Officially starting my little league umpire journey tomorrow

[834k3r]

16 hours ago, orangebird said:

Yeah I think I'd feel pretty nervous about a HS varsity game having genuine stakes but if JV games are looking for bodies that know the rules I'd like to think I could handle that 

Not entirely sure I'd want to work the plate though, don't want to learn what it looks like umpiring a kid with 80 mph fastball with minimal control repeatedly missing up and in lol

To your first point, your assigner shouldn't put you on varsity games to begin with anyway. As you realize, it does take time to gain the experience set (and I'm still working on it even after working varsity games for a while).

To your second, it's easier calling balls and strikes in high school--especially as you go up the ladder. It's much easier to call even a big sweeping curve from 60'6" than a rainbow from 40'.

[orangebird]

10 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

To your first point, your assigner shouldn't put you on varsity games to begin with anyway. As you realize, it does take time to gain the experience set (and I'm still working on it even after working varsity games for a while).

To your second, it's easier calling balls and strikes in high school--especially as you go up the ladder. It's much easier to call even a big sweeping curve from 60'6" than a rainbow from 40'.

Yeah for #2 I'm not worried about the zone, I'm worried about someone being wild where every high fastball makes me pray my mask (or helmet) works properly lol

[The Man in Blue]

19 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

To your first point, your assigner shouldn't put you on varsity games to begin with anyway. As you realize, it does take time to gain the experience set (and I'm still working on it even after working varsity games for a while).

To your second, it's easier calling balls and strikes in high school--especially as you go up the ladder. It's much easier to call even a big sweeping curve from 60'6" than a rainbow from 40'.

 

But, @834k3r . . . I have a contract to pay me $3 to make sure that Varsity game is covered.  I have nobody else to send.  @orangebird has a full set of gear and a 10u game under his belt.  He will be fine . . . solo . . . this afternoon.

[834k3r]

29 minutes ago, orangebird said:

Yeah for #2 I'm not worried about the zone, I'm worried about someone being wild where every high fastball makes me pray my mask (or helmet) works properly lol

Maintaining good slot position will help immensely, but good equipment is key.

And that's why we have a whole thread on mask pr0n. When you rely on your gear, you make sure it's going to protect you when you need it.

I've been hit solidly a number of times, but--and I'm being 100% honest here--none of them hurt as much as when I thought I was cool the first year I was doing LL and didn't have a throat guard (you'll see it abbreviated TG frequently)--not fun getting hit by even a slow foul in the throat. Contrast that with a hight school foul tip straight to the mask from an upper-80s fast ball that was hard enough it broke one of my straps on my TG? Stunned me a bit, but it didn't hurt.

[Velho]

16 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

Precisely why I said 10u games are terrible places to learn, but good places to get your feet under you

Agreed. Echoing Rich, when I get stuck on one these days, I use 10U it as opportunity to hone my skills (especially BU). You always have runners on (usually multiple), squirrelly F2s and passed balls regularly, OBS/INT constantly possible, different speed runners, can't assume touches, snowball fights at any moment, etc.

[orangebird]

Okay just to confirm: any softball positioning resources are perfect for 60-foot baseball infields right? Trying to make sure I'm ready for my 1-man game and found a manual from USA Softball with 1-man diagrams/videos that seem pretty helpful 

 

[Velho]

2 minutes ago, orangebird said:

Okay just to confirm: any softball positioning resources are perfect for 60-foot baseball infields right? Trying to make sure I'm ready for my 1-man game and found a manual from USA Softball with 1-man diagrams/videos that seem pretty helpful 

Should be as good as anything and better than nothing. First time I've ever seen 1 umpire mechanics covered. I've only had to do it twice and made it up as I went along.

[MadMax]

21 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

He will be fine . . . solo . . . this afternoon.

Impossible for Varsity. Every Varsity game I’ve bore witness to could not start without 2 umpires. Now, as far as completing? Anything’s possible. 

No, a far more likely scenario is Ned the Assigner sends our rookie here to work a JV game solo, so as to free up Jimbo to go work Varsity. Or, worse, Ned sends him to work that Varsity game with Clarence… who takes this to mean that: 

• He (Clarence) knows what he’s doing… 🙄
• He’s (Clarence) been sent a reprieve, and since he (Clarence) is the “senior / veteran guy”, he should be at latitude to work bases, and stick rookie on the plate. 🫣
• He (Clarence) should evaluate the rookie, and “train him” in all the idiosyncrasies of how he (Clarence) handles Varsity and JV and Freshman baseball for Ned for the past bump-teen years.  

17 hours ago, Velho said:

I've only had to do it twice and made it up as I went along.

Then you are an expert. And no “evaluator” has any grounds to tell you otherwise. If any umpire has the gall to observe or witness your solo game, and then approach you to tell you what “you did wrong”, then you are now at liberty to reply with, “Well why didn’t your pompous a$$ come out of the stands to show me how it’s done??” 
… or something along those lines. 

[orangebird]

Man what did poor Clarence ever do to you haha

[834k3r]

1 hour ago, orangebird said:

Man what did poor Clarence ever do to you haha

Probably wore nothing but equipment with a big ol' yellow W on it.🤣

[MadMax]

1 hour ago, orangebird said:

Man what did poor Clarence ever do to you haha

Ah, you don’t know about ol’ Clarence Callsafew? Clarence’s been callin’ local “little league” and “high school” ball for 20/30 years! He and Ned (the Assigner for the association) go “way back”, but he can’t understand why Ned doesn’t put him on “big” games no more, considering Frank (the association president or founder) is his longtime coworker (outside of umpiring), or fishing buddy, or brother-in-law, or any other familial bond. He can’t tell you any of the rules changes for this year, but he’s been reminded of the Points of Emphasis so much, that he himself will make a point of stressing it at any plate meeting he conducts. In any meeting, no matter the size or context, he’ll cue up his own personal war story, about how he handled this “one play (or situation)” and how that is (or should be) indicative of how to “work your craft”. 

He has exactly 2 shirts (and yes, one is typically navy) and 1 jacket. 

When presented with “a new guy”, he’ll expect the two of them to get together at least 30, if not 45 to 60 minutes before first pitch, for the purposes of explaining Clarence’s own methods, signals, and mechanics for calling a ballgame. And then, if-&-when he’s working bases, he’ll come down to chat between innings, or will go and talk in the 1st Base Dugout, etc. 

He uses “my” a lot – “my game”, “my call”, “my field”, etc. Can’t quote rules to save his skin, so resorts to “my judgement” to extricate himself from any situation. 

You will encounter a Clarence in your umpiring path. 

[grayhawk]

3 hours ago, MadMax said:

Impossible for Varsity. Every Varsity game I’ve bore witness to could not start without 2 umpires. Now, as far as completing? Anything’s possible. 

Not so. There was a video on X recently, posted by the mom of a player. I responded that it must be JV since there was only one umpire. She said it was varsity and it was La Mirada HS which is in my neck of the woods. 

[The Man in Blue]

4 hours ago, MadMax said:

Impossible for Varsity. Every Varsity game I’ve bore witness to could not start without 2 umpires. Now, as far as completing? Anything’s possible. 

Max, Max, Max.  These are desperate times, and desperate times call for desperate measures.  These kids NEED to play!  Plus, $3, man!  If I can save them $75 here and there, I know they’ll have the funds to bump that up to $3.25 next season.
 

And you forgot to point out Clarence’s other shirt is faded Navy.  Navy and faded Navy.  Plus, he probably calls college games because he is available at 2:00 on Tuesday.

[orangebird]

Reviewing slides for #org 2 (test on Monday!) and I find the idea of a 10-year-old trying to throw a spitball pretty funny 

[Velho]

Is that applying the 18 foot circle on a field with a 46' mound?

[orangebird]

2 minutes ago, Velho said:

Is that applying the 18 foot circle on a field with a 46' mound?

I'd assume, they didn't go too in-depth on that, I'd hope there isn't a spitball epidemic in this league we need to crack down on 

[834k3r]

1 hour ago, The Man in Blue said:

Max, Max, Max.  These are desperate times, and desperate times call for desperate measures.  These kids NEED to play!  Plus, $3, man!  If I can save them $75 here and there, I know they’ll have the funds to bump that up to $3.25 next season.
 

