mac266

The world according to mac266: Buy equipment that you'll use for varsity level high school baseball. I went cheap the first time around (the package from Champro that includes a chest protector, mask, shin guards, ball bag, indicator, and plate brush). In my second season I replaced everything except the plate brush. Now I'm wearing: Wilson West Vest gold chest protector, Force 3 shin guards, an All-Star hockey style helmet. My ball bags are higher quality, and I went with a 3-dial indicator. Oh, and my cup will withstand a thermonuclear blast. This year I also added some tights made by Force 3 that have some kevlar pads on the inner thigh. I've taken a few fouls there, and they deaden it a little. But wearing the tights helps prevent chafing from the shin guards. Of course, these are what I'm using, and your mileage may vary. But I still hold to my original point: Buy equipment that you could wear for varsity level baseball. As you move up, you won't have to buy all your gear again. It worked out for me, because I gave all that starter gear to my 15 year-old, who also plays, but who got hired to umpire Triple Crown tournaments with me.

DON'T QUIT! Kylehutson's advice was spot on. I guarantee, given your experience level, that you're calling too fast. See it, replay it in your head, look for the ball (is there a "voluntary and intentional release?") and then make the call.

It's an 8-day course. I guess graduates of one of the two pro schools go there for final selection, but it's open to the rest of us schmucks, too. According to the web site, they use it to hire folks into college summer leagues like the American Association and others. I spoke with a mentor about it, and he says those college summer leagues are great, but not for a family guy like me -- 90 days away from my regular (and well paying, especially compared to umpiring!) job and family. But an 8-day course is much more palatable than a 30-day course, just from a pocket book and burning vacation time perspective. This is especially true because I could never afford to be an MiLB umpire. Sure, if they stuck me in the MLB on day 1 and paid me the MLB rate, it would be great. But it doesn't work like that. Do you suppose it would open up other opportunities? We have a Pecos league team locally and the umpires are all local. I'd love to get into that.

OP, I'm curious to know how it went! Last bit of advice: Remember the rules between softball and baseball are vastly different. That's why I don't do both. I've seen very experienced umpires misapply a softball rule in a baseball game, and I don't want to be that guy!

I bought a stop watch for games with time limits (high school and lots of tournaments do that around here), only to find out it's a disaster. The stop button gets pushed and it stops tracking time. We're not supposed to wear a wrist watch, so I took it off and put it in my left ball bag (left bag for tools, right bag for baseballs). That watch broke, so I replaced it. The new one keeps having buttons pushed while in the ball bag. Egad. We're not supposed to have our phones with us on the field. But now I'm down to putting my phone in my back pocket and running the timer. It works marvelously. I tell my partner in the pregame that's what I'm doing, and I NEVER pull my phone out unless there is a question about time.

It must have a hard shell for me to consider it. That's why I'm not looking at their current one, but it is much lower profile.

I did, yes. The biggest reason I’m considering a change is how it fits in my plate coat 🤣😂

This is NOT a foul ball. It is a dead ball strike.

This is a dead ball strike -- dead because it hit the batter. He is not awarded first base because he swung. Because he swung, it's a strike. It doesn't matter where the ball landed because it can neither be fair nor foul; it is dead. The proper way to kill the play is "TIME!" Then give the batter a minute to recover and put him back in the box with an additional strike added. If that was strike 3, he's out.

I've been using a Wilson West Vest (gold), and its protection is great. I've taken a few hard shots and it disperses the impact quite well. That said, it's like strapping a 1957 Chevy to my chest. I'm looking to go lower profile, but given that I'm working high school level, including varsity, with the opportunity to move up to independent league pro ball in the next few years, I'm self imposing a restriction that any chest protector MUST be a hard shell. I've been looking at the All-Star Cobalt, and I really wish I had the opportunity to try these on before I buy them, but there isn't a retail store around that carries stuff like this. So, for those with experience, will it be lower profile than the West Vest? Lighter? More comfortable? Protect as well?

My black one is by Out West and my navy blue one is a Fechheimer that was gifted by a retiring umpire. You cannot buy the latter anymore, but it was the best thing ever made. I don't know about Honig's, but I can definitely see a quality difference between my Out West and the Fechheimer. Out West is acceptable, but for a custom made garment I'm pretty livid at their recommendations. They told me to buy a size larger and have it tailored down. The tailoring cost me $110 because I took their recommendations on sizing.

Whelp...there's another tool for my toolbox!

I've spent my entire adult life in a profession where peoples' lives depend trusting on what I say, and my life depends on others and trusting them. There is a mutual trust built on a foundation of integrity. In my life, if we can't trust each other's word, people die. While umpiring may not go to that extreme, it's still who I am. If someone disagrees with me, that's one thing; it's just a difference of opinion. But in this case, this guy openly accused you of violating your integrity, and in doing so, blatantly LIED. That says more about him as a man than anything else I need to know. That dude would forever be on my "do not trust" list, and that one is pretty much irreparable. I think you handled it perfectly, and definitely better than I would have. If you haven't guessed, I just revealed my button.

