Officially starting my high school umpire journey tonight

[The Man in Blue]

21 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

does that mean you cannot wait till full abs and replay review works it way down to all levels, and AI takes over (or does it), the handling situations correctly statistics too, for promotions and state finals

 

No, I was saying that if TPTB don't value calling balls and strikes as a qualification . . . 

[orangebird]

On 2/12/2026 at 10:49 AM, orangebird said:

43/50! It was 38/50 to pass, so mission accomplished with room to spare. 😎

It doesn't let me see what I got wrong, but it lists the following rules: 

1-1-2; 8-3-3d, f; 8-4-2d Penalty; Courtesy Runner Rule #4; NFHS Umpire Signals; Speed-Up Rules, Courtesy Runners 2 and 7; 2-36-3b

No idea what I got wrong for the umpire signals, those seemed pretty straightforward. Courtesy runner doesn't surprise me, I definitely made sure I read those but that simply wasn't something relevant to me last year and it doesn't really feel intuitive to me the same way in-game rules like dropped third, infield fly, etc work.

Asked about the courtesy runner questions and the org's rules chief basically said one of the questions is needlessly complicated and not to stress over it, so that was reassuring for me haha

[orangebird]

Doing some casebook reviewing, I see the value of this example but it also seems kinda funny to picture the scenario where this is a plausible outcome, hit-and-run where R1 and BR are the two slowest people on their roster? R2 is a pinch runner borrowed from the track team? 

[noumpere]

Doesn't need to be a hit-and-run.  It's not unusual not that it happens every game or every week, but (I had it multiple times during my career) in HS for a fast R2 to try to score on a double play -- might catch the defense napping, or the team is hoping for a bad throw from F3.

[orangebird]

Had my first scrimmage tomorrow...until I learnt it got rained out lol

 

[orangebird]

Alright, first actual game tomorrow, so let's recap some stuff

• Weather was real fun. First scrimmage was meant to be a Saturday, then a Monday and then finally a Tuesday where they swapped who was hosting lol. Then another one was scheduled for that following Friday but was cancelled due to snow! So through weather and the scrimmages meant to rotate people, I have 8.5 plate innings and like 5 base innings under my belt from scrimmages.
• My main takeaway from the game I had a full seven innings on the plate was a toooon of low and away pitches. No idea if that's the norm for JV or if the scrimmage was just a chance to make sure the kids practice that spot but it was just pounding that area of the zone.
• Learnt I didn't know the force play slide rule, but now I do and that's the value of a scrimmage. Spent my energy focusing on NFHS-specific rules for DH/CR/subs where something like the slide rule just wasn't fully on my radar but now it is.
• Had a balk neither person called right away which didn't look great, even after some more review still don't think I feel great about calling them tbh
• Also had what felt like a pretty clear no-catch call where the fielding team coach seemed to argue that the rules are different with 2 outs? Seemed to be some kind of argument based on dropping on the transfer and there not needing to be a transfer if you have 2 outs? But the coach didn't yell or insult me and I felt pretty confident that was just a normal drop so the call stood.
• For some more positive news, did the test for the rec/travel org I'll work with on the side that I worked with last year. Felt way more confident about the material and recognized some of the questions that tripped me up last year and missed only 3 questions out of about 60. Definitely was nice to have a concrete sign of progress for my understanding of the rules that aren't some courtesy runner mumbo jumbo. 

Anyways, tomorrow I wanted to work the base but my partner is working the plate for another HS game later in the day so I've got the plate. Looking forward to seeing a real lineup card for the first time lol!

[Velho]

[MadMax]

On 2/14/2026 at 9:03 PM, The Man in Blue said:

Only speaking for Illinois:

Nowhere in the qualifications to be selected for state finals or promotion is a direct critique or rating of balls/strikes or safe/out calls.

Remember... Al Capone was a big baseball patron. I'm sure his influence has been... cemented(?) into Illinois organizations for perpetuity. 

[The Man in Blue]

6 hours ago, orangebird said:

 

• Learnt I didn't know the force play slide rule, but now I do and that's the value of a scrimmage. Spent my energy focusing on NFHS-specific rules for DH/CR/subs where something like the slide rule just wasn't fully on my radar but now it is.

 

 

[orangebird]

1 minute ago, The Man in Blue said:

 

 

As in the play? It was just a guy kept running straight after a force was made at second, fielding coach came out and pretty respectfully pointed out that you need to get out of the way on that play in HS. Rule 8-4-2-f and caseplay 8-4-2, situation y!

[The Man in Blue]

@orangebird, what legal options does the runner have?  Can he:

• slide legally?  (Follow up, what is legal and what is illegal?)
• veer away from the fielder?
• duck out of the way?

I'm pushing you to use this learning opportunity (and to point out that NFHS commandeered the term "Force Play Slide Rule", but if you search the rule book it doesn't exist).

