Getting from C position to A, on a routine ground ball to Shortstop. Can u make it there??

[The1yankee]

I had the first base coach snip at me, for not getting from C spot to the A spot on a 2-3 hopper, not hit that hard. He claimed 1st basemen pulled his foot off bag. Went to my plate partner for help, he didn't make a call, upholding My out call, as he said 1st base pulled up heel during stretch, but got heel back onto base, before for batter-runner reached 1st.

It's my 1st year of umpiring, but....On a high school sized field, it seems to me, it would be very difficult to:

A) Get from C spot to somewhere in area of A spot, to get angle on a pulled foot at 1st

B)Get over to 1st base area, to get any kind of angle on the play, where I can see 1st baseman pull foot.

 

I pulled coach over after next inning n asked em,

How he thought I could make it from C slot, to an angle to read 1st baseman foot off bag, he told me he's umped before, and I CAN MAKE IT OVER TO A, FROM C, on routine grounder to shortstop.

Unless I'm a fullsize giraffe, I see no way to get from C slot to A. Options being;

1)Sprint full speed to A spot

2)Get my head and body stopped from that full out Sprint

3)So...My opinion, To get body n head woed down to a stop, from a full sprint, n get in position to make call, seems highly unlikely to achieve

Imho that is.

 

Can somebody clarify this?

There was a runner at 2nd

plate ump, has is touch of 3rd, AND, A PULL OF FOOT BY FIELDER AT 1ST, CORRECT??!!?

[noumpere]

All correct and you know from the coach's answer that he's full of BS.

 

That said, you can move to try to get an angle on the play, so you don't have to go to your partner, and you can get well on the first base side of the mound for this type of play -- if R2 has committed to third then you can get even closer (because you'll have no throw-back responsibilities).

[LRZ]

What noumpere said: angle over proximity. But you can't anticipate too much: suppose F6 throws to third to get the breaking R2--you have the first play in the infield.

By the way, no way you would (or should) get from C to A; I think the coach meant B. In any event, don't initiate conversations like this with a coach who has been barking at you--nothing good will come of it.

[maven]

On 5/5/2018 at 8:05 AM, The1yankee said:

I had the first base coach snip at me, for not getting from C spot to the A spot

Haha

On 5/5/2018 at 8:05 AM, The1yankee said:

he told me he's umped before

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Seriously though: you're in your first year, so one takeaway from this is not to listen to just anyone about umpire mechanics. You'll find that you get incorrect info from all kinds of sources: coaches, players (esp. men's league), senior members of your umpire association, even (gasp!) internet umpire websites. Many of these sources will claim one sort of authority or other.

Find proper training (preferably professional, as in, you have to pay for it, and it comes from professional umpires or high-level NCAA umpires) and stick with that. Use your league or level umpire mechanics manual, and consult your league or association interpreter with questions.

[johnpatrick]

41 minutes ago, The1yankee said:

1)Sprint full speed to A spot

2)Get my head and body stopped from that full out Sprint

3)So...My opinion, To get body n head woed down to a stop, from a full sprint, n get in position to make call, seems highly unlikely to achieve

 

4)Don't listen to bonehead coaches regarding proper umpire mechanics

[Kevin_K]

The best you can hope for is to get from one side of the working area to the other

 

 

[LRZ]

28 minutes ago, maven said:

Find proper training (preferably professional, as in, you have to pay for it, and it comes from professional umpires of high-level NCAA umpires) and stick with that. Use your league or level umpire mechanics manual, and consult your league or association interpreter with questions.

For a new umpire, training does not necessarily entail a major commitment of time and money. If Oshaa holds clinics, that would likely suffice for a start, at least until you decide you want to go further. Through Oshaa, you may also develop mentors, to whom you can also address questions.

[KCKUMP]

Gotta love coaches who cry they use to umpire, my response to him would have been “then you know better” when I am in the C position on that play I am calling what I see and depending on my partner to do his job. It seems like he did so the coach was just being a jerkoff and the conversation is over at that point

[maven]

2 hours ago, LRZ said:

For a new umpire, training does not necessarily entail a major commitment of time and money. If Oshaa holds clinics, that would likely suffice for a start, at least until you decide you want to go further. Through Oshaa, you may also develop mentors, to whom you can also address questions.

True, but only to a point. For one thing, I have seen rather wide variability in the quality for OHSAA rules interpreters, from awesome to habitually negligent and wrong.

For another, I stand my statement that paying for professional instruction is preferable, provided one seeks a reputable source. You get what you pay for.

And YouTube has a lot of good, and even more horrible, instruction to offer umpires. Noobs struggle to distinguish them.

