Micky

@Aging_ArbiterThanks for the advice. I would like to do the exercises as much as I can at home, it will be fun to walk around in circles backwards in my living room 🙂 Or when I go for baseball practise, I can do a long warm-up with backwards walking. I googled it and there is quite a lot of sides that support this exercise. I will give it a try. @velho Good advise as well. I am no spring chicken anymore, but I often forget and go full throttle into it. Still play baseball as well in a team with some less than half my age. Sometimes I still behave like them and pay the price the next day. @the man in blue I would love to move to Hawaii, but unfortunately that is not so easy for a Dutchman. But we have moderate winters in Holland. So not too bad. Funny enough, when I got that initial kneepain, I put a pillow between my knees and that helpen. Even though I have no discomfort at the moment, I still sleep with that pillow everynight. I like it. Mind you, it is not as nice as yours 🙂

Thank you Velho and SeeingEyeDog for your advice. I will go to a PT and see what he has to say. Indeed, not all PT's are right for everybody. Having had quite a few arm and shoulder injuries and visited many PT's I noticed some worked for me and some didn't. But knee is a differnent animal, so will have to look for an expert in knees. Time to strenghten those muscles. 🙂

Yes, good advice about the catcher.

Thank you both. Much appreciated. And very helpful.

I have a question regarding quick pitch. OBR rules. I have seen the rule: Rule 6.02(a)(5) Comment: A quick pitch is an illegal pitch. Umpires will judge a quick pitch as one delivered before the batter is reasonably set in the batter’s box. With runners on base the penalty is a balk; with no runners on base, it is a ball. The quick pitch is dangerous and should not be permitted. I have read quite a few postings on this forum and searched online, but I cannot find the answer to a few questions. This is related to a game last Friday where I was U1. F1 had a very high tempo. It was obviously done to give the batter little time to prepare. To me it felt like unfair play. And the batters clearly had a hard time with it and the DHC came over and asked about quickpitch. However, the batters were always looking at the pitcher, because he was throwing at high velocity (former MLB pitcher), so they were a bit intimidated. But to say that they had time to be mentally ready, I don't think so. So the question is "reasonably". I think it is reasonable to give a batter a little more time. Hard to judge obviously if you weren't there. Can an umpire call time, if he thinks it is too fast, even when the batter has both feed in position and is looking at the pitcher? And more specific: 1. Should F1 wait with the beginning of his windup or getting set, until the moment the batter is ready, or is it about the moment the ball is released from the hand. So if F1 starts his motion or getting set before batter is good and well ready, should this be considered a quick pitch. In the rules it says "delivered", so that could imply that you could start your windup before the batter is ready, as long as you don't throw before he is ready. Nitpicking, I know, but I was looking for a way to slow this guy down. 2. After time/foulball. Should F1 wait with the start of his windup or getting set until PU has called "play" and if he doesn't, could that be considered a quick pitch? 3. Can only the PU call time or a quickpitch, or can the U1 do that as well? For example, when the pitcher already started his motion, before "play" was called, I was inclined to yell "time" (even though technically we were still in time), but wasn't sure if it was my place. 4. Rule 6.02(c)9 states that you can eject a player if F1 throws intentionally to a batter. But how about with a quick pitch. Can you eject F1 if he doesn't stop doing it? These are adult teams. TIA for your time.

Hi all, I have never really had any issues with my knees. But after a game a little while ago, I could feel my knees being a bit irritated. And since than it comes and goes. It is still very managable. But I want to prevent it from getting worse. I have looked through this forum, but can't find preventive measures. Mainly dealing with knee injury when it occurs, what pain killers to take, what brace to buy. But no exercises to strenghten the muscles used as an umpire. Does anybody have a program for this or simply a few exercises that help? TIA

I had a discussion with a guest umpire from the US (I live in the Netherlands, we follow OBR). He said, unless F1 steps of the pitcher plate, you have to throw to 2B on a pick off attempt. I was under the impression that you never have to throw to 2B on a pick off attempt. You only have to step towards 2B on an inside move (feint a throw, and this qualifies as feint), but you don’t have to disengage. If you turn inside and keep your foot on the pitcher plate it is a balk he said. So now I am confused. Are there situations where you have to throw to 2B on a pick off attempt? The only thing I can find in the rules is that you don’t have to throw to 2B. I have also looked at several posts here. I can find no scenarios where F1 has any movement towards 2B and a balk is called (except when he drops the ball). So my conclusion it that what he told me was incorrect. But since he seemed to know his stuff on many other things, I just want to double check. Also, there is the “jump and turn” move, similar to the pick off move to 1B. You don't have to throw then either as far as I know. But what qualifies as feinting there? Or is the jump and turn enough to feint a throw? Or do you have to make a throwing motion? TIA

Thank you all for your replies. It is so helpfull. I really appreciate it. I also appreciate all the abbreviations. I will try and memorise them. 🙂

Thank you dumbdumb and Man in Blue, much appreciated! Good advice to first make the call with what you have and if there is a request for a conference and you think it is valid, do it then. Following up on that subject. I had another game where I was in B or C (can't remember) and there was a play at first after a hit ball. I thought the first baseman came of the bag, but wasn't sure because of the angle. I saw that the PU had walked up the line and had a better angle. So instead of calling it, I pointed to the PU and he called him out. Is that the proper way to do this, or should I have made the call there and talk to the PU ONLY IF there was protest from the defense?

Thanks. Good to know. R1, R2 and a fly ball I didn't know.

Hi there, I am fairly new at being an umpire. Still lots of questions. 🙂 So the other day I had a game. Low sun, I could not see much looking from C to 3B. R2 and R3. After a pitch the catcher throws the ball to 3B while the runner runs back to his base. Hard to see in the sun. The 3B man makes a tag attempt behind him, so I couldn't see if he was actually tagged. Runner was still not on the base, so I called him out. One of the coaches walked up to me and said he wasn't tagged. I just told him I couldn't see very well due to the sun and that the runner was behind the 3B man. He didn't ask me to confer with PU and accepted that the sun made it hard to make the call. So we continued. Later another coach told me that this should have been the call for the PU. In retrospect, perhaps I should have called time before the call and confer with the PU, to see if he had a good view. So my question: would this normall be the call of the PU or the field umpire? I have heard different things from different people. I believe most calls on 3B are for the field umpire. What are the exceptions? With a runner on first and a hit in the outfield most of the time the PU takes 3B I believe. Any other exceptions? Thank you for your time. Michiel

Thank you for the definition of a play. The 2B man tags the runner. So that is the play. But it is not at the same time as the obstruction, so the rule I quoted doesn't count. Got it. It is probably that English is not my native tongue. An obstructed runner could for me also be in the past (who was the obstructed runner? John was the obstructed runner). So I didn't think it had to be at the same time.

I see, so the obstruction has to happen at the same time as the play (more or less probably). And in this case there is a play made on the obstructed runner, but not at the same time as the obstruction. I didn't get that out of the formulation. Thank you for clarifying!

Hi SH0102, thank you for your answer. I am confused, because I have copied the quote about the automatic base award from the MLB rules 2024. Downloaded from the MLB website. https://www.mlb.com/official-information So these are not the MLB pro rules?

Hello, I am new to this forum. I am starting to learn the ropes as an umpire. I live in the Netherlands. We follow the MLB rules unless otherwise stated in our rules. For this question, it is the MLB rules. https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/obstruction4.mp4 In the above video at the very end, it is stated that the runner is out. I don't understand. Even if you think the runner would not have made it to 2B, there is the one base minimum rule after the last legally touched base before the obstruction happens. 6.01.h.1 If a play is being made on the obstructed runner, or if the batter-runner is obstructed before he touches first base, the ball is dead and all runners shall advance, without liability to be put out, to the bases they would have reached, in the umpire’s judgment, if there had been no obstruction. The obstructed runner shall be awarded at least one base beyond the base he had last legally touched before the obstruction. Can somebody please explain why the runner is out in this scenario? Thank you