PU Balls and Strikes

[Eightpoint]

Did anyone else catch the Phillies and Padres game Monday evening and notice the PU using what I will call a wristlet with a rubber band on it on both wrists and with every ball or strike he would move the rubber band from finger to finger. His right hand was strikes and his left hand counted balls.

[Thunderheads]

it's used in football to keep track of the downs (if I understand it correctly) .... that's Bruce Dreckman

[johnnyg08]

Yep. More umpires are using the football down indicators to keep the count. 

[834k3r]

1 hour ago, johnnyg08 said:

Yep. More umpires are using the football down indicators to keep the count. 

Honest question:  anyone know why? Keeps from having to worry about how the ball and strike windows are arranged on the indicator, but is there another reason?

[wolfe_man]

59 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

Honest question:  anyone know why? Keeps from having to worry about how the ball and strike windows are arranged on the indicator, but is there another reason?

Beats me.  It seems a lot more work to me versus simply rolling the indicator, but maybe someone that uses it instead can chime in and tell us.  And if you forget to roll the indicator - why wouldn't you also forget to move the down indicators on your fingers too? 

[johnnyg08]

1 hour ago, 834k3r said:

Honest question:  anyone know why? Keeps from having to worry about how the ball and strike windows are arranged on the indicator, but is there another reason?

I think it's right up there with the officials in the NBA who don't wear a lanyard. 

Somebody saw an MLB umpire doing it and it trickled down. 

I don't see myself doing it. I don't mind using an indicator. 

[wolfe_man]

[BLWizzRanger]

Coach:  what's the count Blue?

Me: giving the two finger salute showing a 2-2 count...

I am not sure that would go over well for me....

[Biscuit]

I will say, working without an indicator feels good. Not something I'd do, but it does feel good. If you ckuks guarantee that my score board operator would never make a mistake, I would go sans indicator in a heart beat. 

[Jimurray]

4 hours ago, Biscuit said:

I will say, working without an indicator feels good. Not something I'd do, but it does feel good. If you ckuks guarantee that my score board operator would never make a mistake, I would go sans indicator in a heart beat. 

Even MLB cannot guarantee that. And they get at least one ball three walk a season, even after a season where it was embarrassing and they required the PU to use have an indicator.

[MadMax]

1 hour ago, 834k3r said:

Honest question:  anyone know why?

Speculative answer: because they’re in a professional context, no evaluator is around to demean, deride, or give them grief over it, and it’s worth trying. 

I don’t use an indicator. I haven’t since 2014. I don’t even own a working one; the one I carried in my pocket at School was an empty shell, the dials having been removed. 

[dumbdumb]

wasn't there some highly rated high school umpire, that has worked tons of state finals, is a state rules interpreter in new jersey, and is still working games, that was asked to keep the pitch count of each pitcher in a state playoff game. not keep count of the exact number of strikes thrown and the exact number of balls thrown, just the number of total pitches thrown by each pitcher that entered the game.

he messed up counting the total number of pitches thrown by each pitcher in a state tournament game. nothing else to do at all, no calls whatsoever on the field to make, ball/strike, safe/out, interference/obstruction/balk, oob, etc., etc., nothing but count pitches thrown by each pitcher in the game. or, was that not what happened.

must be something in the water with counting pitches in one form or another everywhere at all levels.

 

[Kevin_K]

2 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

wasn't there some highly rated high school umpire, that has worked tons of state finals, is a state rules interpreter in new jersey, and is still working games, that was asked to keep the pitch count of each pitcher in a state playoff game. not keep count of the exact number of strikes thrown and the exact number of balls thrown, just the number of total pitches thrown by each pitcher that entered the game.

he messed up counting the total number of pitches thrown by each pitcher in a state tournament game. nothing else to do at all, no calls whatsoever on the field to make, ball/strike, safe/out, interference/obstruction/balk, oob, etc., etc., nothing but count pitches thrown by each pitcher in the game. or, was that not what happened.

must be something in the water with counting pitches in one form or another everywhere at all levels.

 

Why does it have to be New Jersey? You're going to give us a complex.

And what is this indicator you all speak of?

[dumbdumb]

56 minutes ago, Kevin_K said:

Why does it have to be New Jersey? You're going to give us a complex.

