Kyle_Stevens

I found this post on "Warren's Response to the Author, Angel Melendez was...." interesting and have nominated it accordingly for "Post Of The Month May, 2009"

Agreed

I found this post on "Remember..." interesting and have nominated it accordingly for "Post Of The Month May, 2009"

I was watching the game when this happened. The article said the pitch was at near his head but from the angle of the camera it was at his rear end. His hips moved toward home plate during the pitch. When the Dutch came out on defense they played ball, no shenanigan's, so I do applaud them for that. Just my opinion.

That is great, just my kind of humor. "It's actually a robe you can wear backwards" I wonder how many people actually paid $60 for one of those things...and a flashlight? WTF?

Good to have you here, Ryan. This is a great place!

OLD people have problems that you haven't even considered yet! An 85-year-old man was requested by his doctor for a sperm count as part of his physical exam. The doctor gave the man a jar and said, 'Take this jar home and bring back a semen sample tomorrow.' The next day the 85-year-old man reappeared at the doctor's office and gave him the jar, which was as clean and empty as on the previous day. The doctor asked what happened and the man explained, 'Well, doc, it's like this--first I tried with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but still nothing. 'Then I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then with her left, still nothing. She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth out, still nothing. 'We even called up Arleen, the lady next door and she tried too, first with both hands, then an armpit, and she even tried squeezing it between her knees, but still nothing.' The doctor was shocked! 'You asked your neighbor?' The old man replied, 'Yep, none of us could get the jar open.'

My parents recently added on to their house and my dad got a new big, flat screen. My family and I were over there one night for dinner and he was showing us all his new toy, the satellite receiver. He was rolling through all 10, 874 channels and ended on the adult channels. He started to tell a little more about it and while he was doing that he kept getting questions on the screen if he was wanting to accept. He wasn't sure what the thing was asking. He pressed a series of buttons and turned it back to a music channel for dinner. In the middle of dinner, my oldest sons eyes were as big as his dinner plate and he was staring at the new big screen tv. We all looked at what was so fascinating and see two women enjoying the company of each other without their clothes. My dad jumped up and fumbled the remote trying to turn the channel. It was hysterical. My dad said he 'had no idea how that happened.' Riiiggghhhttt...:HD:

I prefer HS as opposed to LL. The traveling LL teams around here are are generally coached by the second coming of 'Sweet Lou' who is more worried about having something to say about every play rather than actually coaching, yadda, yadda, yadda, we all know the drill. What I am going to try to do is 'umpire' some tee ball this summer. This is where I can get back in touch with what baseball is all about, watching kids having fun. Kids asking what the after game snack is while up to bat. The kid who is picking clovers in the outfield when the ball rolls out to him. The kids that hit the ball and run to third. It's just fun. What baseball should be. It's not about 11 year old whose dad thinks his kid is ready to be drafted.

This didn't happen to me but my dad, years ago when he umpired baseball. He had a high school game, one of the coaches had something to say just about every pitch. Anyway, sometime in the middle of the game his team was on defense. The pitch comes in and is called a ball. Coach yells at his catcher, "Where was that one?" Young catcher replies, "It was outside by about this much!", holding his pointer fingers apart about 8-10 inches. My dad said he could see the coach turn red and my dad had the biggest smile. Thanks catcher!

I point to first base on called strike, hammer on swinging strike three, and like Majordave, on called third strike, fighter stance, with a quick pull with my right fist to my chest with an authoritative voice, "THREE". It is short, sweet, and compact. That is one thing I have changed. I used to have a long pull the chain action. One thing I need to work on is the swinging/dropped third strike. I say 'THREE' with a semi-hammer and might point down to let everyone know it is on the ground. If it si questioned whether it is caught I will say 'That's a catch!' Something to that effect. I am looking for pointers on this. I think I need to be consistent on what I do.

With the BU taking both plays at 1st and 3rd and PU watching for pulled foot/ swipe tag, who has OBS/INT between 2nd and 3rd? Is this something that the PU will keep an eye on with peripheral vision? Also, does the PU stay around the plate, maybe move towards F1 a few steps?

Since the new season is now on the horizon, will any of you be changing any mechanics? Specifically, at home plate. Are there any thoughts of going from the point strike mechanic to the hammer? Change in the strike three mechanic? I am a pointer. I have thought about the hammer and just can't bring myself to implement it. I don't think I am comfortable with it, yet. From what I have seen on tv, there are more and more umpires in the professional and NCAA ranks who are using it and I believe it will be the norm in a short time. During the fall I changed my stance behind the plate, with the help of the fine posters here, and changed my strike three mechanic to something a little more compact. Timing is always a key focus point for me. SLOW DOWN is what I tell myself for the first few weeks after a long break. See it, replay it, make the call.

Congratulations on the anniversary! You have a great site and I know you have put a great deal of time and money into it! Best of luck in the years to come.

Welcome to the site and the USA! I am sure will get a few questions about the Academy.

Welcome royalone, This is a great place for umpires of all experience levels. There are some great baseball minds here to learn from.

I am not sure if I qualify for the intelligent part; however, I can give you my theory/opinion. I would say 75% of the guys around here umpire both baseball and softball and if it came down to it they would take a softball game any day of the week. An hour and fifteen minutes later you are walking away with the same amount of money that the guy across the street umpiring the baseball game that is in the top of the second with the home team down 12-8. I have tossed around the idea of softball. I have been to watch a few games at the Softball Hall of Fame in OKC. To be completely honest, I do not like some of the mechanics. I know, terrible excuse. The two I have issues with are strike calls and brushing off bases and the pitchers plate between innings. IMO, there is little room personal style. I am not saying any of this is valid but this is just my opinion. Do I look down on softball? Of course not. I just haven't found the motivation to do it yet.

Man, I miss this show. You can't beat Frank Costanza. I GOT A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE!

I got to see him pitch when I was younger. I was so excited to spend the afternoon at Fulton County Stadium. Well, Maddux threw a one hitter. Braves scored a couple in the 5th and the game seemed to last about 45 mins in my young mind. As a kid I was wanting the theatrics of base hits and home runs, I didn't appreciate at the time how good he was.

That is pretty good. I am sure someone could write a book with all the funny stories that umpires have. Problem is, they might only be funny to us umpires.

I found this post on "As for me...." interesting and have nominated it accordingly for "Post Of The Month December, 2008"

I found this post on "Bouncing back from bad outing" interesting and have nominated it accordingly for "Post Of The Month November, 2008"

Awsome

He did it. I have been waiting all post season for our boy He-who-shall-not-be-named to help us better understand the difficult rules of baseball. In the bottom of the 7th, Charlie Manuel wen to discuss a call that he wants to go his way. Well, Tim says, "Pitchers have to come to a stop for 1 Mississippi..." So, for all of you that might be trying to figure out 'how long' a pitcher must come to a stop for, there you go. Also, Tim may be available this off season for association meetings, he can help facilitate rule book interpretations. No extra charge for the sarcasm.:)

As much as I would like to see Boston shut down Manny Ramirez, TB is going to come out on top.