Baseball
When To Stop A Game
When to stop a game because of darkness or weather are among the toughest calls of an umpire's career. Next to those, you might think...
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...
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...
Optimal Positioning at Home Plate
The evolution of the mechanics of calling plays at home plate has been fascinating to observe.
Plate umpires can make decisions on 250 to 300...
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...
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.”...
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...
