Speaking of the Gerry Davis Stance...

[Umpete]

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15621687&topic_id=9780550&c_id=mlb

This is why I am reluctant to use the GD stance. I like the way you get locked in, but I prefer to present a smaller target.

[JaxRolo]

That had to hurt!!! :eek:

[sdix00]

Nice!

[Fittske24]

I used to use the GD stance before I took a similar shot on my right hand during the first inning of a college game several years ago. Pitcher was clocked @ 91. When the ball hit my hand I knew it had to be broken (thankfully it wasn't). After the hit I attempted to shake it off, (similar to how GD does in the video) but I immediately felt sick to my stomach. For the next half inning I was nauseous. The top of my hand swelled and looked like a mickey mouse glove . Between every inning the trainers brought me an ice pack to help keep the swelling down. I still use the GD stance, but only for 10u baseball and below. Everything else I use a traditional heel toe stance.

[mazzamouth]

I dont think the stance made a difference...that is just luck of the draw....

But I will tell you he should have been more in the slot, and that ball would have missed him.

[gatoremt]

I use that stance but I am in the slot. If he would have be over to the left a few inches he would not have been hit.

[Umpire in Chief]

Thats part of umpiring when you're going to get hit you're going to be hit, stance is irrelevant.

[gatoremt]

You are correct UIC

[Majordave]

Speaking of ouch. I got back in the saddle this past weekend working in Omaha at a Legion Tourney. 10 games in three days in 95 degree heat....... trial by fire? I had two partners suffer broken bones this weekend. My first, on Friday, had a pitch go straight to his right forearm, untouched by the catcher or the batter, while using the scissors and he suffered some significant swelling similar to the picture above and ultimately was diagnosed with a hairline fracture but had to be splinted.

The second injury was on Sunday to my last partner of the weekend, while using the heel toe in the slot and a ball bounced up and broke the middle bone below the knuckle in the back of the hand.

Not sure if I am bad luck or not. Another partner caught several foul balls in the mask and chest. I never got touched all weekend. Five plate jobs and no foul balls or anything.

I guess my day is coming. Hope not. The GD stance been berry, berry good to me, so far.

[jkumpire]

Major,

Did they have an IV station for your between innings?

On the main subject,,,,

We all take hits at one time or another, it's a fact of life as a plate umpire. I've had a matching set of bruises for weeks where balls would get by F2's and hit me in the stomach area just below my CP. Last year I had a set of matching bruises on each thigh where I took shots during games. If we do the job right, we are going to get dinged, and we ought to be glad God in His Grace doesn't let it be worse.

[catsbackr]

I agree with you all. I use the GD stance, too.

It's just the nature of the beast, getting hit occassionally. This year I have been taking mostly hard mask shots and only a few to the arm/hand area. The worst one was 2 weeks ago, foul ball caught the lower left corner of my mask ear guard, spun the mask off and the inside of right ear guard cut my left ear! Weird huh?

But, as JK said, the stomach shots are the worst to me.

I guess when it's your time to get hit, you get hit!

[wek29]

Maybe we should start wearing the forearm armor some of the batters wear?

[Fittske24]

Major league did a study on foul balls and the probability of the umpire getting hit by the ball. They defined certain areas as "hot" zones. MLB defines the zones as Green Zone, Yellow Zone and Red zone (or Danger Zone). This is another reason why working the slot is important. In the graphic below, there is a greater possibility to get hit by a foul ball the more you move out of the slot. If you are an umpire that likes to set up point of the plate, you stand a greater chance of receiving a blow by a foul ball. Same goes for the umpire that moves with the catcher. the more the catcher moves toward the outside corner the greater chance the umpire has to get hit. The issue with the GD stance is that it has a wide base. Gerry is a big guy....looking at the video, when he goes wide, and the fact the catcher is set up on the inside part of the plate, part of his body enters that Yellow to Danger zone.

[kylejt]

That's why you don't put weight on your hands. It locks the arms, and puts pressure on that connection. The arm couldn't move backwards on the blow, and took all the energy.

Fellas, it's a bad stance for preventing injuries like this, which are quite common. Plus his arm was on the other side of the catcher. You'd think he would know better after all these years.

Your hands should be behind your thighs, with your elbows pointed toward the backstop. That leaves your bones less exposed, and your arms able to move backwards on the blow. Gerry wouldn't have that goose egg over the bone if he had his hands rotated properly.

I notice Jerry isn't wearing one of his Davishields out there.

[yawetag]

Notice how nicely the announcers spoke of the umpires? Wait until the next call goes against their team.

[Fittske24]

I notice Jerry isn't wearing one of his Davishields out there.

Almost certain it is a unbranded Riddell Power...

[grayhawk]

That's why you don't put weight on your hands. It locks the arms, and puts pressure on that connection. The arm couldn't move backwards on the blow, and took all the energy.

Fellas, it's a bad stance for preventing injuries like this, which are quite common. Plus his arm was on the other side of the catcher. You'd think he would know better after all these years.

Your hands should be behind your thighs, with your elbows pointed toward the backstop. That leaves your bones less exposed, and your arms able to move backwards on the blow. Gerry wouldn't have that goose egg over the bone if he had his hands rotated properly.

I notice Jerry isn't wearing one of his Davishields out there.

I agree and I work the slot and put both arms behind my thighs with my elbows toward the backstop. That said, I got nailed in the right forearm on an inside pitch to a LH batter. F2, who was setup outside, just whiffed it (I never even saw a glove). It hurt, but I think not having my hand/arm braced against my leg minimized a potential injury since my arm was able to "give".

