The Short Umpire

All gone lock it up @Thunderheads https://imgur.com/gallery/76I8D9l

If I hadn’t just sold my F3 I would be all over this!

@Senor Azul So first of all, it would be nice to supply a link to your source article by Tom Robinson. Since that did not happen I will. http://theseason.gc.com/basbeall-new-little-league-intentional-walk-rules-change-strategy Second, @lawump's question was essentially, “why add four pitches to a pitch count after an IBB when a total of zero pitches were thrown.” The source text does not even come close to answering that question. In fact, all the article states is that the IBB rule was changed to not require the act of pitching. Third, @Rich Ives pointed out quite well that the use of the word “Decline” was inappropriate in this context. You claim this to be a stylistic approach; I disagree. I also find your need to explain how copy and paste works to be quite diminutive since no one ever claimed it worked any other way; nor was it implied that the article was confused for your own words. Foruth, there was also no citation to the “definition” of scare quotes. An easy google search could bring this up. The use of scare quotes is really a post-modernist approach of pointing out the flaws of language. The author’s intended use of scare quotes is pointless because it was lost on the audience. The message he is sending, is that he is too lazy to use correct terminology and would rather use words that confuse his audience. By his use of scare quotes, he admits to communicating incorrectly. He admits that there may be a better way of saying what he has to say, he just doesn’t want to think of how to do so. Fifth, I don’t mean any malice. I’m not looking for any more enemies (I already have enough of them behind the backstop). You just welcomed a refute so here it is. I probably could have stopped after my second point but I had some more to say. Again, you seem to have a positive reputation here so I’m not saying anything negative about you, I just think it would do you well to consider the article in light of the OP’s question.

Item is sold. @Thunderheads

@The Man in Blue I’m ashamed to say that I am part of the emoji generation. Whenever I read an article from contemporary news outlets, (vice, huff post, etc...) and even some big name news sources for that matter, I can’t do it without my red pen in hand. A lot of them are simple mistakes that should have been taught in middle school, and caught on the first edit of the article. I can’t understand how multimillion dollar corps allow such atrocious errors to make it into print. People are too accustomed to speaking with ambiguous pictures. But on the same hand I can’t put the full onus on my generation because I’ve had professors try to teach me that nothing really has meaning, so it doesn’t matter what we say...

@lawump I noticed this as well earlier today. I was watching ID vs WA. I thought it was very strange and am glad you asked.

Awesome! Glad it’s working. I did wear it. I just didn’t take many shots off of it and made sure to take good care of it.

@catsbackr I just updated the link. Try it again

Bought it brand new in the middle of the season but don’t like the fit on my body type. It has all of the pieces and it’s all in great shape! Asking $220 Shipped. https://imgur.com/gallery/hZiVk7q

Hey thank you for your response! I would really be interested in picking your brain, (I'll PM you). I'd like to get a more broad understanding of what will happen.

Thank you, I have the feeling that I will need some luck!

Hey everybody, I am so stoked to say that I’ve made the decision to attend the Umpire Training Academy! My wife and I talked about it and came to the conclusion that now would be the best time to attend. Our reasoning behind this is for a few reasons: 1. I graduate college in December and it only seems natural to do this in succession. 2. I have some extra scholarship money that can be used towards the umpire school. 3. I’d like to do this before committing to a career path associated with my degree. Again, I am beyond excited that I’m actually doing this; however, I have some reservations about it as well and that is what I need some help with. 1. I’m curious how some of you have balanced being focused but also having fun while at the school. 2. Along the same lines, what is a good amount to participate in the discussions/demonstrations. 3. What is a good way to prep? I have the rulebook and umpire manual that I read everyday. I’m also working out more, trying to lose a little weight. Is there anything else I should be doing? I can’t wait to go and feel so blessed for this chance!

@scroungeIt went on for quite awhile, I was told for over a decade.

