other team out. She was obviously dead set on this and pointing it out to all the fans in the stands. I was in complete awe after hearing this after the game! Unbelievable!!