SeeingEyeDog

Max, I don't know, man...I just don't know...yes, I have seen the wristbands improperly warn. The other night was the first night I had a coach giving the pitch via code. It was new to me. It was irregular to me. It was unfamiliar to me. I thought the purpose of this forum was for umpires to post content and have discussions especially about things they were unfamiliar with? You know...on the off chance that...I dunno...maybe someone has experience with and could offer some advice and assistance with? You know...kind of like how siblings do for each other? Maybe that's just my family and my market... I'm sorry I haven't seen everything on a baseball field and feel compelled to ask more veteran umpires about things... Of course...that's just like my opinion...I could be wrong, man... ~Dawg

Thanks, Murray...somehow, I knew you come through on this... ~Dawg

Wait...we're supposed to have batteries? ~Dawg

I had a coach recently giving a 3 digit "sign" verbally from the dugout to his pitcher and catcher. Presumably, this was the pitch call as well as defensive coverage information. I don't see anything in the rule book on this so, I allowed it while my partner and I monitored its execution to insure there were no undue delays and there weren't. If we saw a quick pitch, we would have grabbed that but, again we didn't have that either. 6-1-1A says "...the pitcher shall take or simulate taking the sign from the catcher with the pivot foot in contact with the pitcher's plate." So, if he takes the verbal sign while off the rubber, he must simulate taking the sign once his pivot foot contacts the rubber and before he starts his delivery or we have an illegal pitch or quick pitch. If he straddles the rubber (no contact) while taking the verbal sign again, as long as he simulates taking the sign once his pivot foot contacts the rubber and before he starts his delivery, the runners are not being deceived and we do not have an illegal or quick pitch. Anything else to watch or be aware of in this situation under these rules? ~Dawg

Thank you for sharing this, Jay...this is exactly how umpires and our associations should be using social media for purposes of recruiting. Finding and retaining umpires is like launching a rocket...the earlier in the launch cycle you are, the harder it is to have a successful launch/keep that umpire. ~Dawg

Only in the game of baseball could batting gloves in the back pocket mean one thing in one situation...and mean something else in another situation... Can you imagine talking with a coach where the sequence is HBP in the batting glove in the back pocket with a base award...followed by the same player getting picked off at 1B before the next pitch of the game on a tag to the same batting glove in the same back pocket..."Coach, we got it correct. Yes, the two plays look very similar. No, they are not the same. No, I will not go to my partner on that." ~Dawg

@The Man in Blue, was it this one? (Disturbing how many clips there are of this happening...) ~Dawg

If a BATTING GLOVE is in the batter's back pocket...and the glove only is HBP, is the batter legally and properly equipped? Asking for a friend... ~Dawg

Citation, please? ~Dawg

I know a lot of people are going to come in here and say, "If you had interference, why didn't you call it? Why did you wait until after the play to say you had interference?"...and so on. I get it. That's NOT technically plate's call but...if you saw it when it happened? You're an umpire. Call it. 1) I have interference. 2) It's U1's call. You got together and decided to call interference. The proper procedure is for the umpire whose call that was, (U1 here) to go to the "impacted" coach first. (The coach of the team the call is going against.) Was this an NFHS rule game? If so, the ball is dead on the interference so, R2 would be out and the BR is awarded 1B. "Coach, after conferring with my partner, we have interference. Your runner from second base is out on the interference call and the batter runner is awarded first base." Then U1 should go over to the other coach and inform him of the final ruling. Oh...and make sure you send the coach back to his dugout BEFORE you get together with your partner. 5-1-1e is your NFHS citation. 3) Yes, your partner had his opinion..."that's nothing" and you can have something different. You had interference? Call interference. Then you can get together and talk about it. Please make sure you are 100% sure of that in real time. 4) Correct...see above. 5) That is entirely your judgement. As described, I have interference and I am enforcing it as indicated above. ~Dawg

