SeeingEyeDog

I'll say it...and I would like to begin with, no...I didn't attend pro-school. This sucks on several levels. I have never met Hunter but, I have always felt a bit of a kinship to him as we are about 6 months apart in age. I would also like to take this opportunity to say, continued rest and recovery to Hunter after that line drive earlier this season. I continue to be concerned about him because when I Google him, there is nothing beyond the injury and that he was in the hospital. To my knowledge, he has not been back on the field yet this season and I'm sure I speak for The Brotherhood everywhere when I say we hope to see him back out there again real soon! I personally know about 2 dozen guys in my association and countless others I have met through the years who have been to Wendelstedt, several in the past few years. For someone like myself who will never attend pro school, those guys are an INVALUABLE resource to me and my work on the field. They all bring back their knowledge and experience from Wendelstedt and freely share that with local amateurs like myself and I will always be grateful. Many umpires of all abilities and ages have "used" Wendelstedt as a sort of "umpire fantasy camp". They get the funds together and they go and they know full well for whatever reason, they are not going to get the call for pro ball. But, they come home to their local markets having received the same training and testing and field work and classroom work that people who WILL work pro ball receive. That all ends in 2026. The only people going to MLB's pro school will be those who have "earned" it with the benefit being everyone will be on scholarship. Fundamentally, I don't like a league, ANY league, having supreme command and control over the training and development of its officials/umpires. I don't know how the NFL, NBA and or NHL do it but, by having things the way they were with Evans and Wendelstedt (and I believe there was another one), those schools are operating independently of the league, WITH the league's oversight on curriculum, mechanics, etc. gives a much more transparent appearance to the proceedings and process. In closing, I've heard a lot of my local brothers speak out and dismiss the closing of Wendelstedt and the move to have MLB take over/create an umpire school as "...just a DEI initiative". And to that I will simply say, MLB's goal and the goal within The Game of Baseball should be to identify, employ and promote the best umpires at ALL levels of The Game. I promise you, in the over 100 years that professional has been played, The Game has missed out on having the best umpires because previously not everyone could afford to attend pro school to say nothing of MLB's well-documented exclusionary policies. Nobody should be "given" anything in this world because of demographics. If a green-skinned slave girl from Orion can demonstrate she can umpire pro ball as one of the 76 best, she should get the job. ~Dawg

I was last at a clinic 2 years ago and this was not discussed at all. My association has an all-hands on deck meeting in a few weeks...I'll ask about it then. ~Dawg

Yeahhhhh...so, I'll be off the site for a few days. I gotta' go and further "console" those parents with @Mussgrass's zinger there. Gotta' get right on that...🙄 ~Dawg

Was it a play at 1B that Jim Joyce was taking? (...and that's not a criticism of Joyce, of course. That's an illustration of an obvious kick.) ~Dawg

Primarily philosophical...a few years back I was a "throw the baseballs to the pitcher" umpire. I threw my usual old-man lob to a 13U, it ticked off the top of the kid's glove (he took his eyes off it...) and it knocked two teeth out. Was that my fault? No, of course not but to hear those parents and coaches...yes, it was. It's like a car accident...right of way doesn't really matter when someone is lying in the hospital. It took me a LONG time to get over it even though again...it wasn't my fault. I didn't step on a field for many weeks. I just kept thinking about, "What if that happened to my kid? How would I feel as a parent towards that umpire or official?" Obviously, I don't throw baseballs to the players anymore. The Brotherhood was there for me and I'll always be thankful for that and look to re-pay that whenever and wherever I can. We teach each other a lot in this umpiring deal...except how to live with a mistake when someone between the fences gets hurt and we contributed. Heck, maybe I'm putting everyone on my fields at risk by NOT touching bats because someone could get hurt by a bat that's in the way... And please understand...I am by no means saying I am right and others are wrong on this. We all choose our own path and must accept the consequences. But, until someone signing my checks in my market tells me to clear bats...I'm not touching them. ~Dawg

Jim, I'm not touching bats...I'm just not doing that... ~Dawg

My partner and I are taking the field for a 13U travel fall, regular season game. (This is not a tournament or showcase of any kind.) We have a temporary E-Z Up tent with a white canopy and a parked vehicle shooting hideous glare towards the plate, both in the batter's eye. Absent a TD or other authority, I determined which team the person was a fan of and spoke to that coach and he took care of it. I emphasized to the coach specifically WHY I was asking...beyond me "making about myself", of course. On the odd chance the vehicle and tent are not moved or we cannot determine any connection with one of the teams...a wayward picnicking family, perhaps? Am I allowing this game to be played? I say no...what say you, brothers? ~Dawg

I guess as the kids would say...this play is trending, especially in the travel ranks in my market. One variant has R1, R3 to start the play so, in two-man U1 is in the B position and then R1 "uses" U1 as a visual and throwing lane screen...with varying results depending on the skill and or baseball IQ of the players involved... This is not baseball, frankly...and I would not want to be successful playing the game this way. ~Dawg

Me whenever a coach tries me for not clearing a bat: Coach, who put it there? Tell you what...if I ever put a bat there, I'll move it ok? Until then, whomever put it there can clear it...hmmmmm'k? ~Dawg

Yup...we call that maturity...I guess in some ways, I can't blame him. For most of his childhood, even when playing against older players he was a tough out and his teams frequently won. If that's your experience in your formative years, then it's understandable when you reach the highest levels and are now facing your equals and you're experiencing far more personal and team failures, that could be difficult to accept. But, he's 32 and has been playing 13 years now at the MLB level. He needs to grow up. It's also weird to me that being a Latter Day Saint has not had more positive impact on his overall vibe and life approach. For a comp...Ichiro played 18 seasons, 2,653 MLB games and had ONE ejection. He was "intense" and "wanted to win" too. Some guys "get better". Some guys "figure it out". ~Dawg