And what is this indicator you all speak of?

see the last post (topic) afrom 2020--under ''new jersey guys' from back when it happened.

I just thought since we were portraying the professional umpires of professional players keeping count, we had some incidence in the past with professional umpires of amateur players (main difference is the speed of play as baseball levels advance up the ladder).

just the fact it happens at all levels, not just one level.

[agdz59]

1 hour ago, Kevin_K said:

And what is this indicator you all speak of?

That's what some people call your clicker.

 

[dumbdumb]

and this might be the final article written on the above dispute.

https://shoresportsnetwork.com/baseball-cranford-is-right-about-the-pitch-counting-error-in-the-group-3-final-but-not-in-its-protest/

[MadMax]

You know what? This is perfect. Ya can’t drop it, you don’t break it on a foul ball or bad pitch hitting you, you (as BU) don’t have a PU partner missing half the game looking at it after every pitch/action/call-of-Time/etc. 

You don’t get into a “car show conflict” with so-and-so because your indicator is from the southern prefecture of Japan, and his indicator is superior because it came from the northern prefecture of Japan, and was blessed by a Shaolin monk with the tears of 1,000 crying managers. 

You don’t have to fret yourself with Outs, or Innings, or runs-scored-in-inning-kept-by-Innings-dial, or you don’t have to play that stoooopid game of “Odds or Evens?” in the deceitful maneuverings to get the “stronger” team the Home side so this game ends faster, or worry about the Strike dial being under the wrong finger, instead of the Balls dial, because this indicator was made in 2006, not 2007, when they changed it. 

You just move the loop from one finger to the next. Simple. If there are participants who are hard of hearing, or are challenged by simple arithmetic (“He announced 1-&-2, that was a Ball… what’s the count, Blue?”), or can’t be bothered to look at a/the scoreboard, then… 

[The Man in Blue]

I’m embracing the wrong part of your post, Max.  
 

3 hours ago, MadMax said:

You don’t get into a “car show conflict” with so-and-so because your indicator is from the southern prefecture of Japan, and his indicator is superior because it came from the northern prefecture of Japan, and was blessed by a Shaolin monk with the tears of 1,000 crying managers. 

[The Man in Blue]

4 hours ago, agdz59 said:

That's what some people call your clicker.

 

For those “in the know” … it is an indi-clicker.

[The Man in Blue]

5 hours ago, Kevin_K said:

Why does it have to be New Jersey?

Because the guy was wearing navy.

[grayhawk]

It's kind of a cool idea, but I'll stick with my All Star indicator with the notches. With just a squeeze of my fingers, I can confirm the count and outs. I'm pretty sure I do it subconsciously before I do a called third strike, or an infield fly call. I'm totally and completely reliant on it and I'd probably be a mess out there (more than usual, anyway) without it.

[Biscuit]

On 6/19/2024 at 2:07 PM, grayhawk said:

It's kind of a cool idea, but I'll stick with my All Star indicator with the notches. With just a squeeze of my fingers, I can confirm the count and outs. I'm pretty sure I do it subconsciously before I do a called third strike, or an infield fly call. I'm totally and completely reliant on it and I'd probably be a mess out there (more than usual, anyway) without it.

Facts. The All Star is the ONLY indicator I'll ever use.

[Velho]

19 minutes ago, Biscuit said:

The All Star is the ONLY indicator I'll ever use.

 

[834k3r]

On 6/19/2024 at 12:07 PM, grayhawk said:

It's kind of a cool idea, but I'll stick with my All Star indicator with the notches. With just a squeeze of my fingers, I can confirm the count and outs. I'm pretty sure I do it subconsciously before I do a called third strike, or an infield fly call. I'm totally and completely reliant on it and I'd probably be a mess out there (more than usual, anyway) without it.

Same. I've hardly looked at my indicator during a game since I moved to the AS. Added benefit is it won't break, and you can take it apart for periodic maintenance and/or lubrication (just don't use graphite--as me how I know).

I will say the only downside is the glare from the sun off the metal. I've taken a wire brush to mine (it's helped) and it's still pretty bright when working a sunny game.

[Velho]

9 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

I've hardly looked at my indicator during a game since I moved to the AS

You all got me. Finally ordered one.

Related gem I found while ordering