Cleaning the Plate - Time or No Time?

[Velho]

Do you always call time when brushing home plate? If not, under what conditions do you call time? Only if there a R3?

[JonnyCat]

If I'm getting my plate brush out, unless there are no runners on, I will call time 100% of the time. As soon as I grab my plate brush, and start walking out in front of home plate, I'll throw my hands up and call time. It takes no extra time to do this, and prevents any possible shenanigans.

I can't understand why we even have people against calling time in this situation. It does no harm what-so-ever, and can prevent a SH*#storm.

I'm not opposed to someone not calling time, I'm just opposed to those saying you should not ever call time to brush off the plate.

[urout17]

Personally, I don't call time.  Mostly because I'm working with a partner or two and the players are usually taking off their Barry Bonds armor in exchange for their oven mitts.  I do not work LL games so I could see how that could be an issue on a smaller field. I do it quickly and have never had a problem. JMO.

[MadMax]

21 hours ago, JonnyCat said:

I'm not opposed to someone not calling time, I'm just opposed to those saying you should not ever call time to brush off the plate.

You’re now dining at the very table I frequent – Context & Imperatives. 

If/when an umpire calls Time, at the close of the play, I (as a developer / trainer / etc.) immediately identify the context. I would exhaust you guys with the different scenarios and contexts that we collectively encounter, so to your point – absolute imperatives serve no benefit to anyone. 

However, what I do not want to see is an umpire – especially a PU – call Time as a crutch to get back to / goto next position, or to perform some frivolous, tertiary-level “duty”… such as (directing to) moving a batting weight, retrieving a loose baseball, being brought spare baseballs, ushering a player back into the dugout… or brushing the plate because some fence-fans are sqwaking about it. 
Instead, what we should be doing is keeping the ball Live as much as possible, and conjoining tertiary-level duties to instances when the ball becomes Dead. 
HBP, Foul-ball that takes fielders out of position, Home-Run (over the fence), Runner requests Time to discard equipment, Runner or Fielder requests Time to tie their shoe 🤨… these are perfect instances to then perform one or several of those tertiary duties… Including brush the plate! 

[BigBlue4u]

And here's a thought.  When you do brush the plate, do it with enthusiasm.  I've seen some guys dust the plate and they look tired when doing it.  And, what about kicking off dust with your shoe?  My guideline was, if  i could clean it with no more than two sweeps of my foot, OK. Otherwise, I use my brush

[Kevin_K]

I rarely call time to clean the plate. Most of the games I work are on HS varsity and JUCO/D3 with partners who are generally attentive and the majority of those games are played on turf so there's no real need to clean the plate in many instances.

I have to admit that it irks me to see the reflexive timeout every time a partner cleans the plate. I get that it's no big deal, but I am of the philosophy of keeping the ball in play as much as possible. It's akin to not calling time to throw - toss really - the ball from F6 to F1 after a ball goes to the outfield.

I lose no sleep over this and only mention it if my partner asks me for feedback after the game.

[eddieq]

Softball guy here - the USA Softball umpire manual specifically directs us that if time hasn't been declared, to call time in order to clean the plate or the pitcher's plate.

Quote

Cleaning Home Plate or the Pitcher’s Plate: If time has not been declared, call “time”. Move to a position facing the backstop with your back to field of play. Use your brush to clean the plate using short, crisp strokes.

So yes, I call time when cleaning the plate, but I'm not making a huge deal out of it.  A crisp hands up and "Time!" then I do my duties there and get right back into position and we roll.

[The Man in Blue]

If the ball is already dead, it is already dead.  There is no reason to make any proclamation.

If there are no runners on, there is no reason to announce you are about to bend over.

If there is a runner anywhere and the ball is in a live (but relaxed) state, CALL TIME.  

 

I've told it before, and I'll tell it again (though I am sure the details fade each time).  Early in my career and I'm working a double header with a new (but good and experienced) partner.  I had plate the first game.  During our between game swap out, he asks me "Why do you call time when you go to brush the plate?  Everybody knows what is happening."  I shrugged and called it a habit.

During the second game, he has plate.  With play relaxed (LIVE!) and a runner on third, he comes around to clean plate.  As he is sweeping the plate off, R3 comes sliding past him.  The defense starts squawking (of course).  He settles everybody down and comes to me for a quick meeting.  The first thing I said was, "That's why I call time."  The second was, "I didn't call time.  So, unless you did, I have a live ball and a run scoring."  Fun!

[BigBlue4u]

On 6/23/2026 at 12:24 PM, Velho said:

Do you always call time when brushing home plate? If not, under what conditions do you call time? Only if there a R3?

I did not call time when brushing the plate.  What I did do is know where any runners were and, especially, where the ball was.  I never felt it was necessary to go through all the motions of calling "time" then putting the ball back in play for a job that, at most, would take about five seconds.

[Velho]

17 minutes ago, BigBlue4u said:

I never felt it was necessary to go through all the motions of calling "time" then putting the ball back in play for a job that, at most, would take about five seconds.

Makes sense and appreciate the response.

So you didn't call time thinking there simply wouldn't be any plays, or let's keep the ball alive because that's or we get outs and my partner(s) have got it covered?

Did that hold with R3 as well?

[BigBlue4u]

1 hour ago, Velho said:

Makes sense and appreciate the response.

So you didn't call time thinking there simply wouldn't be any plays, or let's keep the ball alive because that's or we get outs and my partner(s) have got it covered?

Did that hold with R3 as well?

Yes.  As I said, I must know where the runners are, what they are doing and where the ball is and what the holder of the ball is doing.  That gives me a pretty accurate picture of the situation.  If I do see runners off their base, or a fielder holding a ball, THEN I will call "time" to dust off the plate.  It also applies with R3.  Obvious situations pretty much dictate themselves.  As an example, with a runner at third and the pitcher holding the ball looking at his catcher, it would be unlikely that the runner would attempt to advance to home.