StoneyK

I want to get into shape. Wait, round is a shape! So I'm good. d:-D

Hey, I agree, I'm just stating his side.

OK, now for pt2. my partner >argued< for lack of a better term that you are penalizing the defense with a chance at a dbl play because of an offensive mistake. I still state that force is off but he has a point.

R1, outs don't matter. Batter hits trouble pop to short RF, R1 tagging, ball is dropped and BR rounds and passes R1. Now BR is out but is the force removed with that out or can a play be made on R1 going to 2B? I say that force is removed and R1 cannot be doubled up by force. What say the group?

... and have another schedule yet to come in. After all is said and done I'll be scheduled 25-30 and end up with 35-40 (rainouts, extra pickups) and 2-10 playoff games (district, regional, state).

...but I got a few games in in September at the Mid-America clinic in Springfield, Mo. My 2009 season begins in January with some HS and LL clinics with HS play starting the 2nd week of February.

the Mid-America Umpire Clinic http://www.midamericanumpireclinic.com on Sept. 12-14 and the Mid-America Advanced Umpire Clinic http://www.geocities.com/midamericanumpireclinic on Sept. 18-21. They are both in Springfield, Mo. but have different coordinators so I'm guessing they are different and separate.

I'll be attending this clinic in a few weeks, can anybody tell me anything about it and what to expect.

I don't currently call college but am attending a clinic in September (Mid-American in Springfield, Mo) so Omaha is probably out of the question. That said last year I called the Big League Baseball World Series (Little League 17-18yr) in Easley, SC. My next goal is the LLWS in Williamsport.

I'm from SE Arkansas and this is my 22nd year to umpire. I currently call baseball and fast pitch softball (HS/AmLegion down to LL, Babe Ruth and various mens leagues). I've been married 22 years, have a 12yr son who plays LL and am an LPN/CDT (Certified Densitometer Technologist) which means i do bone density exams for osteoporosis at Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (hospital). 3 years ago I crossed over to the dark side and became a manager/coach for his team and have been an assistant the past 2 years. I have called multiple LL district and state tourneys (Big League, Sr League, Jr League and LL majors, 11yr, 9&10, 8&9, and 7&8 baseball and softball), 6 regionals ('00 LL Southern region, '02-03-05-06-07 Southwest region BL baseball) and 07 BL World series and am trying to get to Williamsport someday. I've also called the '05 Ar. A state tourney, '07 AAAA tourney and final and '08 AA tourney. I have served on the Southwest Region Umpires Advisory committee, am Arkansas District 3 staff, am an instructing clinician and do clinics for area leagues.

...for the MID-AMERICAN ADVANCED UMPIRE CLINIC in Springfield, Mo. in September. Has anybody been there and can tell me anything? I'm looking to start calling some college ball.

,,,line up cards I mentioned. They are excel and on the front where I have the Southwest Region logo you can shrink it down and paste a different one on top. I have LL, HS (Arkansas Officials Asso.), American Legion and Babe Ruth umpire patches I use on the front page. The one I'm posting has 10 batters but for LL (SR's and below) delete lines 30-31-32 and 63-64-65 and have 9 batters. To start a card write the starting batting order in the #ed slots. When a change is made cross out the starter and write down the sub and when he/she entered in the top or bottom of the inning they entered. On the back you can write the visits and in the small boxes the outs and baserunners (R1-R2-R3) when the visit was made. I went to the local office supply store and bought a ream of card stock (a little heavier than regular paper) to print the cards.

1st off I'm a plate hog regardless of the age/temp/time of day! BUT when i get to the game site meet up with my partner I ask which one he wants to be polite. The other night I worked a Sr. Mens (1)game and asked my partner his preference. He stated he had these two teams in the past week (different games) and he asked me if I minded doing it to give them a new look of course I said yes. That said, I have been fortunate to do 6 baseball regionals ('00 Southern LL, '02-03-05-06-07 Southwest BL), the 2007 BLWS, and multiple district (since '94) and state tournaments, Legion, HS, BR and Mens games. When working with younger/newer umpires I offer these "big" games to them as I've BTDT and now its their turn to get experience. HOWEVER, I never turn down an opportunity to call balls and strikes in the "big" games. :)

I have one i use but it is an excel type and keeps getting the "invalid file" message. Can the moderator fix/allow this?

There is a group on Yahoo called "llumpire". It is geard mostly toward Little League but as we all know we call more that just one league or organization. There are ?s from all over the world and all levels of baseball. There is also a new one that has split off from llumpires called hs_umpires that has several of the posters from llumpires. They are both located in the Yahoo groups and they both ask that when you join you introduce yourselves.

I learned about this rule when we started legion on Memorial weekend and most of what I hear is that there is not enough helmets out there to outfit everyone yet. So what we are not enforcing it if both teams do not have them. Also I "we" have not been informed of this new ruling and I do not seen anything in the AmLegion rule "book". Now FWIW, this is just my opinion but these "helmets" are nothing but old fashioned skull caps that have been banned by NHFS (5 years ago) and Little League (forever), and from the looks of them they wouldn't do much in the way of protection unless the coach took a shot above the ears or straight on th the fore head. The coach that got all this started (Coolbaugh from Tulsa) actually got hit in the neck/throat area that caused his death. Even the full batting helmet with ear flaps would not have saved him.

;) Ten years of HS baseball without and EJ and 3 in the past month: 1) Varsity game I'm PU with partner I'm never worked with before. Home F1 has pro scouts there looking at him. He is throwing one of the sickest curve balls I've seen all year. This curve comes in at about head level and not just curves but snaps what seems a 90 degree corner and another over the top that comes in at mid-thigh and drops off the table. Well H wins 7-0. After the game we change out for JV game and in the middle of the 1st inning I'm in short LF when V coach wants to "talk" about the previous game. I tell him it's over and not open for discussion. He then wants to "give me some advice before i start losing games". I tell him that last year I did a state final, a WS and am turning downing games for lack of days to call so thanks anyway for the advice. He continues to try and talk and after the 3rd time to tell him to go to his dugout I tell him to gegt on the bus he's done here. He walks off without any other comment. 2) 1 week later. I have 2 teams competing for last spot in conference for state tourney. Top of 7th 6-6, 1 out with R3. Long fly to RF with R3 tagging. Ball is caught and R3 breaks. Throw is right on with F2 positioning inside 3B-HP baseline. F3 receives the throw and steps into baseline to apply tag and R3 lowers his shoulder and plows over F2. No brainer here w/ malicious contact. R3 looks up at me with look of disbelief when I EJ him . 3) 11 days after that: 2A state tourney (V)-F1 is big lefty throwing a sidearm slider that looks like it is hooking around 1B and slicing across the plate belt high. I ring up 3rd(H) batter of game to end 4th inning. Home asst coach comes running from 1st base box yelling to give his batters a chance. I just look at like he's crazy and tell him to go to his dugout. He wants to yell some as I walk away. He finally goes to his dugout (3rd base) still yelling and after 3rd time to tell him thats enough I send him to his bus. Why is it that coaches cannot take advice when we are trying every way possible to keep them in the game.

I know this late (I just joined) but the test was on line here in Arkansas (paper for the last year for those without access). Here we are required to make a certain score depending on level (division). As i took the test I copied and pasted the test to word and at the end when I received my score (92 minimum of 90) I could go back and it would tell me which ones were wrong. If you did not score the minimum you could take it a 2nd time. The same questions are on the test just in a different order. For example on my test the question #1 was #54 on the next with the questions in the same order. (#1-2-3-4 was # 54-55-56-57 on the next)

We have a few very bad teams here locally and a fellow umpire (who was previously a head coach winning the state title his final year) convinced the opposing coaches that if 1 team got up by 10 or more early (1st or 2nd inning) they would revert to 3 runs or 3 outs per inning in order to get a full 5 innings in a reasonable amount of time. That said, if this happens would this still count as a legitimate game. I say yes that 5 innings is a complete game. HOW you got there is ok as long as both managers agree. What says the board.