And you forgot to point out Clarence’s other shirt is faded Navy.  Navy and faded Navy.  Plus, he probably calls college games because he is available at 2:00 on Tuesday.

TMIB, you forgot the fact he doesn't need plate gear because he calls the game from behind the pitchers mound because it gives him a better view of any D3K.

[Velho]

6 minutes ago, orangebird said:

I'd assume, they didn't go too in-depth on that, I'd hope there isn't a spitball epidemic in this league we need to crack down on 

I'm sure there is not but blowing on their hands is real.

Feels like another copy & paste from a different ruleset. LL prohibits it while on the rubber and within 10 feet of rubber they must wipe their hand off.

[BLarson]

Quote

2 hours ago, orangebird said:

Reviewing slides for #org 2 (test on Monday!) and I find the idea of a 10-year-old trying to throw a spitball pretty funny 

If it's on youtube, kids will try it.

 

[orangebird]

3 training's worth of slides copy/pasted into a Google doc ready to print 😎

[Richvee]

On 3/19/2025 at 11:00 AM, The Man in Blue said:

 

But, @834k3r . . . I have a contract to pay me $3 to make sure that Varsity game is covered.  I have nobody else to send.  @orangebird has a full set of gear and a 10u game under his belt.  He will be fine . . . solo . . . this afternoon.

Don’t laugh. I know for a fact this isn’t far from the truth in areas I may or may not be familiar with. 

[orangebird]

Happy open note test for org #2 day!

Pretty curious how it'll go, the email said it's hard but there's a gap between hard for someone who has already studied these things and hard for someone who barely paid attention in the training, hoping it's the latter. He did say it'll be curved just so they can have enough umpires which makes me very curious what the scoring will look like.

Also it'll be (presumably) circling answers on a packet instead of a scantron (I asked) so I'm also wondering how quickly they'll be able to score like 80+ tests by hand 

[834k3r]

4 hours ago, orangebird said:

Happy open note test for org #2 day!

Pretty curious how it'll go, the email said it's hard but there's a gap between hard for someone who has already studied these things and hard for someone who barely paid attention in the training, hoping it's the latter. He did say it'll be curved just so they can have enough umpires which makes me very curious what the scoring will look like.

Also it'll be (presumably) circling answers on a packet instead of a scantron (I asked) so I'm also wondering how quickly they'll be able to score like 80+ tests by hand 

If it's like the NFHS annual tests, the devil's in the details. Pay attention to words like "always" or "never." Don't read a question too fast, thinking it's an easy answer.

[orangebird]

Alright so the test was an hour but only open-note for the last 15 minutes which I swear they didn't clearly communicate so that definitely kinda threw me off where I was scrambling to check my answers for things I was unsure about.

They also had us swap the test with someone else and grade it so I generally got an idea of what I missed right there but I still don't know my exact score and also hopefully whoever graded mine was paying attention and didn't accidentally mark some right answer wrong on accident. Definitely felt more disjointed than org 1, who did an online test where we knew the score right away and it didn't count on peer grading.

They basically said it's curved to make sure enough umpires are available to cover 4 little leagues where I think I should be okay but that definitely highlighted some blind spots for me (batting out of order in particular I was pretty in the dark about because it wasn't something I reviewed for org 1 and I don't even think org 1 requires exchanging lineup cards where I don't even know how it'd come up in their games)

[orangebird]

I do know at least one tricky question I avoided falling for

The wording was basically "With a runner on first and one out, the batter swings and missed at the third strike in the dirt. He runs to first, R1 runs to second, the catcher overthrows first base and R1 scores and the the batter ends the play standing on second, what is the correct call?"

And it was "batter is out, not a dropped third strike situation, runner scores" and I realized I don't think either training covered exactly how that play should be handled but once I stared at it for a bit I realized that the baserunner taking off for second is just a very chaotic stolen base attempt and whatever happens to him from there counts the same as if he took off on any other non-foul ball strike