Jboval

Never seen this before: Bases Loaded - Past ball, but not very far, R3 stops on his way to home and gets caught in a run down. R2 gets called over by the coach to third. Now both kids standing on the bag. Fielder tags lead runner, I signal safe, (As usual, no one is watching me, even though I am standing less than 10' away), R3 steps off the bag, thinking he is out. Now the coach yells "Tag them both", so fielder tags R2 (R3 is no longer in contact with the bag), again, signal safe, again, no one watching me. Everyone starts walking their merry way to their positions, I look at PU, he shrugs his shoulders like "Whatcha gonna do?" After about 5 steps from 3rd, I declare R3 for abandoning effort. Spent 5 minutes explaining why he was not out when tagged, why R2 was safe when tagged, and why R3 finally was out. Not to mention I got my first Balk for a pitcher dropping the ball while on the rubber. (That sent the scorekeeper to the concession stand to see if they had a rule book so they could dispute the call) What a day!

A rule reference would be nice here. The rule I referred too seems to contradict calling the batter out.

Ok, past ball, R3 steals home, batter stands still in the batter's box, A) throw from catcher to pitcher hits batter in the back or catcher has to go around the batter while trying to tag R3 out, making contact with the batter in his efforts. What's the call in A and B? I keep seeing "Batter has to vacate area" but I don't see the support in the book for this directive. I do however see where it says the batter interferes when he leaves the box and interferes with a play. Does this mean if he doesn't leave then he doesn't interfere?

Damn, that is the titanium one. 4 hr's left and I just bought mine for $210 two weeks ago!! AARGH!! Someone is going to get a hell of a deal!

He would be out in Fed ruleset. Can't jump over anyone unless they are lying on the ground, and can never dive headfirst over anyone. Legal everywhere else.

110-115? But is a 'dry heat' right? lol I am here in nice sultry Orlando, so our days can get pretty darn humid, so I will let you know how it holds up. The nice thing is that the shields are very easily removed with the velcros. Gets too bad and I can take it off in about 10 seconds between innings.

I have umpired a game where a kid took a throw at second on a steal, got hit in the neck with the ball, didn't look like a horrible play, but when he got up to get the ball, he passed out. Came to when he was lying on the ground, tried to get back up, and passed out again... Scared the poop out of everyone because they thought he was almost convulsing. Come to find out that the trauma to his neck forced his jugular to almost close completely, and when he laid flat his blood pressure was low enough to regain conciousness, but when he went vertical... Lights out! Also had a kid remove his helmet after scoring on his way back to the Visitors dugout, got hit in the head on an overthrow at 3rd, and although it looked bad, it didn't look horrific. He spent 3 days in a medically induced coma for the swelling. Nowadays if I see a kid remove his helmet on his way back to the dugout, if there is play ongoing in that area, I will kill it immediately, with the explanation that it's a safety issue. I am very adamant about safety and especially the helmet staying on, address it a pre-game, and in the last 25 years have probably only killed the ball twice in a situation such as this. Both of those were the exact same situations of the kid returning to the dugout on the visitors side with a kid coming into 3rd. Killed it, sent the kid back, to second, and told the coach if he would of made sure his kids knew to keep their lids on, then this wouldn't of happened. Both of these injuries happened very early in my umpire days, around 20-25 years ago, so I know firsthand that injuries can be worse than they appear. Keep in mind that when I reflect back on injuries, I usually flash to head related ones, so the thought of a kid turning an ankle or a knee doesn't really enter my mind. But two kids running into each other, collisions, or anything that could be concussion related, I err on the side of caution. I will never be the one to say "but guys, the ball was still live", when referring to why I waited to stop play.

Nope, not hot, seriously. Although on a 90 degree day I may tell you different. But until then, it is very comfortable, and I seem to get hit in the eyes once a game with dirt, and given my allergies and eye trouble, I feel much safer with this thing in place. I think if you go to Bangerz website and look under catchers equipment, you will find it.

I would rather say I stopped play immediately to get medical aid, than worry about being right or wrong, legally or within the realm of the rule book or whatever. I guess I would be more worried about how I would feel personally if something happened, whether the rule book backed me or not. Not gonna sleep better at night thinking "I know I could of stopped play and maybe that kid wouldn't of gotten hurt worse, but I'm not gonna worry about it since the rulebook said I didn't have to stop play until action was complete." That would be a very cold comfort at night, dont'cha think?

