mn_ump

I believe Heloise would recommend club soda.

You want a workout? Try reffing hockey. My legs go soft during football season and are back in perfect shape when the HS tournament rolls around in March. A couple weeks off to recouperate, and it's back on the ballfield.

I had a team (not just one batter) complain about the logo on the compression sleeve that pitchers are wearing these days. I had the pitcher turn the sleeve inside out between innings. He ended up throwing a two-hitter. Remember when Roger Clemens was pitching for the Yankees and had a glove with a huge ornamental logo for his 300th win a few years ago? The glove was removed from the game because the logo was distracting the batters. Seems the scoreboard reminding everybody that he was going for #300 wasn't a distraction at all.

Fall ball here in MN is 5 Sundays of solo tripleheaders, ending the first Sunday of October. I put that on top of 9 football games each week. Fortunately, I get Mondays off.

You guys with the 120 - 150 games: what date was your first game this year. My first game was April 14, and I am at 107 for the year, 79 behind the dish.

I should stop looking in the mirror. Thanks.

Use the box, starting with your left foot (for a RH batter) at the center of the catcher's butt, about 12 inches behind him/her. Your right foot will naturally set in a heel/toe position behind the batter. This puts you in a position to view the entire flight of the ball by simply moving your eyes. This is important. Body movement creates a perception change, and you generally do not see the pitch all the way to the mitt. Positioning yourself here also reduces the number of foul balls that find your body. Most of these go straight back, and if you are positioned directly over the catcher, you are going to take a few in the mask every game. I haven't taken one in the mask yet this year, and I have done more than 100 games so far.

I love it when the coaches exaggerate. I was coaching my VFW team on Saturday. No out, R1, stealing second, bunt fielded by 3B. Throw to 1B goes into DBT. PU initially awards R1 home. I requested time, and approached the umpire calmly and informed him that on page 53 of the Fed rulebook, the runner is only entitled to 2 bases from time of pitch. He conferred with BU and agreed with me. OC goes nuts and proclaims that he has coached "100,000 games on this field, and the runner on first has always been awarded home. He was on second at the time of the throw." Let's assume he has coached 5 games a day on that field. That is 20,000 days of perfect weather. Remember, we are in Minnesota. 20,000 days equates to nearly 55 years. That's a long time to be coaching 5 games a day, every day, and never have a road game. F-in' rat.

I put my WV Platinum in the dishwasher. Works very well, but only do this about every two weeks or so. I use a Febreeze-type product that is marketed to hockey players (imagine that here in MN!) and twice a year send my entire set to be steam-cleaned. Costs about $40 for the whole set, shoes included. This is another thing that has been marketed towards hockey players, but with the recent MRSA cases, schools are steam cleaning their football equipment before putting it into storage for the year. As far as polish on the shoes, I still sit in a chair in the parking lot (dressing room) before every game and give my shoes and old-fashioned spit shime with the classic Kiwi black polish. Sure, I get a little grief for it, but it was how I was taught by my father. Old dogs, new tricks. Bad combination.

It's the honor system, but for me, nobody owes me anything. Every day is a new day and we start from there.

I am 40 years old, and have been calling balls and strikes for 26 years. When I started, I carried a pillow protector behind me on my bicycle to the parks in St. Paul. Learned to umpire from the legendary Billy Peterson, whose claim to fame - believe it or not - is not that he taught me to ump. He was the youth baseball coach for both Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor. Tim Tschida told me years ago that he knew he would never make it as a ballplayer and was willing to do whatever it took to make it to the Majors in some capacity. He planted the seed in my head to do this, and I am glad he did. I have two sons, one age 23 was my catcher when he was growing up. The other is 17 and just finished his Junior year in HS. I can't wait until he graduates so I can work a few games at the local school, just two blocks from my home. For now, I won't work any games in which he plays. I work D-III, HS, VFW, Am Legion, Mantle, Babe, Adult amateur and where ever else I can pick up a game. I also coach the local VFW team. I quit playing 5 years ago when they told me I could move to the 35 and over league. Should I have taken that as a slap in the face? Good to see that so many out there are willing to spend time on this and other sites to improve and help others do the same. Larry - any relation to the St Paul sportswriter and New Jersey native Bob Sansevere? You can read him at www.twincities.com and hear him on a morning radio show at www.92kqrs.com. He also has some rants on that website.

He was even calm and laid back when George Brett charged out of the dugout in the "pine tar" game. Brett was acting like he wanted to kill him.

Around here (Minnesota), we call games when we can't find the ball in the snow. Another @#$%^ foot yesterday. Is spring coming soon?