mac266

I wanted to start a new thread because I'm getting lost in the old one. How much modification would it take to add this to a West Vest gold? Champro Umpire Chest Protector Bicep Extensions | Ump Attire (ump-attire.com)

UPDATE: I'm not going to do volleyball because I made a MAJOR milestone in my military career: I'm taking command of a brigade in May. As to baseball, I've been cleared to umpire bases only for the remainder of the season. I won't get behind the dish at all until next year. But, given the tidbit above (which, by the way, makes me eligible to compete for a star), I'm probably going to withdraw as a "prospect" for the NCAA. I want to get there, but I don't think it's in the cards for the next few years. I'll keep doing JuCo.

I'm more than a bit jealous. Sitting out sucks.

Hey, I'm *almost* cleared to return to the diamond, but working bases only. I will not be behind the dish until next season, at which time I will need the extra protection. Are we doing this?

Right arm. I don't think we need double side protection, but I absolutely have to protect the right.

We could all learn a lot from that guy, but I'm confident my assignor would make him buy new gear!

I know you hate the West vest, so would it be better if I went ahead and bought a new chest protector for this experiment?

If it gets me back on the diamond, let's do it! If you ruin my West vest, I suppose I'll try something else

Fellow blues, I underwent surgery five weeks ago to re-attach my bicep, which came completely torn off. The surgeon also had to go inside my shoulder with a grinder to remove a bunch of bone spurs and the bursitis was so bad she couldn't see what she was doing until she cut it out. So I already lost my entire JuCo season because I cannot get behind the plate. I'm in physical therapy now and starting to gain back some of my range of motion, but definitely not ready for the dish. That said, when I do come back, I want to add some bicep protection. I wear a Wilson West Vest currently. On my favorite web site, the only supplemental protection I found for the bicep only fit on Champro chest protectors. What do you all suggest I do? By the way, the EARLIEST I'll get behind the dish will likely be July. But I still want the protection.

Whelp....I was severely injured and had surgery a week ago; full recovery will be 12-18 months. I lost my entire JuCo season as a result, but the high school association will let me take a few games on the bases only (I absolutely cannot get hit with a foul). They are also naming me as the evaluator. So what advice do you have for a new evaluator?

But getting hit with a hard ball is not a concern. That's why I'm not umpiring this year.

Just as we're ramping up and getting ready for Spring baseball, I tore my bicep tendon completely off. It's hanging out in a ball inside my bicep as I await surgery, and the recovery process is supposed to be rather lengthy. So I have to sit out the entire baseball season. I was on my way up, too. I've reached out to the volleyball folks to find out if it's not too late for me to get trained and certified for the Spring boys' season. I hope that next year I'll be back on the diamond, but I could officiate girls' volleyball in the Fall and not interfere with it.

I had to physically stand in between two coaches. This was 13U...and they wonder why I won't work kiddie ball anymore.

It's not our sport, but it affects us. Someone disagreed with a soccer referee's issuance of a "red card," which I understand to be an ejection. Their disagreement resulted in a brawl, and the brawl resulted in a stabbing. The article doesn't mention the age group of the game, but I can guarantee it was a youth game. https://www.kktv.com/2023/06/05/disagreement-over-soccer-game-leads-stabbing-colorado-springs/

Putting a ball into play makes a dead ball live. If you have a mechanic to start the pitch clock, fine. But you’re not putting it into play. Our base umpire just starts the clock when the conditions are met (pitcher has the ball and is on the mound, live ball). We do not have a mechanic for it.

^^^ What he said. LL coaches are almost always clueless, even if they played in the MLB (yes, I'm completely serious with that comment; playing, coaching, and knowing the rules are NOT the same thing). This idiot will continue being an idiot unless he is corrected by someone in the know. Of course we are in the know, but he doesn't believe us. He has been conditioned by other idiots not to. PLEASE address it with your league supervision and they will talk to him.

