Funny Instructor

[mstaylor]

I was at a clinic the other night and the instructor told a story of his younger days of instructing.

Instructor: I have twenty dollars for anybody that tell how many strikes in an out.

Local knows all the rules: Three!

Instructor: You sure? I have forty that says you are wrong.

Local: Ummmm

Instructor: Sixties says you are wrong! Do you want to cover it?

Local: Ummmmm, no, I thought I was right but it must be a trick question.

Instructor: As he picks up the money, No, not a trick question, you are correct. However, the secret to success is to know the rules and be confident. I just intimidated you on a very simple question, that should never happen.

After the meeting I was talking to a group of my umpires about that exchange. I asked them how many outs in an inning. One guy pops up with possibly four, and explains an advantageous fourth out. I explained it replaced the original third out so no. The answer is six, three is a half inning. Everybody gets it wrong.

[johnnyg08]

You're right...many will quickly answer three.

[mstaylor]

I was teaching a clinic this afternoon, with about half new guys, and I was talking about game management. I related a story about my first year in HS ball, my assignor had a lot of confidence in me and put me on a couple of varsity games. I got nicked on the toe when I tried to avoid a hard grounder. I killed the ball, put R2 back on second and awarded BR first, acted like I had done it 100 times. Coach wanted to argue, I explained what the call was and why I placed runners like I did. He asked my PU for help. He asked what I had, I told him and he told the manager I was exactly correct. It re-enforced the fact that you can't be intimidated if you know the rules.