I joined the wrestling officials association two years ago, I was speaking with one of the younger veterans, by this I mean mid 30’s but has been officiating wrestling for about 15 years now. He’s one of our top officials in the state. He explained fighting the “Good ol’ Boy” system among the wrestling officials. It took him 8 years to get assigned a varsity match. My point being, one of the problems he pointed out to me was a Pay to Play system of types. In wrestling JV usually competes at 5-5:30. Varsity at 7. Back when he started on a JV officials first match, it was required that the Varsity official would attend the JV portion and evaluate the new guy. Which sounds like a very effective system, other than the other requirement “expectation” was that the JV guy would give his check for the night to the Varsity guy!! That’s complete bogus. That means that after buy $50 pants, a $30 shirt, $40 for all black shoes $35 in dues and $25 dollars in other equipment, (whistle, wrist bands, flip disk, etc.) the JV guys still wouldn’t even be able to start to get back to the black after his first day on the job! Needless to say, as my mentor has worked his way up, he’s put a stop to this. But I mean, how much more determent does a person need? The “Good ol’ Boy” is deep in my state. I’m not trying to throw anybody under the bus here, but this year, our Assigner put himself behind the plate in a state playoff game in which the school he teaches at was competing. I’m not accusing him of anything, especially because his school got shut out, but if that doesn’t tell you how backwards things are then I don’t know what will.

Now you're just showing off. hahaha Rightly so however!

A chopped Mag??? Okay that is awesome!! and with the Samurai? Just keeps getting better! Looks like the standard LUC pads right?

I love this! Like I said, the goal should be to get as many people through the ranks as possible! And honestly, I don’t think you should just be getting guys to replace you, but to work with you. There’s a shortage, inviting people to join in isn’t going to take away any spots, inviting people to join is just going to fill the empty spots. And if we really get to a point of having too many umpires, then we should just start running 3-man and 4-man crews all the time! How cool would that be!! (I understand that this in not super realistic and you can call me a dreamer if you want, just illustrating the point that we could double the number of umpires currently out there and still have plenty of positions to go around).

@Thunderheads those graphite pads are awesome! Quite a tempting set-up! However I will never get my money back if I keep buying more gear!

I really appreciate this question. The two answers already posted reflect the binary pretty well and both sides have valid arguments. I will begin by saying that this is not just a question that baseball officials ask, (I also do wrestling and it’s probably harder to advance to Varsity Wrestling than it is to the Majors! ). In the response to the OP, I can say specifically that advancing from LL to HS has been particularly difficult because I didn’t have someone to help me do it. Figuring out the questions to ask and person to ask them to can be difficult. I didn’t know what the process would be like or what I needed to do. This is particularly frustrating considering the shortage of umpires around here. I understand the limitations on this suggestion, but one thing I have never seen is an umpire scout. In all my years of doing pony and club play, I have never seen someone out scouting for umpires to move up. Again, I know that time is money, but I think it might be beneficial if HS official’s associations made it a position (like they do with evaluators, or association president) I think it would do a lot if the associations would just send a formal representative to local LL/Rec Leagues to find some prospects of kids who would do well/ are interested in moving up. I think the argument about the need for “time” is a subjective requirement. I agree that someone should not expect to excel at a level above their skillset. I also believe we shouldn’t expect perfection from someone on their first try. It is crucial to remember that people need to be challenged in order to improve. An example that comes to mind is my older brother of 10 years. Whenever something breaks at his house he calls me to come fix it. When I ask him why he doesn’t just look up how to do it on Youtube, he says, “Dad always told us that if you’re gonna do something, then to do it right and do it right the first time.” He interprets this as, “I don’t know how to do it right so I just won’t try.” I know that this is not what my dad meant by that, but a similar thing happens when someone is constantly told, “You just need more time,” the person tends to interpret it as “You’ll never be ready.” The solution is stop using time as an excuse to not giving someone higher level games. If someone isn’t ready then they aren’t ready. But they need to be given legitimate criticism. If you’re in a position of leadership then really tell someone what to work on. The goal should be to get people through as quickly as possible. The idea should be to help get as many high level officials as we can. Instead of insisting that only the “best” aka “the oldest” officials get the best games, it should really be the best. The job is already hard enough as it is, and it shows in the shortage. If someone is willing enough to do the job then we as a brotherhood should do what we can to keep them in it. The pay is already not that great, so why should someone be stuck doing JV, that pays even less, even though they are ready to move up? Time is not a great reason to hold someone back. I will also say that it cannot all be put on assigners, it is essential to market and network yourself. You need to get yourself and your name out there. If an assigner doesn’t know you they can’t assign you confidently. But again the assigner has a responsibility to know the people in their chapter. So on this matter there is a shared responsibility. Anyway, that’s my thoughts. Take em for what their worth. I don’t say any of this to get down on the guys who are put in leadership in their chapters. I know that they already work tirelessly. I just throw out these ideas as a fresh set of ideas for something to try incase what you’re already doing isn’t working.

