Aging_Arbiter

C"mon guys.............eponymous

‌@Mad Mike we have a pretty strong JR umpire program that we use as a feeder. HS kids see the fun we have and want to earn a little change on the side. I even have 1 high school age umpire that has already laid out plans to attend a pro school after graduating from college.

Worked a AAABA national tournament in Johnstown, PA and our crew was the only ones with #s (we were the out of town crew for the home teams in the tournament). One catcher asked one of our guys if there was any significance to the numbers on our shirts. My partner replied with "That's how many ejections I've had this year". I couldn't help but laugh when the catcher came up to me and said "Looks like you've been busy this year". My number is 47.

Had a "wise guy" kid at LL sectional game Saturday night ask me what my strike zone was. I then asked him "For you? or the rest of your team?" He shut up.

With the hand or glove holding the ball. Sorry, I had to...........

So again...............no advantage to dugout selection. Agreed?

I can see an advantage of winning a coin flip by choosing home or away. Does dugout selection REALLY matter? I fail to see ANY strategy involved.

They can even throw over a fence back into live ball territory...... with one caveat. If they hit the "dead ball" side of the fence and doesn't make it into play, it is now a ball thrown out of play.

Another case of umpiring BY the book......not WITH the book??

clear

Even if it's just a psychological advantage, I try to wear the pro mesh when I can. When you sweat worse than a w#ore in church to begin with, you take every advantage that you can. I always crease my hats across the top/front part of the cap so the front always stands up solid. Doesn't matter if regular or mesh, hats get rinsed thoroughly after the game.

I too have to get out of my own head at times. It get's lonely when all you hear are voices.

Sincerely, The Department of Redundancy Department

‌@maineump has witnessed it firsthand. She's definitely a handful.

I just realized that I have created a monster. Some may recall the story where I got tired of the questions from SWMBO, and had her sit through a 3 hour-4 day little league rules clinic. Needless to say, she doesn't attend anymore, but I better be ready to spit out the rule changes as soon as they are published. I also mentioned previously, that she is great at giving me all of the ammunition that I would ever need. I can't make this stuff up. Working the plate Tuesday night (60'), 2 out, R3 and shot right between F3 legs. R3 advances to touch the plate and I look up, only to see BR had tangled those things below his ankles and fell, about 2/3 of the way down 1BL. F9 comes up firing and partner bangs him out at 1B. I turn around to the announcer and wave off the run. Now, I here the ball field dads' expressing their displeasure and that the run counts because he touched home before the out was made. yadda yadda yadda Sure as $#!T stinks, I hear SWMBO standing behind the fence in their general vicinity "politely" informing them that if they took a moment to review the LL rulebook under 4.09 (a) "Exception", that they would already understand WHY the run can't be scored. While this is going on.......... I have to look....I tried hard not to, but......I just had to! I turn around just as she finished, rolls her eyes only as SWMBO can do, then turns and walks away. I heard nothing else from those guys.

I think I'm safe in saying that MOST people do get nerves when they reach a new benchmark, be it moving up in a level of play, tournaments, finals, etc. But (being one of those and) in reading many of these posts, many of us don't realize it ahead of time. It's still the same game. I believe that most would agree, your nerves went away after the 1st or 2nd pitch. You saw a couple of fast balls, and your training kicked in. You didn't think about the nerves again until reminiscing after the game about how you felt beforehand. Find a good mentor, find a good partner (when you can) and the game will take care of itself. Congrats to all who had firsts this year!

@‌TheGeneral How many stars and why training? I thought all Generals DIRECTED the training, not attended.

Geek Sheik?

Just to hijack Rich's comment that is completely true.........unless the pitcher removes the glove, he cannot rub the baseball down. As we all know, you can only rub the ball with bare hands. Once this is established, the first time he removes the glove to rub down the ball, it's staying off. I'm not extending my game by 20 minutes so little Johnny can put the batting glove on & take it off each time.

Well, many of you may recall a couple of my SWMBO stories. Needless to say, she gives me all of the ammunition I could ever want for this topic. Since I had an off night last night, I went into town to watch our local LL boys in actions. After each foul ball, the announcer would cue up the microphone......"Please return all foul balls to the nearest dugout". After the first few foul balls, we noticed that they weren't being returned. SWMBO bounces into action as if she had purchased them herself. The next foul ball, she watches (we'll call him Johnny) little Johnny take off for the ball. Now, I'm here to tell you, this kid is pretty fast. Not to mention, this is a night game and he's dressed for the occasion in dark shirt & shorts. He outruns a few other hopefuls and then they all start to disperse. She then notices little Johnny make a trip to the parking lot, and return WITHOUT the baseball. Now, SWMBO doesn't need a lot of deductive reasoning, to know what's going on here. She waits until Little Johnny goes to mom to get money for a soda. Just so happens, she meets little Johnny and mom at the same time. SWMBO then confronts little Johnny in front of his parental unit and asks what he has done with "all of the foul balls" that he chased down, explaining that the league has only purchased a certain number of baseballs for the tournament. Now Mom is curious too. Well, Little Johnny proceeded to remind mom that at the last field they played at, they give .25 cents for every foul ball returned. While one cannot blame him for his entrepreneurial ambition, mom explained that it didn't work this way. Mom, Little Johnny & SWMBO made the trek to the parking lot. Apparently he had been here before (at least 3 pool play games last week). When mom opened the hatchback & Johnny opened his bag, there were 7 or 8 baseballs that he quickly handed over. P.S. I'm thinking that he dressed for the occasion.......

‌@BaltimoreUmpire PM me when you get back and maybe we can meet up. I have a set and would be willing to swap if they fit. I'm in LL district Tourneys in Dillsburg this week, will be in York LL for sectionals next week (if that helps with your drive).

​I thought it was a finger.............

​I just have to point out that if Ax3bl4d3 is your actual screen name, I bet you have one helluva password.................

​This language has no place (let alone directed at an 11/12 y/o player) in Little League. I realize that you as a person have your own opinion and value that. However, If I hear that on a 60' diamond, someone is leaving the game. The coaches set the example for their teams. If you let them set THAT kind of example, the rest of the umpires have to deal with those PLAYERS who modeled their behavior after their LL coach, when they get to High School.

I am. I'd poke him in the eye! I'd probably even follow it up with a "nyuk nyuk nyuk".