[Dragon29]

Notice how nicely the announcers spoke of the umpires? Wait until the next call goes against their team.

Being a Giants fan, I was actually watching this game when it happened. The announcers out here in SF are actually pretty nice to the umpires, even when they think one of them blew a call. (Of course, more often than not, the announcers are the ones that are wrong, but . . . ) They (OK, mostly Mike Krukow) really do understand you're not going to agree w/the umpire's calls all of the time and that the umpires are usually right, so they're pretty calm about it when one of them does kick a call. The only thing that really bugs me about them when they discuss umpiring is that they really do still believe in the make-up call, and are certain it happens on a regular basis, thus perpetrating another myth for the unwashed masses.

The most interesting part of this to me is that, on the next game, the usual rotation of the PU to 3B didn't happen. Gerry Davis was on 2nd Base the next game. Can anyone think of a reason why an umpire who was hit on the arm one night wouldn't want to work 3rd the next? I can't.

[dumbdumb]

The most interesting part of this to me is that, on the next game, the usual rotation of the PU to 3B didn't happen. Gerry Davis was on 2nd Base the next game. Can anyone think of a reason why an umpire who was hit on the arm one night wouldn't want to work 3rd the next? I can't.

Davis left the game and Tichenor came in to start the bottom of the 5th and finish the plate job for him. Therefor the next night Davis picked up at 2nd and Tichenor was at 3rd. Kind of like a double rotation since Davis and Tichenor each did 1/2 of the previous game.

[jkumpire]

To those of you who work the Davis stance behind the plate...

I was at an event in my state, run by the state association. They combined the BB and SB meetings, and the guy who coordinates SB led the discussion. Part of the presentation he did was from the ASA national clinics he participates in. For those of you who are not familiar with FED/ASA SB mechanics, they are as rigid as a steel beam.

Well, to illustrate how great the normal heel/toe stance is as opposed to any alternative, out pops some PP slides of the "Gerry Davis" Stance. In slide 1 the umpire was 4-6 feet behind F2. On some SB fields he'd be in the first row of seats behind the backstop. Slide #2, done by a camera on top of the PU's hat, has a picture of where the umpire's head is, and it is looking straight over F2's HSM, a female F2 BTW. "In the Davis stance this is how much you see of the plate", and you see the back of her uniform. Slide #3 was the view "if he gets closer", all you see is the 'NOXY' certification on the back of the HSM and a small piece of the inside corner. Slide #4 is "what you see in the Davis stance when in the "slot" and you see only a little corner of the plate. :hopmad:

I almost died trying to stop laughing! The ASA man, a very nice guy BTW, had these shots of how to work the Gerry Davis and it was comical. His last slide was a guy using the knee, and he got a few shots in on the scissors, etc. Look, I use the box, or heel /toe or whatever you want to call it. the was ASA tells umpires to set up, foot in slot even with F2's heel on the side of the slot is too close for any umpire over say 5'8", but to each their own. "You have to make sure the PU is not too far back or too close when working the slot", and I rolled my eyes. this is the same setup Jim Evans calls it the same as the stance using the raft.

It makes want to go get my SB card so I can do a plate job with every illegal stance I could thing of, and call every strike with any motion but the hammer. It is amazing to see how dogmatic people get, and sad in some way. And that doesn;t even include the discussion about the PU covering 3B on a triple with nobody on.... :Horse:

Do you GD guys really set up behind F2's head on every pitch?????????? :question1:

[gatoremt]

I dont I set up in the slot and use the GD hands on my knees.

[catsbackr]

That's why you don't put weight on your hands. It locks the arms, and puts pressure on that connection. The arm couldn't move backwards on the blow, and took all the energy.

Fellas, it's a bad stance for preventing injuries like this, which are quite common. Plus his arm was on the other side of the catcher. You'd think he would know better after all these years.

Your hands should be behind your thighs, with your elbows pointed toward the backstop. That leaves your bones less exposed, and your arms able to move backwards on the blow. Gerry wouldn't have that goose egg over the bone if he had his hands rotated properly.

I notice Jerry isn't wearing one of his Davishields out there.

I disagree with the highlighted.

How do you lock in? How do you retain a consistent head height without locking in?

Face it, your arms, hands and thighs all get hit every once in a while. What's the big deal? If you're that worried about getting hit, try soccer or something.

[mstaylor]

Face it, your arms, hands and thighs all get hit every once in a while. What's the big deal? If you're that worried about getting hit, try soccer or something

Actually I have taken several soccer balls in the face. I would rather get hit on the arm with a baseball than in the face pointblank with glasses.

[mazzamouth]

I dont I set up in the slot and use the GD hands on my knees.

If your not is the slot, you are not int he right position to see pitches... where are you set up at?

[mtnump]

That's why you don't put weight on your hands. It locks the arms, and puts pressure on that connection. The arm couldn't move backwards on the blow, and took all the energy.

Fellas, it's a bad stance for preventing injuries like this, which are quite common. Plus his arm was on the other side of the catcher. You'd think he would know better after all these years.

Your hands should be behind your thighs, with your elbows pointed toward the backstop. That leaves your bones less exposed, and your arms able to move backwards on the blow. Gerry wouldn't have that goose egg over the bone if he had his hands rotated properly.

I notice Jerry isn't wearing one of his Davishields out there.

I disagree with the highlighted.

How do you lock in? How do you retain a consistent head height without locking in?

Face it, your arms, hands and thighs all get hit every once in a while. What's the big deal? If you're that worried about getting hit, try soccer or something.

I use this stance as described by kyle and find it quite effective. I do however find it funny that someone would say that Gerry Davis isn't doing the Gerry Davis correctly!!! :HS