I just found someone today that had the tools to chop the throat guard. I can report back that it is indeed a hollow steel. I was hoping for Titanal... however it’s still a really lite mask that is well worth the money, imo. I just dropped the chopped mask off to get powder coated, along with an All-Star magnesium throat guard. (The guy acknowledged the risks with powder coating magnesium and said he could do it no problem.) Cant wait to pick it all up!

I can get that for sure! I’m 5’ 5” and have the neck length to prove it! I forget that taller guys have longer necks. The built in throat guard has always been long enough to cover my entire neck, I’ve just worn the throat guard to protect against a ball bouncing underneath/behind the mask. I guess that is what has always worried me the most, behind the plate.

@JSam21 That’s kinda what I was thinking. Like I said, I get the gripe. It can get really annoying to not be able to look down as much. I just wonder if it really does add anything extra, since it doesn’t hang in a position that would protect the throat. A lot of people on this forum have insisted on the need of a throat guard to “clink” against the chest protector. @wolfe_man You’re right! I didn’t even notice that his does look more rounded out. The one’s I’ve seen have come to more of a point like the built in throat guard. I like that you used a question mark to note that he’s using Wilson pads! hahaha

So I know that Chris Guccione’s chopped mag throat guard has been brought up in the past, but I’m watching the Red Sox and Blue Jays right now and it looks like he’s now zip-tied the throat guard forward, to the throat guard on the mask. Thoughts on this? I mean it’s better than nothing, and I understand the beef that some people have with wearing a throat guard, so I appreciate him trying to compromise but is equipment really doing it’s job in this position? I mean he’s been around a lot longer than me so I’m not trying to be critical, just trying to figure out what’s what.

I know it has been a month or so since anyone else replied, sorry if that qualifies as hashing up old stuff. I just wanted to add that I just put together the same rig. Ebay Adidas mask with tan Team Wendy pads. I also replaced the harness for the Ump Life neoprene harness. Finally got a chance to use it last night after having it sit on the shelf for almost a week. (My wife kept asking if I thought she was gonna hit me, cause I kept trying it on, out of giddiness.) It was a 9-10 state game for pony league. Of course it wasn't a very hard throw but I took one right to the middle of the face. (Catcher couldn't catch...) Barely even noticed it!!

@umpstu I appreciate your response. I think we all know a couple kids like this, except most of the time it seems their dad is the coach not a big shot official. When other umpires say he is lazy, what kind of things is he doing to get them to say that? I'm just curious so that I make sure I'm not doing the same thing. I liked @Thatsnotyou pointing out the need to get out from behind HP.(Which on the play in question, I recall that I probably am guilty of not doing. Tonight however I worked another 13u game by myself and made sure to sprint to position on every play). But what other things are considered "lazy?" Also, I see you've listed Bermuda Dunes as your location, I lived in Desert Hot Springs for a short time and am really missing the warm weather, we had rain nearly every day of May here in Utah. Hopefully you are staying cool enough though!