Keep officiating

[maven]

This play is from a pro game, but it's a mechanic and — more important — an officiating approach we can all learn from.

The Pirates make a nice play at HP to retire R2 trying to score. The out call is easy.

But watch Kerwin Danley after he rules on the play: he has eyes on the runner, who was tagged "hard" in the gut, he sees the runner take a step toward F2 (it's to touch the plate, but you never know), and Danley inserts himself between the players to prevent anything untoward.

Great game awareness, great game management. We need to make our calls but keep officiating.

[JHSump]

Very cool!

[noumpere]

I didn't watch the video, but based on the description this is a good example of what is meant by " a good umpire is one you don't notice."

 

He stopped a little potential problem (no one noticed him) before it became a big problem (and someone would have noticed him).

[maven]

I didn't watch the video, but based on the description this is a good example of what is meant by " a good umpire is one you don't notice."

 

He stopped a little potential problem (no one noticed him) before it became a big problem (and someone would have noticed him).

There's a grain of truth there, which you have captured. But too many officials use this slogan as an excuse for inaction and over-reliance on the "expected call," which can lead to lazy officiating or worse.

The grain of truth is better captured by promoting preventive officiating as a game management philosophy. Keeping focused on the players after a play is key: too often we get hung up on "stylin'" and banging the out or selling the safe, instead of noticing trouble brewing. Hence: "keep officiating."

Danley has it just right in the video: the out call is easy, and the tricky part is getting himself in position for prevention. Not a mechanic that is easily taught, or learned.

[MadMax]

Aw yeah, let's see a robot / "auto-ump" do that, Byrnes!!

[johnnyg08]

 " a good umpire is one you don't notice."

 

 

If used in this context, I would tend to agree...BUT too often we call an obvious balk, obvious batter interference, or something along those lines and all we hear are "quit making it about you, quit inserting yourself into the game, they didn't come here to watch you" BS, then tie it up w/ "the best ones are the ones you don't notice" that's when I disagree w/ that saying.

[noumpere]

I agree with Maven and Johnny, and that's my point.

[Tksjewelry]

That was great game management by use of a mechanic. 

[Thawk]

This play is from a pro game, but it's a mechanic and — more important — an officiating approach we can all learn from.

The Pirates make a nice play at HP to retire R2 trying to score. The out call is easy.

But watch Kerwin Danley after he rules on the play: he has eyes on the runner, who was tagged "hard" in the gut, he sees the runner take a step toward F2 (it's to touch the plate, but you never know), and Danley inserts himself between the players to prevent anything untoward.

Great game awareness, great game management. We need to make our calls but keep officiating.

And after watching what happened during the game on Sunday, makes Kerwin's intervention all more understandable

[Jimurray]

Sidebar: Looks like U3 (West ?) likes to straddle the 3B foul line in "D".

[MadMax]

Sidebar: Looks like U3 (West ?) likes to straddle the 3B foul line in "D".

He's "Cowboy Joe" West, after all... He's known for straddling alot of things!

[umpire_scott]

As a Cardinal fan you should always approach Brandon Phillips that way.  Just ask Yadier Molina.

[JaxRolo]

Good job by PU.

On the comment that good umpires don't get noticed, I would disagree.

[HuskerUmp22]

Wow! Boom! Thanks, Maven. 

[Platejob29]

I didn't watch the video, but based on the description this is a good example of what is meant by " a good umpire is one you don't notice."

 

He stopped a little potential problem (no one noticed him) before it became a big problem (and someone would have noticed him).

I can think of one umpire who would most certainly disagree with the statement that "a good umpire is the one you don't notice." Bruce Froemming, one of the greatest to ever take the field, was quoted saying "One of the really wrong theories about officiating is that a good official is the one you never notice. The umpire who made this statement was probably a poor official who tried to get his paycheck and hide behind his partners and stay out of trouble his whole life. Control of the ball game is the difference between umpires who show up for the players and the managers." If anything in the situation in the video above Kerwin was actually inserting him self into the play to keep further action from happening. Sure not many people noticed it but the only thing you hear said more in the umpiring world than an umpire not being noticed is not to insert yourself into the game.

[maven]

I can think of one umpire who would most certainly disagree with the statement that "a good umpire is the one you don't notice." Bruce Froemming, one of the greatest to ever take the field, was quoted saying "One of the really wrong theories about officiating is that a good official is the one you never notice. The umpire who made this statement was probably a poor official who tried to get his paycheck and hide behind his partners and stay out of trouble his whole life. Control of the ball game is the difference between umpires who show up for the players and the managers." If anything in the situation in the video above Kerwin was actually inserting him self into the play to keep further action from happening. Sure not many people noticed it but the only thing you hear said more in the umpiring world than an umpire not being noticed is not to insert yourself into the game.

I think noumpere meant that there's a grain of truth in the "invisible official" theory, and this video captures it. Vanishingly few fans would notice what Danley did here, and in that sense it was invisible.

[ricka56]

The invisible umpire theory holds if the game is vanilla and nothing unusual happens...that and PU had a good B/S game.

But when a RLI happens, the umpire that Froemming was talking about (the invisible umpire) has nothing...nothing is less unusual (expected) and easier to sell. Many times an RLI call by an umpire is met with a coach claiming the umpire is being purposely visible (that's when my color spectrum narrows). If something unusual happens in a game and people think the umpires were invisible, there's a chance that the umpire wussed out on a call.

So if people think that the umpire were invisible, best case it only means that nothing unusual happened.

[noumpere]

 

So if people think that the umpire were invisible, best case it only means that nothing unusual happened.

As an umpire, you can manage the game so fewer unusual things happen; or you can mis-manage the game so more unusual things happen.

 

The former umpire will be "invisible" more than the latter umpire.

[ricka56]

As an umpire, you can manage the game so fewer unusual things happen; or you can mis-manage the game so more unusual things happen.

I agree that one could mis-manage a game and more unusual thing could happen, but I was talking about unusual things such as BI, CI, RLI (example previously given), interference, obstruction, coach interference, etc...those kind of unusual things. You have no control over these unusual things no matter how good a game manager you are. And when those kind of unusual things happen and you are the invisible umpire, then that is poor umpiring.