LL mechanics..

[kylejt]

Let's make this clear. This is not the best of the best. First, you've got international umpires, and sometimes those folks are sketchy at best. Different regions send umpires of varying experience, and skills.

WR umpires are usually pretty good. They are usually instructors at their one week, and have been screened for years. You'll usually see a WR guy on the dish somewhere in the final weekend, depending on who's playing.

Some areas just don't have the numbers, or the training. But they do try to rotated around who umpires these games. It's really tough fo come through via Southern California, as opposed to North Dakota.

There are district guys in SoCal that are quite good. Many of these guys work HS, JC, adult wood bat, etc.

[RichMSN]

Let's make this clear. This is not the best of the best. First, you've got international umpires, and sometimes those folks are sketchy at best. Different regions send umpires of varying experience, and skills.

WR umpires are usually pretty good. They are usually instructors at their one week, and have been screened for years. You'll usually see a WR guy on the dish somewhere in the final weekend, depending on who's playing.

Some areas just don't have the numbers, or the training. But they do try to rotated around who umpires these games. It's really tough fo come through via Southern California, as opposed to North Dakota.

There are district guys in SoCal that are quite good. Many of these guys work HS, JC, adult wood bat, etc.

Or Wisconsin. Easier to come through from Wisconsin. I'm proof of that -- this is the first year I *applied* for the regional. When I arrived at the regional complex, it was my first trip there ever. That's OK with me.

[Haid D' Salaami]

Maybe rich can answer..

But is it a LL thing were all 6 umpires carry an indicator? .. I mean does the LF umpire really need to carry one?

[kylejt]

It's not a Little League thing, it's a dork thing.

[RichMSN]

It's left to the umpires. I didn't carry one on the bases the entire week I worked the regional. I was one of the few, if not the only.

[gatoremt]

I never carry one on the bases in LL games. I think a lot of it is, a lot of LL baseball umpires do softball too.

Sent from my GNex while laying in bed

[Umpy]

This is why LL umps get ragged so much. The guys at WP are touted to be best of the best, cream of the crop, hand picked. Some people forget to include "of those available." I'm sure there are plenty of great ones unable to go because of work. So the whole of the org is judged by these 16. I assume attend clinic before pool play starts, but 1 clinic won't break 42 years of bad habits. We see bad timing, poor mechanics, poor positioning, etc. and it is transfered via conveyance to the rest of you. 42 year man, clinically trained, hand chosen sure sounds great on the old rezoomie, until you add those crushing words "of those available."

Same with every other organization, only LL is so commercialized

Why would you assume they attend a clinic?

I have to say, I'm a convert -- there's no reason for rotations on a 60' diamond with 6 umpires. If you haven't worked a 60' field, keep in mind that U2 could take 3-4 quick steps and rule on anything. If you can't rule on a catch/no-catch and then turn and make a call at second (from the outside, naturally), there's something wrong. You can fit three 60' fields into one 90' field and have room left over.

I was working 3B on 3-Man last year on 60' and our assignor criticized me for not going out on a fly ball to left field. I looked at him and said "Man, I started out, there was nowhere else to go"

[kylejt]

Going out, on the 60' field, simply means turning your back to the infield. Once that happens, the rest of the crew has to react to it, and rotate. Good crews do that. Ones that are thrown together, sometimes don't.

I've known several guys that have worked these TV games, and I set up 6 man games at my park to prepare them (I've got a lot of spare umpires). We'd rotate every inning, so they could see every positions, to make sure they knew what to do. It seems easy, but sometimes not making a call is harder than making one. It's good to practice it a few times before taking it to High Definition, in front of millions.

[kylejt]

As far as indicators go, if I'm the PU, I wouldn't mind if ONE base ump carried one. I could tap mine, if I wasn't sure of the count, and he could flash it to me. It would be the same guy, usually U2, that I make other signals to (IFF, I'm staying home, etc.). He can relay those to the rest of the fellows. The PU, IMO, shouldn't be signalling the whole crew. The crew should be watching him, anyways.

[mstaylor]

The calling strikes down and showing up is a softball mechanic. Many LL umps work both, unfortunately many instructors also work both and teach softball to baseball guys. I am a firm believer that you should use baseball mechanics on baseball games, softball mechanics on softball games. If you can't, don't work both. Actually LL has a powerpoint for baseball mechanics that is pretty good and about eight years old.