I will try to snap some later this evening and get them on here. The shields have little holes and come with these small, thin velcro straps that go through them, allowing you to attach to the mask/cage. Looks like they would line up with just about any cage out there since they are somewhat 'adjustable' due to the velcro straps. I was curious if the velcro will hold up, and once I see that I am going to have no issues with the shield, I will probably replace the velcro with some black zip ties, but for right now I wanted to make sure I could easily remove the shield if I was having any issues. Also, I took a hit straight to the mask, right in the sight/open area of the cage. I was wondering how it would react to a direct and good hit, but not a problem at all. The shields are pretty flimsy, which means they give instead of cracking when met with force.

Now I do a lot of LL ball, but I have to say, if there is an injury that is very evident (kid rolling around on ground, hit in the face with the ball, etc.), I kill the play instantly. I don't care what is going on, I want coaches on that field immediately to tend to that player. One thing I want to point out is God forbid anything bad should happen, but I am not going to lose sleep at night about a kid getting further injury because I waited to call Time until play was dead, not to mention any legal ramifications that could possibly arise out of delaying treatment for one second longer than possible. My advice is kill it, deal with the issues after making sure these kids are ok. I had a coach arguing with me 5' from the injured player rolling on the ground about killing the play. I calmly said, "Coach, look at this kid (pointing to him), if that were your child, would you want to be out here as quickly as you could be, or would you want me to wait until play was finished? Think about what you are saying here." He looked at the kid, looked at me... "Whatever... " and walked away. Even when they know we are right they can't admit it!

I know there is a lot of debate on here about the HSM vs. Mask, but I want to say that the concerns about the heat are not TRUE! I got my new Shock FX 2.0, and the amount of ventilation on top is amazing, when you combine this with the fact that you don't wear a hat, you actually dissipate a lot more hear from the old Noggin than when you have the cap on with a traditional mask. Now on mine I added the Bangerz shield. It isn't designed perfectly to fit the Shock FX, but it still fits just fine. I got both shields, Amber and Smoke, and put the smoke on my HSM, and put the Amber on my regular mask. Again, the Amber shield is not designed to fit the traditional mask, but along with my reflective shield still installed at the top of the mask, it installs and is fully functional and looks fine. So for those of you interested in those shields, they are expensive ($25 ea.), but in my experience so far, well worth it. Find myself flinching so much less often to keep dirt out of my eyes on the high pitches! One last thing, the shield does make the helmet loud... If you are a 'quiet voice' umpire (really? are there any?), then you may not want to combine the shield with the HSM, if you are sensitive to loud sounds, you may not want to combine the two. All I can say is that I was louder, I felt I could also hear better with the HSM on (I think it focuses sounds around the ear more, basically the mask acts like a 'big ear'), but I got used to it, and I didn't feel like it was LOUD, just louder. With the mask, really not much difference. I did use the smoke shield under the lights, and could see just fine. I put the amber shield on under the lights, and felt there was quite a bit of reflection in my vision, but I have not used it for a full game yet. Last thing... man the reactions I got were sweet. "Awesome mask, man, wish my catchers helmet had that". The shield on the HSM looks pretty darn sweet, even if I say so myself. Has anyone else had experience with these at all? Any other feedback?

He makes that decision to hand the guy the ball and gets tagged out by the defense and the ball is still live, I am banging him out in leagues where the kid is old enough to know better, or should know better.

Uh, I don't think so, the walls themselves are hard, but they protect huge blocks of soft foam that absorb the 'movement' of the rigid/hard walls that take the actual impact, just like your chest protector with the hard shell And as far as the vehicles, I can't think of anything 'soft' (as far as I define the word soft) that isn't possibly going to come in contact with a passenger/driver. The simple fact is, when something traveling at a high rate of speed hits soft material, that impact is absorbed almost exclusively by the material at the impact site, which dissipates the force by 'giving' inward. When that same object hits a rigid or hard panel, the impact is dissipated across the entire panel, with little or no give. The hard panel then transfers the energy to the soft material over a larger area, with less inward movement, therefore, less energy reaching you. Yes, you can protect yourself well with what you described, a soft/hard/soft type of set-up, but the most efficient, and less bulky, alternative is the way they have it set up now, hard/soft. I mean, I guess you could stuff a really thick pillow in your shirt, but it's kind of in the way at that point. I think the best way is how my Shock helmet is set up... shock absorbers! If they could come up with a chest protector with those, then look out! hhhmmmmm... heading to the patent office right now! :shrug:

Well in automotive you have to consider the fact that the passengers could come into contact with pieces/parts, so you have the hard stuff surrounded by soft products to protect the individual. In baseball, you don't have to worry about hurting that poor little baseball. It is far better to have a hard panel that can absorb the contact, then dissipate the force across the entire surface of the absorbing, soft material (Think safer barrier in NASCAR).

