Baseball

Hammerin’ Hank 715

It was perhaps the most sacred of all of baseball’s sacred records, but when Hank Aaron launched long ball number 715, he became baseball’s...

Reality of Calling A Checked Swing

Many umpires would agree that there are very few judgment calls in baseball that are tougher to make than a checked swing. Whether you are the plate umpire...

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...

You Say It Best When You Say Nothing At All

I’ve always felt the following are some of the greatest sayings relating to speaking: “You can’t be misquoted for something when you say nothing.”...

Balk This Way

In many cases, not much happens after a balk. The runners get to advance one base, a defensive coach may squawk, but all playing...

Oh What a Relief it is

During the 2017 MLB season, 61 percent of the innings were pitched by the starting pitchers. That left over one-third of the innings for...

8 Ways to Avoid Perception Issues

It’s always useful to review a few perception issues that can get umpires off on the wrong foot at the start of a contest or create negative feelings...

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...

Improve Your View of the Play

When an article says that using your eyes properly will improve your umpiring skills, your immediate reaction is probably, “No kidding.” But upon closer inspection, many umpires...