Baseball

10 Tips to Move Up the College Baseball Ranks

An umpire buddy was planning a presentation to a high school umpires association on how to advance to the college level and asked me...

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...

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...

Reducing Apparel Costs Works For Umpire Recruitment

The Fox Valley Blues Umpires Association (FVB) is a baseball umpires association in the Chicago metropolitan area which has been in steady growth mode...

Don’t Take a Knee When Calling Pitches or Plays

Don’t take a knee. No, I’m not referencing protests during the national anthem. I mean don’t take a knee when calling pitches or plays....

Tips for Handling Baseball Time Limits

While there are some pace-of-play initiatives introducing a clock to the game of baseball, the traditional game doesn’t worry about a clock the same...

Find Those Stray Baseballs

Before a half-inning begins, remember to check the field and backstop for stray baseballs. That’s especially important before the top of the first inning....

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...

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...

How to Shine Behind the Plate

With baseball's spring training upon us, I wanted to cover a few things involving plate work that helped me out a lot in my...

Proper Path

In the top of the seventh inning in Game 6 of the World Series on Oct. 29, 2019, the Washington Nationals had Yan Gomes...

Manage Dead Time for the Right Pace

Baseball is played without a clock, but increasing game times are very much on the minds of many involved with overseeing the game, particularly...

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...

Changing a Call

For many years, an umpire changing a call was considered a sign of weakness. The current thinking at all levels of play is that...

Timing Is Everything

“Timing is everything!” That expression is cemented when it comes to baseball umpiring. You can read rulebooks, study mechanics, go to camps and clinics...

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...

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...

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...

Not Dead Yet

When a ball becomes dead, such as one thrown into the stands, it is usually obvious. There are instances though where an act occurs...

No Place For Intentional Pitches at Batters

On Aug. 16, 1920, in a game against the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds, Cleveland shortstop Roy Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch...

Catcher You Later

By Jon Bible 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...

Routines Rule

Over the years, I found that the best way to stay focused and lessen the chance of a screw-up is to go through a...

Nail the Postseason Transition to a Larger Crew

As high school baseball enters the postseason, umpires face a major transition beyond the mere increased intensity of the games. In many states, the arrival of postseason play brings...