I can't see calling an out here. Nothing in the book allows for it, and it's a safety issue, and in my experience, when you warn about a safety issue, and it's repeated, you eject. I am assuming if they throw the bat in your league, it's an out without a warning. I don't agree with that either, unless the thrown bat interferes with the play somehow. Just my thoughts on it...:shrug:

Please - do tell how you got out of that double call at third??? And the interesting post game... details man!!:smachhead:

Right handed batter in 1st Inning, hits a screamer down the 1st base line, called foul. After contact the kids bat comes all the way around, he let's go, and the bat bounces off both mine and the catchers shin guards. I warn the coach, and also tell the kid, while handing him back the bat, that he has been warned for not controlling his bat after hitting the ball. Fast forward to bottom of last inning, same batter, same scenario, same foul ball down the line, bat is let go again, and this time the kid hangs on to the bat so long that when he lets it go, the head of the bat strikes the catcher dead on in the ribs, behind his left arm. I hear it, hear the kid go "ooof!" as the air leaves him and he drops to the ground, and immediately I look at the kid, and eject him. The coach goes nuts... "You are seriously going to eject a 10 yr old for not holding on to the bat?", "Coach, you were warned, he was warned, and now he has injured another player", as I point to the two coaches tending to the kid laying on the ground in pain, just 10' away from where we are having our discussion. "Seriously? You are ejecting him?", "seriously coach, not better time for him to learn that he has to control that bat, and not put others in harm's way". We then have a discussion about how he can now not put in another player because he has no legal substitutions, and then he just says "Forget, it, we quit - Boys, pack up your gear!". They were down by 2 with one out (the ejection), with the top of the order coming up. You gotta love these guys sometimes. Side note: I would of just warned him again for throwing the bat, but I just couldn't let it go when he injured someone. What would you have done? :shrug:

I think I might lose it if I saw an umpire come out with one of those on... :shrug:

I would of never found those... I have one of the smoke and one of the amber shields on their way! Thanks for locating those for me!!

Does anyone make a complete clear visor/mask to cover the opening for the umpire mask? I am talking like they make for football helmets and the like? I take so much dirt/debris in the face/eyes on the high pitches where the catcher puts his mitt up and catches the ball in the mitt, knocking the loose debris off and into my eyes. It has caused me to start flinching and closing my eyes at impact, and I am worried it is going to turn into a very bad habit, and I am going to miss some late swings and such.

I can't find anything saying that the R has the right to stay on the bag and not get out of the way of a fielder trying to field the ball... however, 7.08b in LL states "...or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball (Note: A runner who is adjudged to have hindered a fielder who is attempting to make a play on a batted ball is out whether it was intentional or not)" I have actually seen in Minor/Majors LL on a ball hit up the middle with a R2, the short stop hustling over to field the ball hit right to 2nd base location, and R2, not being forced, just stayed on the bag, hindering the fielder from making the play on the ball and B/R. I left it alone, but looking at this rule, I should of called him out. Anyone have different thoughts/rule cite?? Everyone keeps saying the R has the right to the bag during the play on a batted ball, but I don't see that anywhere in writing.

What if the fielder runs in to him while trying to field the ball? Then is he out for INT? I mean he has to vacate the bag to give room to the fielder correct?

Gotcha... was curious if there was something there with the contact between R1 and ball since the contact was not "immediately back" of fielder, but then on second glance saw the "not an out if ball is deflected first by fielder then makes contact" - or something of that nature... that 'immediately back of fielder' leaves a lot up for interpretation, like... how far behind the fielder?

Ok, let's see what you would call on this one.... no outs, no runners, batter hits ball down the line towards first, F3 makes a play, but the ball bounces off him and rolls just past first base line as the first baseman falls down. Ball comes to a complete stop, and before F1 or F4 can pick it up, the runner unintentionally hits the ball with his foot as he rounds first on his way to second base. What would you call? And why? :meditation: