GR_ump

Several great responses here. Not to be rude but I need folks to site their resources. There are several association "rule" guys out there that all have great opinions however I need to see something concrete to move forward with. So far MLB just seems to be full of great news articles. Anyone have a contact within PBUC? I'd love to hear what the schools have from them.

So MLB has decided to speed up the game and get rid of the third to first move. Rules have yet to be published however so now we have all of the different associations handling it differently. Pony says follow OBR, USSSA is treating third as first and allowing no fakes to third. Fed will undoubtedly react next year. The question that I have is, if the pitcher steps to third and doesn't throw, at what point can he make a play on R1? What a mess. If anyone has seen the OBR language please post. Season has started in the Pacific Northwest and we need the rule.

Our association has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 5-10 years. We started some 30+ years ago with a handful of softball players that wanted to have decent umpires. With a good professional ethic and a core of hard working folks that hustle we have grown to over 100 umpires that worked over 10,000 assignments last year for softball, fast pitch and baseball. Our board is rightly concerned that we need to shore up this growth with a good foundation. We don't have bylaws or an operating manual. With this background information I am posting to ask for help. I don't feel the need to reinvent the wheel. I am sure that there are good operating guidelines and/or bylaws out there. Please send me any help that you can along with items you wish were or weren't in your associations rule book. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

Thanks Mike, it is now clear in my mind. Just in time for the post season ;-)

So for the follow up question, does a jab step qualify as "disengaging" the rubber. Basically after the jab does the pitcher have to throw if he steps toward first, if he does throw was he a fielder for the purposes of awards should the ball go out of play?

Situation: Our Board of Directors is working on overhauling our umpire contracts a little in regards to turn backs and declines so that our assignor doesn't go crazy. Background: Right now we pay our assignor $1.50 per assignment and don't penalize anyone if they decline an assignment or if they turnback an assignment that they had accepted. We are using Arbiter with a 72 hour window for members to respond once a game is offered. With that said please let me know what you all currently do, have tried at and failed, or wish you did. Thanks, Greg

Thanks Mike, and I assume then the "spin move" is basically used to describe the fake to third and spin around to 1st. Greg

Mike, When you say jab or spin move are you refering to the move when a RH pitcher in the set takes a short step forward and in front of the rubber with his pivot foot and then steps (with his free foot) and throws to first base? This was a move that Jim Evans explained to us at a clinic this year as being allowed in MLB as legal however I did not hear him give it a name. It sure was a new one to me...unfortunately I had balked it in years before.

Hello everyone. Sorry for the id name but with the initials G. R. I couldn't resist. I work in the Olympia Washington area for the USSSA affiliate and this will be my 5th season working 10U through Babe Ruth and Colt/Palomino. Our association doesn't do the local High School ball or the American Legion Summer stuff. I got into umpiring as something to do after coaching my son over the years. I couldn't walk away from the game and coaching when your kid isn't involved is hard to justify to the family. Feeling I still had something to give to the game a co-worker (NCAA Div 2 ump) talked me into giving it a go. Last year I went to Mark Beller's 3 day school in Reno and Salem's clinic, learned what I didn't know. This year I went to Jim Evans in Portland and started learning what I should know. I'm really looking forward to this season with a goal of 100 games. A couple of us are thinking about the Desert Classic next year, maybe we could get a Northwest Group together. I'm very interested in developing a network of umpires that enjoy training so that we can support one anothers associations with their annual camps or clinics. It seems that the cost of clinics stops a lot of amatuer umpires from attending and consequently getting stuck where they are at. Mark Beller gives a challenge at his clinic that you take what you have learned and share that information. I have been fortunate to attend several clinics in the past two years and I have put on two for our association. The tough part is always finding officials that want to teach. Enough rambling, I look forward to reading the forums and learning more.