Contrary to my post about the "skunk in the outfield," I've seen this one several times. I would guess it worked about half the time. Anyone else?

I've never umpired a game where this happened, but I'd like to think I'm aware enough to recognize it when it does. I'd like to hear from umpires who had this happen when they were working. Did the trick play score the run?

16U, NFHS rule set. I called strike 3 at a pitch waist high, outer edge of the plate. As I rang him up, the batter turned toward me and yelled something angrily, but I couldn't hear what he said over the crowd cheering. As he walked away, he continued looking over his shoulder at me and yelling, but I could still not hear what he was saying. Then, as the crowd noise died down, he looked at me a third time and yelled, "That's not a goddamn strike!!!" as he slammed his bat onto the ground. Boom, you're gone, junior. I don't care that your mommy paid hundreds of dollars for you to play on a travel team in this tournament. You can hang out in the parking lot. That's my second EJ of the year, but only the first kid I've ever heaved.

Ha. I call a high school zone for the men's league and they compliment me on my zone. Of course we're in different parts of the country.

This is what all you old guys tell me used to be an FYC. Too bad for iPhones these days, or I would use it

Yeah, I didn't even wear it because it was 93 degrees

Weird, I'm pretty new at this (2nd year umpire) and I knew that one. It wasn't pre-gamed; it's a standard signal and applies to the 2nd base umpire (or in our case with 2-man systems, the base umpire). Rizzo is telling the umpire he's in the batter's eye, which at higher levels they want to be clear of anything. Very few of our high school fields even have a batter's eye.

UPDATE: This morning he backed out on me, so I’m working alone. He was mad that I wanted to do a pre-game, mad that he was originally assigned the plate (I offered to take it because he would have been coming from work), was mad that we wouldn’t match if I wore the plate coat (he was convinced I was talking about jackets), and this morning he texted me that he’s backing out because he has to work longer than planned. I’m convinced he just doesn’t want to work with me. Oh well.

I posted a thread about inheriting a navy blue Fechheimer plate coat from a retiring umpire. I still haven't used it, but I'm working the plate tomorrow. I finally got in touch with my partner this afternoon, and I'm pretty sure he didn't know what a plate coat is. When I brought it up, he was upset that "everyone has to match." Ummm....only the plate umpire wears a plate coat, so if there are only two umpires, then all the base umpire has to do is wear some kind of blue when PU has a navy blue plate coat, or any type of black when the PU's plate coat is black. He didn't get this, and kept going on about jackets -- black with the powder blue stripes, all black, etc. I couldn't get him to understand that I was talking about a PLATE COAT -- you know, it looks like a suit coat with big pockets -- not a jacket. As of now, we're just going to wear powder blue tomorrow because he still doesn't know what a plate coat is. The dude has been umpiring for 11 years.

All I did was pop off my mask and reposition slightly. I doubt if he sensed my movement, and I'm convinced he saw the kid coming the whole time because he was looking at him...and he kept the ball instead of throwing it back.

They teach it because of perception. What everyone on the field saw was me standing with my hands behind my back in position B. When he charged out to confront me, I didn't meet him. I simply stood there. He was throwing his hands around and yelling. So any witness (or video that winds up on YouTube) is going to show him acting like the overly-aggressive idiot, and the umpire calmly standing and trying to get the game going again. Yes, it goes against all my cop training, but as an umpire I don't have a duty belt with weapons to prevent him from taking, and him actually taking a swing at me is not only unlikely, but will definitely end up with him in handcuffs. If anything looks like "mutual combat" (i.e. both people being idiots), then it won't. But this approach always ensures the crowd's perception of the umpire as the one just doing his job and the coach acting the fool.

NFHS rules. Runner on 1st, and I don't remember how many outs (irrelevant to the situation). The pitcher came set and the runner started running to 2nd. The pitcher never moved -- never balked, flinched, or began the delivery. He just stood there set while the runner was going and everyone was yelling at him. The runner touched 2nd AND THEN the pitcher began his movement. There was no balk; his pitch was delivered correctly. The batter fouled it off. The batter must return to the last legally touched pitch before time of pitch. I ruled that since the runner had legally touched 2nd base before time of pitch, he got to remain on 2nd. I overheard an assistant coach ask the head coach if I was right, and the reply was "I don't have time to look it up." They were losing badly, so he didn't want to argue. Between innings I explained what I had, and he accepted it without argument. In fact, he even said, "Yep, must return to the last legally touched base..." I've never seen this before, so I'm wondering if I was right.