Baseball
Eye Didn’t Miss It
Umpiring a baseball game is full of visual challenges. Some are unusual and others are more common. In a recent game, the uninformed runner...
How Should We Relate To Catchers?
A long-standing topic of debate in baseball circles is how we should relate to catchers. There are several schools of thought.
I’ve heard some umpires...
Been There, Done That
One of the hallmarks of Referee is the willingness to publish articles offering advice on how officials can advance in their particular sports. In...
Hit by Pitch Doesn’t Always Mean a Base Award
The earliest umpires didn’t have much of a decision to make when a batter was hit by a pitch. A pitch hitting the batter’s...
11 Hacks for Onfield Umpires
With a new baseball season rolling along, here are a few tips and hacks involving plate work that can help you out as an...
Supplemental Signals
On a force play when the ball initially beat the runner, but the fielder had leaped or pulled his foot off the base to...
So You Say You Want Games?
Ispent years as an umpire assigner from Little League to major college and, of course, I worked for my fair share. All have pet...
The Mindset of a Successful Umpire
Consider the top umpires at any level. What mindset do they have? How do they get it? For me, the key ingredients for the...
Always Assume You Are Being Assessed
For roughly the first half of my amateur umpiring career — which lasted from 1966-2016 — umpires could go about their business without having to deal with rating...
Collision Course
An area that has received a lot of attention in recent years from rules committees at various levels of baseball involves malicious collisions between...
Seeing Is Believing
No matter what umpiring mechanics are being used in a particular game — whether it’s a single umpire working a youth baseball game or...
Here’s Your Sign
During its annual June meeting, held virtually for the second consecutive year due to the ongoing COIVD-19 pandemic, the NFHS Baseball Rules Committee voted...
Anything But (Base)ic
Just as we can have rough days on the plate, we can have base games where it seems we’d be better off to flip...
Level Up?
Many new umpires want to advance to the major college ranks. Some will, most won’t. Some who fall by the wayside will be perfectly...
‘Feel It’ at First Base
While extra education at camp is invaluable for umpires who are dedicated to working on their craft and/or looking to advance to a higher...
Do More, See More With Better Positioning
Does your association have “good umpires”? Certainly it does. But are there a few umpires acknowledged to be better than the rest of the...
Listen Up to Go Up
“Keep your mouth shut and listen.”
Although it sounds harsh, it might be one of the most important pieces of advice an aspiring umpire can...
Detecting When a Player is Hit by the Pitch
Determining whether a batter was hit by a pitch can sometimes be a challenge for the plate umpire. Sometimes an umpire will have to...
From Zoned Out to Zen Master
In the 1984 College World Series, I had the plate in a semifinal game. Pitch one was a slider on the edge of home...
Trip Advisor
The emphasis on pace of play in both pro and NCAA has resulted in significant changes to the traditional rules on conferences to include...
Dig into a new DH
The NFHS Baseball Rules Committee opted for just one rule change during its annual meeting in June in Indianapolis. But it is significant and...
Lineup Language
College baseball will feature several new wrinkles during the 2021 season as a result of rule changes approved by the NCAA during the offseason.
The...
The Way We’ll Play Today
B
aseball is unique in the fact its playing confines are not always specifically spelled out by the rulebook.
Yes, at the NFHS, college and pro...
Hip, Hip No Way: Yankees vs. Dodgers 1978 World Series
Reggie Jackson earned the nickname Mr. October because of his bat. But a baserunning play swung the 1978 World Series in favor of Jackson’s...