[LRZ]

Preferable, perhaps, but not always practical. Hence, my suggestions about training alternatives.

[conbo61]

To me, this is the toughest call as a base umpire. Too far to hear foot on bag/ ball hitting mitt and often straight lined.

You will NOT make it to A. Forget it, put that notion out of your head. Best you can do is work to improve your angle and, very importantly, come set to see the play. 

Trying to make this call on the run will only make your job more difficult.

One last thing, this should also be a topic in your pregame with your partner (how to handle pulled foot/swipe tags)

[umpstu]

43 minutes ago, maven said:

True, but only to a point. For one thing, I have seen rather wide variability in the quality for OHSAA rules interpreters, from awesome to habitually negligent and wrong.

For another, I stand my statement that paying for professional instruction is preferable, provided one seeks a reputable source. You get what you pay for.

  And YouTube has a lot of good, and even more horrible, instruction to offer umpires. Noobs struggle to distinguish them.

I don't know about OHSAA, but the Youtube comment is spot on.  I think people are well intended in making those videos, but man, there are some that everything about them is wrong.

[The1yankee]

Thanks for all who responded to my questions,

 

EVERYBODY!  I'm very happy to have found this forum.

I like the comraderie that all other forum members/umpires have here, on this site.

Nice to interact with a great bunch of guys, n maybe a few gals,

We actually had 1 female in our OHSAA class, she does basketball

But haven't worked with her yet, as they tend not to pair up 2 first year umps

[The1yankee]

And as far as the MAIN QUESTION OF THIS THREAD, 

When coaches team hit the field I was telling his 1st basemen,

That unless I can hop on the BULLET TRAIN FOR 50 FEET, I could make it from C to A, 

Or Giraffe legs

Those were ^^^^^^^ my thoughts on bein able to get an angle on FIELDER at 1st to see pulled foot, from C slot

[Mister B]

This is what I was taught. Angle, angle and be set. Even if you could get from C to A, you wouldn't be able to stop in time to see the play. Also, on a play at first, you're watching the feet and listening for the ball. If you hear the ball hits the glove before the B/R, quick glance up to make sure F3 is holding the ball. Inhale, then punch him out. 

I had a play at second, where F4, F6, R1 and the ball all converged on 2B at the same time. The ball hit F4's glove as the play was enveloped in a cloud of dust. During my inhale the ball squirted out of the pile. That's the moment, that the concept of timing on a call made all the sense in the world. 

[Sut'n Blue]

The other day I was working solo with an R2, BR hit a grounder to F6, I called the pitch from behind the plate, ran to C in case R2 went, then ran to A to make the call at first and since F1 may have pulled his foot, I ran to about half way down the first base line to make the call on the pulled foot.

It's easy to do if you've coached before. 

[noumpere]

17 minutes ago, Sut'n Blue said:

The other day I was working solo with an R2, BR hit a grounder to F6, I called the pitch from behind the plate, ran to C in case R2 went, then ran to A to make the call at first and since F1 may have pulled his foot, I ran to about half way down the first base line to make the call on the pulled foot.

It's easy to do if you've coached before. 

If you had just a bit more experience, you could star in your own bugs bunny cartoon. 

[maven]

I'll leave it to noumpere to explain the #MeToo moment, the tobacco ad, and the archaic pinball reference.

[noumpere]

3 minutes ago, maven said:

I'll leave it to noumpere to explain the #MeToo moment, the tobacco ad, and the archaic pinball reference.

The good-old days? 

[Mudisfun]

I normally stop listening at "I use to umpire"...

[KCKUMP]

23 minutes ago, Mudisfun said:

I normally stop listening at "I use to umpire"...

This ^^^^

[HokieUmp]

On 5/5/2018 at 7:05 AM, The1yankee said:

he told me he's umped before, and I CAN MAKE IT OVER TO A, FROM C, on routine grounder to shortstop.

Feel free to use the following:

"Well, good for you, sport.  When you're umpiring, you do you.  But tonight, you're a coach, so stick to that."

if he's the AC, and not the HC, feel free to add:

"And if you want to argue a call, either let your head coach do it, or plan on a short night."

And then walk away.

[blue23ll]

My response to "I used to umpire" is "I used to coach"....

 

[scrounge]

9 hours ago, blue23ll said:

My response to "I used to umpire" is "I used to coach"....

 

stealing this...

[Aging_Arbiter]

2 minutes ago, scrounge said:

stealing this...

x2

[Mudisfun]

13 hours ago, blue23ll said:

My response to "I used to umpire" is "I used to coach"....

 

I would add to that... i used to coach, but then I saw the light!