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TOPIC: Umpires |
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| Old Timer
June 23, 2010
11:19:50 AM
Entry #: 3511260
| Since someone started it I will roll around on here a bit with some more more as in my opinions as to why there are hardly any umpires around here who are even just ok much less good.
Comments I have heard like the following from umpires the past couple seasons could sum up a lot in terms of why there are hardly any good umpires at all.
"It was a discretionary call." What in the hell does that mean any way?!?!?!?
"Even though he may have been trying to deceive the runner I did not view it as a balk." The purpose of the balk rule is to prevent pitchers from deceiving the runner!!!!
"Hold on...stay right here." (3-0 count) A fine example of many that most umpires think everyone is there to see and hear them which as ball players we absolutely know is not ever the case.
"Why do I need to be foul line extended on that play." Because that is what your umpire hand book says you are suppose to do.
"That is the bottom of my strike zone." A ball is a ball and a strike is a strike, it is not your strike zone it is the one that is printed in your umpire hand book!!!!!
"That is the top of my strike zone." Again it is not your strike zone...a ball is a ball and a strike is a strike!
"That is not strike today." Will it be one tomorrow or the next day?
"From my angle he was safe."...fine and good if you are in the correct position but if you are in the wrong position then what you are basically saying is I had a bad look therefore I could not tell if he was out so I called him safe."
Bottom line is too many damn umpires go for the cool points but hey that is what they are taught in their clinics and through their red manual hand books. They are taught to run and move around like an umpire in order to look good but the problem is no one cares.
Umpires in general spend too much time trying to do every thing by their little hand book instead of getting the calls right.
Simply stated you can't take a guy who was never a good athlete to begin with and one who probably never even stepped on a baseball field to play it and then expect them to run around and do every thing by the book all the while getting calls right....it just can't happen.
With that being said one does not have to have played the game to be a good umpire. However, in order to be a good umpire here is what I would tell any umpire and these are the things that 90% of the guys we see lack.
1) Be approachable and don't think it is all about you.
2) Call a consistent strike zone and keep it there for an entire game
3) Don't call balls and strikes too early such as but not limited to just as the ball is hitting the mitt.
4) Hustle and act like you want to be there and if you don't want to be there try to pretend you do.
5) Don't self interprut things
6) You can fool the fans but not the players meaning don't come up with some BS excuse for some mistake you made as you will garner more respect if you just softly say you blew the call.
7) Be in atleast close to a correct angle to make a call.
8) It is not at all about cool points so stop trying to be so damn cool....all we do is laugh at you and think you are a donkey.
9) Don't have ears in the dugouts and know the difference between when someone is getting on you or talking at you and not to you....if you don't know what that means then you will probably never be a good umpire
10) You are the only cat on the field who gets paid to be there but don't act like it!
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| Jim Joyce
June 23, 2010
12:04:33 PM
Entry #: 3511307
| You summed it up nicely OT!
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| scrappy_coco
June 23, 2010
12:40:12 PM
Entry #: 3511348
| Couple thoughts O'Timer....
For the majority of this post you argue that umpires seem to be stretching the rulebook a tad and doing things their own way.
For example.... "it was a discretionary call," "the balk comment" and "because that is what your umpire hand book says you are supposed to do," "That is the bottom of my strike zone. A ball is a ball and a strike is a strike, it is not your strike zone it is the one that is printed in your umpire hand book!!!!! That is the top of my strike zone. Again it is not your strike zone...a ball is a ball and a strike is a strike!"
Now I agree with you on these points.
However, you move on to say, "Umpires in general spend too much time trying to do everything by their little hand book instead of getting the calls right."
Seems pretty evident that you completely contradicted yourself.
Care to clean up this mess...?
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| Old Timer
June 23, 2010
3:38:40 PM
Entry #: 3511520
| Yeah I will clean up the confusion.
What I should have said was in their little hand book it talks about how to run like an umpire, and a bunch of other nuances that no one cares about....that is what I meant.
Do you know that "if one is truly serious about being an umpire it is a MUST to remove your mask when working the plate with your left hand."
Did you know that unless an umpire is going to get baseballs they should never enter into or go to a teams dugout?
Did you know that it is "imperative" for umpires in communicating to their partner to be loud enough so people/fans outside the fences can hear their communication?
Did you know that there is only one correct method to signal foul ball?
Did you know that every time a ball comes back to you from wherever you have to inspect it by looking at it to make sure it is not damaged feeling the ball in your hand is not good enough.
Dude I could go on and on and on especially in terms of positioning to make calls, how you stand, how you move from one slot to the other and a host of other crapola that baseball guys would never think of nor care to think about.
