No. This is my favorite type of post. The guy who is upset because the ball clearly hit the plate before it went fair. And everyone knows that’s a foul ball.
Let’s not discourage that sort of unintended humor.
A running thread of local umpire frustration
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Let’s not discourage that sort of unintended humor.
Yeah sorry.
I am watching a thread on Facebook on a call in a game.... 500 posts in and only 30 people have the call right - and 20 of them have it right but for the wrong reason.
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- Jan 22, 2011
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An umpire I know has switched 100pct to doing volleyball.
A friend who umpires is banged up from being a catcher has had old injuries flare up which forced him go on the DL halfway through the high school season this year and last.
Another decided a couple years ago they willn't do more than two games a day.
Lots of the umpires I see doing games these days are guys who were doing games back in 2008 and weren't exactly spring chickens 13 years ago.
I try to cut younger umpires some slack because I see very few younger umpires in my area.
There is one younger blue my DD nicknamed "Hands" because in 10u when she got hit by a pitch in the wrist with her hands in the batter's box while pulling the bat back to avoid the ball, he called it a dead ball strike. When her coach asked if she got hit on the hands, the blue said yes and insisted the hands were part of the bat. Was annoyed because DD had a bone bruise and missed almost two weeks of softball, but now we chuckle about it.
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My umpire room has still has a lot of Vietman War vets.
I went to an umpire meeting the other night, there were about 60 umpires there, I was clearly one of the youngest.....and I'm 54.
I hope I’m one of the 30. Is it the SS playing a pop fly at 2nd but misses it because the baserunner standing on 2nd is in her way one? With the OP saying that after the ball hit the baserunner the SS caught the ball so they still got the out. That’s a classic.
I’m the youngest on our board at 46.
Not really part of this discussion but thought it was great a few nights ago. My DD was pitching in a HS game and threw a great curve ball on the black with two strikes on the batter. It was one of those pitches that's 50/50. One side is mad. The umpire called it a ball and just stayed in position shaking his head. Both sides laughing. Best thing he could have done.
Update from our games Wednesday (loss)/Thursday (win): No issues. The only small issue was a catcher's obstruction the umpire thought was a foul ball, but that's a missed call and those happen.
If I'm going to post when they're bad, it's only fair to point out when everything goes well.
And, for what it's worth, here's how I'm doing my part: I'm trying to get one of our boys who graduated last year into umpiring, and he's interested. His sister is on my team now, and I talk to her dad all the time (he is an AC for the baseball team, too). Our state association is doing what is essentially and umpire drive, and I sent them the info.
Coaches (and parents, even), try to get former players into umpiring. If 1 kid from every HS baseball/softball team who doesn't play beyond high school gets into umpiring, we no longer have a shortage. They don't all even have to have aspirations of umping at the highest levels. Rec needs umps, too. Middle and High School needs umps, too. It doesn't need to be an umpire's career for them to be good at it.
If I'm going to post when they're bad, it's only fair to point out when everything goes well.
And, for what it's worth, here's how I'm doing my part: I'm trying to get one of our boys who graduated last year into umpiring, and he's interested. His sister is on my team now, and I talk to her dad all the time (he is an AC for the baseball team, too). Our state association is doing what is essentially and umpire drive, and I sent them the info.
Coaches (and parents, even), try to get former players into umpiring. If 1 kid from every HS baseball/softball team who doesn't play beyond high school gets into umpiring, we no longer have a shortage. They don't all even have to have aspirations of umping at the highest levels. Rec needs umps, too. Middle and High School needs umps, too. It doesn't need to be an umpire's career for them to be good at it.
I wish I knew what fair pay for an umpire was. I know what we pay at the HS level (the assigner I have set the price, but I use that price even for umpires I get on my own; it's higher than what pretty much everyone else pays), and if the game is not a miserable slog, I think it's decent but obviously not going to make anybody rich. But we pay more than umps make for travel. We pay more than our state association pays for state tournament games, I think.
Also curious what the umpires think pay should be if doing a game solo. We used solo umps for varsity baseball/softball this week and we always use two. We paid a little extra. Not sure what the standard on something like that is.
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