Yeahhhh...I don't have the resources anymore to track t-ball equipment manufacturers... ~Dawg

My apologies...I was being glib, of course... And by pedantic coaches I meant..."pedantic coaches" in quotations. None of them are pedantic. They are...as you said, argumentative from a perspective of ANY narrative to their team's advantage, of course whether the rules support that narrative or not. ~Dawg

@Velho, that rule you posted reads, "...a runner ON 2B." It doesn't say near or in the vicinity of or around...it absolutely says ON. I know leading-off is not permitted at this level but, if R2 can stand with both feet off the bag, steal the sign, relay the sign and THEN get back ON the bag, is that legal? Asking for all the pedantic coaches... ~Dawg

Congrats to Sister Pawol! This is great news! Thanks for posting, @Velho! Both games this weekend are on Sirius/XM as well as local radio, of course. Not sure about national TV and or streams but, if anyone has that, please post it here. ~Dawg

Well, I have two summer leagues featuring teams formed by college players in my market and both use replay... ~Dawg

https://all-starsports.com/products/fm4000-magnesium-replacement-pads-ad?_pos=19&_sid=701fdb7ce&_ss=r That is correct however, according to this link...they have ONE set in stock. Not sure if they are re-stocking these or not. I like the black w/tan look personally but, I must also admit I don't see as many wearing this as frequently as I once did in my market. ~Dawg

9.01(c) Bryce Harper is an epic douchebag. It's always a swing on that mope. And on the call I would say (referencing his recent gross disrespect of Commissioner Manfred), "Bryce, if your check swing is what you want to talk about...then get the eff off of MY field. You're done for today. Hopefully, you'll make better choices for yourself next time." This is what I don't understand about today's ballplayers...Yogi won 10 rings as a player and 3 more as a manager and by all accounts was a class act who occasionally had an unkind word. He understood the assignment. Harper has done nothing in this game. Zero rings. And he sees fit to act 100 times the hump Yogi ever was. And the world still has another 6-8 years of Harp. Clown behavior, bro... ~Dawg

@zoops, baseball and softball umpires are not hockey referees. You try and divide the teams as they are coming out of the dugout by standing in the middle of the field and motioning them back to their dugouts. Do not physically restrain anyone. Do not even put your hands on ANYONE. Be mindful of your movements, hands, arms and legs. We don't want to do anything here that could constitute contact of any kind or any kind of threatening movement or gesture. If that fails to restore order, when the comments escalate and the shoving and fist flying starts, just stand back, observe and take notes. At that point, it's the managers, coaches and players thing to either burn out or break up. Once everyone is back in their dugouts or bullpen areas, get the crew together and discuss what you saw. Ultimately, the chief will gather the crew's information, review final adjudication and then deliver that adjudication. Once all ejections are processed and those ejected are gone from sight and sound of the field, resume the game without any additional delay. ~Dawg

I know every situation is different and there isn't one set of game management techniques that's ALWAYS going to work but, I'm telling my partners in pre-game...I'm moving to minimalist game management in terms of what comes out of my mouth. And then I check with them in post, "Did we have game management? Yes? How was my minimalism?" ~Dawg

This rookie crop is showing the baseball world something...I'm getting a vibe that they are teaching less is more. Let the coach do his thing, when it's prolonged, personal or profane...dump them and don't say anything else. Really efficient here. I really like this. ~Dawg

Yeah, yeah...I'm late to the party...I get it...I've gotten burned a few times trying to find the next greatest piece of umpire equipment so, I held off on these on release. Finally, after hearing nothing but good things, I finally pulled the trigger. Human beings can never reach perfection because all the manufactured goods of the world can always be improved. That being said, I simply cannot even begin to imagine what the next evolution of the umpire ball bags might be. These are so good...so good. It's really hard to make something that can do multiple things well, especially opposing things. Take vehicles...the more you make a vehicle off-road capable, the less on-road capable it is...and vice-versa. What does an umpire need in a ball bag? A bag or bags that BOTH secure the baseballs AND make them easily accessible. I have been using Force-3 ball bags for the past 5 years. They are great but, after just one game today with the UmpLife bags, the Force-3's are now on standby service. My biggest problem with the Force3's as a Real Man of Carriage is that my waistline pulls the bags taut on my belt. Which makes dropping and retrieving the baseballs from those bags sometimes problematic. This is simply not the case with the UmpLife bags. Baseballs go in and out of those bags with total ease and are fully secure. If you're not wearing UmpLife ball bags...you're not wearing ball bags. ~Dawg

Here is the Stanton play that @MadMax was referencing...sucks for G but, yes...I have a swing here. ~Dawg

Ugh...sigh...sorry, thank you for clearing that up, @Velho. As if the two plays needed to be confused any more than they are... ~Dawg

Am I the only one seeing the ball in the mitt and then the bat touching the mitt? If that is the case, what is he interfering with? ~Dawg

A glancer or one where F2 appears otherwise ok? Yeah, that's a plate dust break... Cup shot to F2? That's a slow, slow walk out to the mound and telling F1 that F2 took a cup shot and you are just giving him a moment to reset. THEN...you are dusting the plate. THEN...you are verbally confirming he is ok and telling him to take an extra moment if he needs it. ~Dawg