Weather -- When to call it?

[The Man in Blue]

Varsity softball today.  We knew two days ago this game would probably be canceled.  We knew this morning this game should have been canceled.  We knew when the visiting team left for their hour-long bus ride this game should have been canceled.  We get to the field and the home coach says, "This game should have been canceled."  🙄

Temp at game time: 41 degrees (it had dropped from a high of 54 just about 90 minutes before game time)

Winds: 20-30 mph

A fairly constant drizzle started an hour before the game

"Well, we drove an hour to get here," said the visiting coach.  I don't think the baseball game even started, we saw the visiting team leaving as we started out game.  I hope the umps over there didn't pull a "got our check, it's too bad to play now."

In the middle of the first inning the A.D. calls us over and says, "I think we made the wrong call."  We?  

We played two innings which actually went fairly well.  At the change from the top to the bottom of the second I went to my PU and let him know the infield was getting really tacky, but more importantly a couple of slick spots were forming behind first base and going in to third base.  He informed the coaches we would try to get through the bottom of the 2nd (we did) and then we pulled the plug.

 

SO ... when do you call it and what do you call it for?  Will you call it for "too hot" or "too cold"?

What was the worst you ever umpired through?  (My partner said this was the worst he had done, it wasn't even top 5 for me.)

 

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

I don't EVER call it for too hot or too cold. If the game is still active on my schedule, I go to the ballpark. Once I leave the house, it's half-fee. Once the first pitch is thrown, it's full fee. We've all had games where if we were personally making the decision pre-game we would not be playing baseball today. I'll walk down to the field and see folks working very hard to get the field ready. I will TELL the coaches then and there that BEFORE the end of the pre-game meeting, the decision to play is theirs and once we break the pre-game meeting, the decision to start or continue the game becomes the umpires'. I have looked at fields 30 minutes before play and expressed my skepticism about the potential to make the field playable. Not one time have coaches said, "Oh...ok...well in that case, we don't everyone to keep everyone working on this field then if we're not going to play." No. They just shrug and say some version of, "Well...we're here...we'll keep working. Let's play!" And there is standing water, or mud and muck on the base paths, plate area and or mound, all of which are safety hazards. So, we break from the plate meeting, we take a pitch and we postpone the game and go home.

I can't speak to college and up but, HS and down? The umpires have an obligation to player (and umpire!) safety. Too hot and too cold is not our purview. Precipitation, thunder and lightning are our domains. Once there are slip or other injury hazard potentials, we have to stop play and potentially postpone the game. Talk with your association leadership or league leadership or assigners. Make sure you fully understand what your parameters for weather and field condition and then CITE those, if necessary, when making these decisions. Cite them to the coaches on the field. Cite them to whomever you report to about why you postponed the game. The leagues I work typically have a "30 minute wait" policy meaning if the field becomes unplayable or there is thunder or lightning, we tell everyone to get off the field and then we go and wait in our cars for 30 minutes. Visible lightning or audible thunder resets the 30 minute timer and of course any no new inning time rules are still active.

Like everything else we do on the ballfield...know the rules (in this case the weather poilicies/guidelines) and enforce them accordingly. I have never had anyone tell me I should not have postponed a ballgame after I postponed it.

~Dawg