Timing...such a great topic. The element of timing within the ball/strike-verse that I find so fascinating is...the consistency of an umpire's timing. To include my own of course. As last year wound to a close, I had some college guys tell me, "Your strike timing is great. Your ball call is too quick." And I started to hear this repeatedly so, I spent some time addressing it. Then one night it hit me... We are all trained to stay DOWN on our ball calls, call the pitch a ball...and then stand up to reset for the next pitch. And for a strike call we are all trained to come UP on our strike call, call the pitch a strike married to a mechanic...and then reset for the next pitch. Ok, nothing revolutionary there...wait for it... In order to mirror our timing so the interval is the same whether ball or strike...we must make room in the sequence on the ball call FOR THE STANDING UP part of the strike call which we don't do on a ball call! When we SLOW DOWN the ball call, just a beat or two...that beat or two is the space filled between when we process the strike call and when we stand up. As soon as I added that beat or two to my ball call, it brought both calls beautifully together. If you were to close your eyes and just listen for the pop of the mitt, the pause and then the ball or strike call...you would hear little change to the timing of either call. ~Dawg

Marble, let's not have any more of that, please. If you continue, you will be ejected...and we will all still love you. ~Dawg

Alex/Ken, I'd like LL 4.06 and or LL 9.01 prohibiting coaches and players from making a mockery of the game...for $100, please? ~Dawg

@Richvee, I am seeing this in my market as well. It used to be poor losers crying and complaining about the umpiring and now we're seeing "poor winners" who didn't even need umpires on their game as they beat their opponents by 15, 20 or 25 runs...it really is bizarre. What's ironic is when I talk to guys who were umpiring in the 2000s and 1990s they tell me it was worse in those days. As for the walk from the field back to the cars...think about your route out as you are walking IN. Is there an outfield gate or a foul territory gate past either dugout that you could use on the way out? Nobody likes a long walk back and forth from cars to the field but, are you parking as out of the way as possible? Away from where the team buses might be and the bulk of fan parking? Conduct your post-game as efficiently as possible and depart the facility as efficiently as possible. I think the saddest part of this entire situation is...NOBODY, nobody thinks they are the problem. No coach, parent or player thinks they have ever said anything inappropriate or abusive towards an official. It's not golf...I get it. Officials are always going to hear something negative about their work from fans whose team the calls go against but, there's room for improvement and nobody is interested in improving the culture except the officials. And I'm sure coaches, parents would say, we don't have to respect the officials...that's what the money's for. One thing's for sure...nobody loves sports like the officials. Why else would we put up with it decade after decade? And even if we did blow the call and your kid lost the Intergalactic Champeenchip Of Duh World? So what...it's a god damn game. They're kids. They will experience far WORSE disappointments as adults then anything that will ever happen to them on a baseball field as a kid. ~Dawg

Have skill will travel... ~Dawg

@Slade417, according to Google, you would want the Indianapolis Umpire Association. They can be reached here: https://www.iua-baseball.com/ ~Dawg

Not just Guido, @MadMax...Guido "The Killer Pimp"... ~Dawg

All of the things you mentioned are things that people typically pursue as adults. I don't know too many 10 year olds devoting ALL of their free time to prepare for getting into law school, passing the bar, or preparing for medical or rocket science the way these kids spend all of their free time playing sports...sure, failure is a big part of life and learning how to pivot and go to plan B...or C or D even is a life skill everyone needs to learn. Generally, life doesn't give us handouts. It's not enough to want anything or even pursue it. You must either have the inherent skill or talent or be able to develop it. Is my buddy's daughter's life over? No, of course not. She's going to be fine and go on to have a great life with lots of fulfillment and success apart from whatever she wanted for herself in softball. When one of our passions dies, we have to make time and space for that to die and grieve a bit over it and she's nearing the end of that process as she comes to be passionate about other things now as an adult. These things take time. I'm a Gen X'r. When I was growing up in the suburbs of the 70's and 80's, yes we had travel sports. And you had to be INVITED to tryout for the team and you had to make the team. This concept of "My kid plays travel sports..." as a status symbol for adults around the water cooler at work, etc. simply did not exist when I was growing up. Nowadays, if your parents can afford for their children to play travel sports, there is someone who would be happy to take their money. There is also a parenting trend that has been in place since the turn of the century that my wife and I do not subscribe to. And that's this business of figuring out the ONE thing their kid is good at...and then SPENDING every free moment doing just that one thing! No! You're doing it wrong! Childhood is about healthy exploration. When my generation was growing up, we did ALL KINDS OF ACTIVITIES...we played multiple sports and only those sports at certain times of the year. And this was in addition to all of the other non-sports activities we did. Kids need time to be kids and explore the world beyond the one thing they are good at. ~Dawg