 

 

[orangebird]

2 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

@orangebird, what legal options does the runner have?  Can he:

• slide legally?  (Follow up, what is legal and what is illegal?)
• veer away from the fielder?
• duck out of the way?

I'm pushing you to use this learning opportunity (and to point out that NFHS commandeered the term "Force Play Slide Rule", but if you search the rule book it doesn't exist).

 

 

Slide legally? Yes. 

Veer away? Yes.

Duck? Going to say yes, but the casebook play I checked only specifies slide or veer. 

And for illegal slide, well, the humble 2-32 lists six examples

[orangebird]

Alright will debrief more later but first JV game is in the books and it went fine, so that's a relief!

[The Man in Blue]

Well, your answers may be technically correct, but you failed the quiz.  I wanted you to explain in your words -- that is the true test as to whether you understand it or not. 😋

Ducking is considered a violation, as the runner is still going into the bag on their feet.

Extra credit for knowing where to go in the book though!  

[orangebird]

Alright so yeah, my first official game went pretty smoothly, no slide rule discussions, no balks, no batting out of order/DH/courtesy runner tomfoolery.

The base umpire had the two most interesting calls on a pair of drops made by the CF but both of those looked fine to me and didn't get any arguing from the fielding team coaches.

My zone seemed fine, definitely a few times the catcher went "oooohhh" on a close ball call but nothing that felt like any more than a normal reaction to me.

My main feedback for myself was I was definitely too focused on making sure the in-game calls went fine where I wasn't really focused on some of the game admin stuff, I wasn't tracking the lineup card too closely, didn't exactly count warmup pitches and am pretty sure I allowed two player conferences in one half-inning which I know is a new rule meant to prevent that. Fully aware of the importance of all of these for pace of play and/or keeping the game from falling into chaos, but I wanted to make sure I could walk before walking and chewing gum. There was also a bit of bench jockeying, but I had zero frame of reference for what was a normal bit of light banter vs something more serious so I just trusted the more experienced base umpire to judge when it was getting too strong. 

[orangebird]

Well everything has been largely uneventful so far...until yesterday where I took my first serious foul ball to the mask! I'm fine, seemingly not concussed...but my glasses split perfectly in two right at the bridge of the nose! Thankfully it came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh in a 5-run game where I just needed to squint my way through about five more pitches but yeah, can't say I expected that as an outcome for a foul ball to the mask.

[DevildogUmp]

10 hours ago, orangebird said:

Well everything has been largely uneventful so far...until yesterday where I took my first serious foul ball to the mask! I'm fine, seemingly not concussed...but my glasses split perfectly in two right at the bridge of the nose! Thankfully it came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh in a 5-run game where I just needed to squint my way through about five more pitches but yeah, can't say I expected that as an outcome for a foul ball to the mask.

This is why I wear my sexy, thick framed sports glasses behind the plate. I also keep an older backup pair of BCGs in the car for emergency use. Learned this the hard way when I lost my good glasses after coming off the plateand had to drive home wearing my prescription sunglasses in twilight.

[Velho]

3 hours ago, DevildogUmp said:

pair of BCGs

Nice. Haven't heard that one in a while.

[834k3r]

13 hours ago, Velho said:

Nice. Haven't heard that one in a while.

[wolfe_man]

20 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

I'm still mad at Diz-knee for ruining this show.  It started out with so much promise and then went off the rails.

[orangebird]

50 minutes ago, wolfe_man said:

I'm still mad at Diz-knee for ruining this show.  It started out with so much promise and then went off the rails.

Yeah I enjoyed it as what felt like a free-standing Star Wars project that required basically zero knowledge of the lore and then S2 started introducing characters from cartoons and other stuff and I felt pretty checked out after that

Also assuming BCG is backup car glasses?

[The Man in Blue]

5 hours ago, wolfe_man said:

I'm still mad at Diz-knee for ruining this show.  It started out with so much promise and then went off the rails.

 

4 hours ago, orangebird said:

Yeah I enjoyed it as what felt like a free-standing Star Wars project that required basically zero knowledge of the lore and then S2 started introducing characters from cartoons and other stuff and I felt pretty checked out after that

 

 

 

I have low expectations for the movie.

[834k3r]

20 hours ago, orangebird said:

Also assuming BCG is backup car glasses?

It's a term all veterans will know. BCG = Birth Control Glasses = Glasses whose frames were so thick they were practically indestructible. Also made for highly effective birth control because absolutely no one thought they looked nice.

The female versions had a similar name that I won't go into here.

[834k3r]

15 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

 

 

 

 

I have low expectations for the movie.

Since we're off the rails here, I will say my interest in Star Wars began waning when Loopy D decided to eliminate and ignore the dozens of books, declaring them non-canon.

[BLWizzRanger]

1 hour ago, 834k3r said:

Since we're off the rails here, I will say my interest in Star Wars began waning when Loopy D decided to eliminate and ignore the dozens of books, declaring them non-canon.

Puberty for me.  You know, girls.