We just want the simple things done correctly and if one does those they will probably garner our respect and probably make more calls correctly.
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| Tiny Arch
June 23, 2010
4:09:54 PM
Entry #: 3511547
| Old Timer...it seems like you ought to become an ump. I'll look forward to you positioning yourself in the correct place on every play. Who knows, maybe I'll even see you ump a World Series.
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| scrappy_coco
June 23, 2010
4:27:54 PM
Entry #: 3511560
| Thanks for clearing that up OT.
Arch thats a good idea. Even so, how great would it be if he umped the honorary All-Star game?
And while were at it, let's have Old Timer throw out the first pitch of the State Championship game in August....
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| Old Timer
June 23, 2010
7:40:57 PM
Entry #: 3511693
| Hey I tired to ump but Northwest denied my application because I did not try out good enough in a Siebert Fall League game.
I did 6 things correctly and 44 things wrong so I guess I just plain suck donkey as an umpire.
As far as throwing out the first pitch in August that would be realllllly neato but hopefully my teammates and I will be playing in the B tourney thinking about all the "new generation" clubs in A that are getting ready to knock down all comers.
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| brandonwarne52
July 21, 2010
10:02:00 AM
Entry #: 3531976
| The umpires have been piss poor in the Skyline League. I play 1st for the team that I'm on, so I get to routinely converse with opposing players, and they all agree.
Yeah, I don't play on a good team. We don't make all of the plays, but that doesn't exempt the umpires from making the right calls. It's been downright ridiculous this season, whereas it's been just bad in previous seasons.
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| LetRoseInHOF
July 21, 2010
1:46:57 PM
Entry #: 3532166
| St. Paul umps started out pretty rocky this year, they are still blowing some calls at first, but the strike zones have been pretty consistent as of late.
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| Old Timer
July 21, 2010
10:16:46 PM
Entry #: 3532555
| Bottom line is no matter what organization of umpires we are talking about there just are very few good ones.
Here is one for you guys......the guy doing the dish last night at Chaska was absolutely terrible however that had nothing to do with us getting 10 runned by Victoria!!!!!!
Our four hitter who plays DI gets called out on a third strike with two guys on and he politely states his displeasure with the call NOW GET THIS......dish boy says "it was borderline."
"BORDERLINE?!?!?!?!?" I have heard it all from umpires now I think yet they never cease to amaze me.
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| Boner Jr.
July 21, 2010
11:42:26 PM
Entry #: 3532608
| The umps are fine. I've seen one game ever decided by an umpire (thanks Larry F'ing Gallagher).
If you think the strike zone is gay then learn to hit gay pitches.
Hey OT, remember when I fell asleep and drove my
motorcycle into a cornfield and came out with warm cornbread?
Jim Botten
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| tall & lanky
July 22, 2010
9:15:27 AM
Entry #: 3532753
| haha (ialto) - classic Botten... ol' Monty Burns (as I like to call him) is probably still playing on 3 softball teams down in AZ, and that doesnt even count his winter league. Actually, if you listen hard enough you can hear his 4 bats clinking together as swings them while warming up on the on-deck circle.
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| Old Timer
July 25, 2010
2:14:45 AM
Entry #: 3534661
| J Bott.....MY MAN!
However everyone needs to be aware of the "townships weside affiliate" feeder system THE INFAMOUS "ROBERT STREET BOMBADERSOS" AND 15 HR HITTING FELIPE TORRES who by the way comes off the bench and hits jizzzzacks.....
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| Old Timer
July 26, 2010
12:06:40 AM
Entry #: 3535262
| Hey now that I think about it back in the late 80's as a member of Hamel we played JBotten and I am pitching.
I see a gray haired cat clicking four aluminums together in the on deck circle all the while with serious gun boats for arms and I am thinking to myself "what in the hell is this old man doing out here?"
Back then I threw pretty good cheddar.
Low and behold he gets a knock off me and I can't believe it.
Being "grandfathered" in, he removes his helmet hands it to the first base coach and puts his lid on to run the bases.
Back then certain guys did not have to wear a helmet on the paths similar to hockey and JBott obvioulsy qualified.
Not sure if the rules have changed but I may qaulify for being grandfaterhed in should I ever get on base again I am going to ask if I can wear my lid instead of the helmet.
J Botten forget more about baseball then so many young pukes today even know and he would probably punch someone in the face who was talking about "west side AFFILIATED feeder systems" for the FREAKIN TOWNSHIP CLUB.
JBotts would probably start on that team right now even rolling off his couch!
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