This bears repeating...and this happened to my best friend's daughter playing softball. She started playing at 6 and by 10 they were full-time on travel softball for the next 8 years. When she started playing HS softball, they enrolled her in a Softball Academy where she would go 2 or 3 times per week after school and get private instruction as a catcher and hitting in the cage. She and her parents thought she was on a college scholarship track. Sadly, it just didn't happen. She put everything in to it, the family put everything into it and it just didn't happen. She was very good; she was not elite. Senior year when reality set in, it was a very dark time for the family. She also happened to be an excellent academic student so, she got accepted to several excellent schools but, the bitterness she and her parents still feel about even 3 years later is still very hard to watch as an outsider. I have spent far too many nights at the bar consoling my buddy in between beers, "She wanted it so bad. We did everything we felt we needed to do for her and she did everything she could for herself. What was it all for? We crisscrossed across several states FOR YEARS! The hotels, the gas, the meals, the fees...all the missed time that we could have done other things with her childhood...she made a lot of great friends and has great memories of the places she went and her teammates and coaches...there are no guarantees...we knew this. If they told me when she was 6 and we started the whole deal she wasn't going to get a college offer, I'm not sure we still would have done it..." And I just don't know what to say to all of that without sounding like I'm being dismissive or patronizing...internally, I will always be glad that my kids never cared for sports beyond rec level. ~Dawg

What is a baseball backpack or gear bag now? $150? $200? This is a solid list... ~Dawg

By the way, the light that indicates the glasses are recording? Yeah...that can be deactivated so that recordings can be made without the light being on. There is no provision that if the light is off, the glasses can be worn on the field. It's an electronic device and by rule it's not permitted to be on the field. ~Dawg

Wool slacks are always going to give the "sharpest crease". They will also always be the warmest pants on a hot day so...priorities, it seems. ~Dawg

The inconsistency is an amalgamation of all three of those things equally...33.33% to each of those items. As for the rules you cited, I grab those. I know people will disagree with the enforcement of wristbands on belts but, to me, it's about the slippery slope. Well, if I allow that equipment to not be legally and properly worn, what else do I have to allow? (The industry could fix this by packaging and marketing those as wrist/belt bands but, I digress...) As for the common, "He's been doing that all season..." or the garden variety, "This wasn't a problem last week..." well, that's simple. "Coach, this is my first time umpiring your team this season." or, "Coach, I wasn't here last week." You don't say the next obvious thing. You don't NEED to say the next obvious thing after saying either of those statements. The implication is...had you been there, it would have been called then, too. As for your illegal pitch, FED 6-1-2...After the pitcher starts the movement to pitch, the pitcher must continue the motion without interruption or alteration. As a caveat, in a NON-scholastic, NON-tournament, and or NON-showcase NFHS game, I will bring this to the attention of the head coach DURING warm ups. "Coach, your pitcher is not continuing his windup delivery motion without interruption or alteration. With no runners on, that is an illegal pitch and a ball would be awarded to the batter. With runners on, that is a balk and all runners would be awarded one base." Does your association have regular meetings? Do you have a rules interpreter and or a training director? These kinds of inconsistencies make great topics for association meetings. It gets all the umpires on the same page and calling it the same way. ~Dawg

I work 8 public school counties in my state and they all allow and do different things despite having a state athletic association. (There are even variances between conferences within the same county.) I also cover 3 private school conferences in my state who do all sorts of amazing things with their rules. We have to ask that question at EVERY plate meeting in order that we have clarity on our rules for that game that night. ~Dawg

Well, your message there said "...had some issues all night with a base umpire." Nobody asked me but, nobody on the field should "have some issues with an umpire all night". Prolonged, profane and or personal...warn, restrict, eject, right? What am I missing? Lol...and yes...thank you for clarifying where NOT to order your newsletter. @Velho, that is also excellent disruption on your part, too...we see you working, brother. ~Dawg