Game 1 of the high school post season regionals, I was PU in a 3-man crew. This was the #2 seed (home) versus the #31 seed, so we knew it was not going to be close. I worked the plate as hard as I always do (my level of effort is the same whether it is a JV game or a college game), and tried to be as consistent as possible with my zone. After 4 innings, the home team was up 16-0, which ended the game on a run rule. The visiting team catcher, who had just gotten schwacked, told me, "Blue, you're the best umpire I've had all year!" It felt good to have my level of effort appreciated, especially when it would have been understandable for him to be in a foul mood.

You and I would get along well. If he was safe, I'm calling safe every time. Don't sacrifice your integrity just to get to beer thirty sooner.

Umpiring advice: youth level ball and travel tournaments are full of daddy coaches who don't know the rules but are charging exorbitant coaching fees to unsuspecting parents who mistakenly believe otherwise. They also don't know the art of interacting with umpires, and they think the Aaron Boone approach is "how the game is played." Notice how often Boone goes to the locker room early. I cut my teeth working these, but as my skill has built I've been given opportunities to work better baseball. In an ideal world, I would work the youth ball just to give back to the game, but those people can kiss my arse.

Post season play is underway here in Colorado, where we transition from 2-man to 3-man crews. That's a good idea, because despite having an increase of 50% manning, the crew tends to be about 500% better and more accurate on calls. The angles in 3-man are amazing, but in 2-man they are "almost good enough" sometimes. I would take a pay cut to work 3-man all the time, but that's not up to me. My pet peeve is the state association has NO training on 3-man mechanics; they expect you to just know them. The only reason I know them is because I'm a prospect for an NCAA division 2 conference and get to work their fall games. Otherwise, I would have been sitting at home reading a mechanics book...which is close to zero learning for me. Anyway, that's a problem I will address with the state. First game of a double header, we had all been in contact with one another over text. We all agreed to be 45 minutes early. I showed up an hour early because of my Army background ("10 minutes early is late!). U1 showed up at the agreed upon time. U3 isn't there. The two of us get dressed and geared up, But U3 is nowhere to be found. We called and texted and got no response, until 15 minutes before game time. He texted back and said he was running late. Mind you, this is the first game of the day, and five games are scheduled on that diamond. The weather was also threatening later in the day, so any delays could have serious impacts on post-season scheduling. Many of these teams travel 6 or more hours and pay for hotels, etc. because it is post season. I was pi$$ed, to say the least. The weather is going to do what the weather is going to do, but the umpires should NEVER be the reason a team has to pay for another night in a hotel. U1 and I agreed to get the game going in 2-man, and we started the plate meeting on time. U3 walked onto the field during the plate meeting, and he was wearing a different jacket than we had previously agreed upon. I was in a plate coat. U1 had the black jacket with two white stripes on the shoulders. U3 had the black jacket with two white stripes and a blue stripe in between. As PU with a plate coat, I'm supposed to look different than the other two (without a plate coat I would, of course, be in the same jacket as the base umpires). But this dude with his blue stripe, walking onto the field while we're finishing up the plate meeting was a BAD look. Probably 75% of our job is simply maintaining credibility. ALWAYS do everything to maintain credibility -- with players, coaches, and other umpires!

Same here, and I still won't work them.

Old school you didn't, but the base umpire needs to know when to start the pitch clock.

Since I specifically said "whenever the ball is dead," which you lined out before "correcting" me, I'm extremely confused by your comment. You seriously ended up saying exactly the same thing I did by changing my words to literally mean something else. English, man.

I'm working JuCo this year (NCAA rules). Because of the pitch clock, we have to put the ball in play whenever it is dead, runners on or not. By giving the hand signal as well as the verbal, our partner knows to start the pitch timer.

I own a pitch timer because I work JuCo which uses the NCAA rule book. So it's set to 20 seconds, just like the NFHS rule. However, even though the NFHS rule book has the 20 second pitch clock, in my area I'm the only umpire who even owns a pitch timer. Not a single other umpire (again, in my area) has ever enforced it because they do not have the means (imagine standing on the diamond watching a stop watch). So, I'm not picking that booger. If I did, I would be the only one, and it would confuse pitchers and infuriate coaches.