Caribbean World Series Umpires

[Stan W.]

I am not a stranger to International Baseball, so any slight shock I may have had with advertisments on player uniforms is long since passed......yet, last night while watching the Domincan Rebublic play Venezuela I was stunned to see such LARGE ads on the UMPIRE uniforms....

Im not talking about ads on the sleeves.....we are talking full chest and full back ads...... (think superman chest logo size) seems to me that over the years, I've seen the ads grow larger and larger....It does not seem to matter to the fans and players, and the announcers made it clear that there would be no caribe world series without the sponsors.....yet the ads on the umpires bother me...

Seems to me that the umpires need to be opted out of the shilling for Corona....just my .02

[mazzamouth]

Stan at 1st i was thinking the same thing... holy cow look at the logo on the chest. But I thought that down there they don't have as much money as we do here, So they need the advertisements to make the series work. Was it ugly, hell yes but I guess it does not bother the players and that's is why they are there...So play ball..LOL did you see the batter's Interference call in the 2nd game?... good call you just don't see it very often.

[Umpire in Chief]

I too have noticed them getting larger on the umpires. I see a day when MLB/MiLB players will have ads, but I doubt we will ever see umpires with ads.

But then again look at your local PONY organization, Stan's tires, Erma's Cafe, Animal World, the seeds have been planted.

[Stan W.]

I did see the "weak interference" call as well.....as to the ads, I can't just imagine a coach giving me the proper respect when my jersey has a honkin big "Dunkin Donuts" logo on the front and "Dominos Pizza" on the back......

then again....I do like donuts and pizza....

and I might resemble a donut.......

Edited February 3, 2009 by Stan W.
comedic value....

[mazzamouth]

I did see the "weak interference" call as well.....a

I actually thought it was a good call... that catcher was trying to retire the runner and on the batters back swing his bat hit the catchers mitt. To me it was a easy call.

[Stan W.]

I actually thought it was a good call... that catcher was trying to retire the runner and on the batters back swing his bat hit the catchers mitt. To me it was a easy call.

Agreed it was a good call..........Im sure you realize my use of the term "weak interference" is just the term I was taught to describe the type of interference going back to when I was trained and not Umpires call itself....Not sure if everyone calls it that today since the term itself does not appear in the rule book....

Got this off a email sent to me years ago....

Several situations arise in baseball that are considered, by logical extension of the rules, not to be severe enough to warrant an interference call, but nevertheless require enforcement to maintain fair play. These are known to umpires as weak interference, though this term itself does not appear in the rules. These well-defined incidents are not severe enough to be considered offensive interference. When weak interference occurs, the ball is usually called dead, but no further penalty is assessed against a baserunner or batter.

[Umpire in Chief]

Going back to the umpires uniforms and the ads. I noticed last night in the Puerto Rico v Dominion Republic game the umpires were wearing shirts with different ads on it. It appeared PU and U2 were wearing the "superman" logo shirt, and the U1 & U3 were wearing something different with maybe a Pepsi logo?

While I was watching the game my wife asked me "Is everybody on that team named Orange?" as the DR team had an ad for "Orange" on their back where the name would normally be.

[Stan W.]

agreed..watching the game tonight, it seems to me that they have toned down the umpire garb a bit

[mstaylor]

I'm not happy. When I got my HD cable my local Comcast doesn't have the MLB channel. :WTF

[Umpire in Chief]

agreed..watching the game tonight, it seems to me that they have toned down the umpire garb a bit

I wonder if it is because the Mexican team is wearing the "superman" ad the umps were wearing earlier. Could that be a conflict of interest if the umps and a team had the same advertisers or sponsors??? :smachhead:

[BrianC14]

I wonder if it is because the Mexican team is wearing the "superman" ad the umps were wearing earlier. Could that be a conflict of interest if the umps and a team had the same advertisers or sponsors???

And therein lies the problem with plastering adverts on the umpires. :smachhead:

[Umpire in Chief]

I also noticed last night when the power went out in a few of the light banks and they showed all 6 umpires together it appeared the 4 infield umpires were all wearing black and the 2 outfield line umps were wearing navy???

I know these guys aren't choosing their own uniforms, but that seemed bizarre.

[mazzamouth]

I wonder if it is because the Mexican team is wearing the "superman" ad the umps were wearing earlier. Could that be a conflict of interest if the umps and a team had the same advertisers or sponsors???

what about the umps wearing a long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve, looks tacky, but who am I to judge...LOL I was watching the game right now is MEXvsPR and I happen to think the HP is not very strong. He had a very big zone and I just thought that maybe cause it was a pretty big series that these guys were the cream of the crop. But like i said I should not judge.

[BT_Blue]

does anyone have a video of the interference? I dont get MLB TV nor ESPN Deportes.

[widac]

I don't have video, sorry but it was a good example of what I have since learned to call "Backswing" interference".

R1 takes off to steal 2b

B1 swings and misses

F2 catches pitch and his glove with the ball in it is hit by the bat on the backswing

F2 does not make the throw as the PU immediatly kills it, sends the runner back, and leaves the batter to finish his AB

If it was ruled BI the batter would have been called out, but as a "weak" or "backswing" int he remains at bat.