Baseball
It’s High Time to Talk Timing
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mpires always stress the importance of good timing behind the plate (and on the bases, but that’s a topic for another day). But to...
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...
Progression of Responsibilities Helps Simplify Rulings
This past summer I had the opportunity to attend an evaluation camp for umpires looking to advance their collegiate careers. The camp schedule called...
Players Can Drop Clues to Help On Tough Calls
I didn’t get away with much as a kid. If I’d broken a family heirloom or eaten the last piece of pie, I’d crack under even the...
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...
Grab Those Borderline Pitches and Help Your Game
I once worked a college game with an umpire with the proverbial postage-stamp strike zone. It lasted three hours, 31 minutes, and featured as much head-shaking by pitchers and...
Head of the Class
Early in my umpiring career I took a cavalier approach to the rules. I got by because I had played the game and knew...
Just Deal With It!
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f umpiring were simply confined to ball/strike, fair/foul and safe/out rulings, it would still be a game fraught with disagreements about arbiter judgments, but...
Handling Interference by Spectators, Coaches and Umpires
Interference in a baseball game does not happen very often and some umpires are ill prepared to deal with it. Getting the uncommon plays...
Whether to Play During Weather?
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any an umpire could undoubtedly double as a meteorologist if it ever became necessary. The only thing we seem to study more than the...
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...
Special Rules Apply When a Runner Misses Home
In order to legally score a run, a runner must touch the plate, the same as the requirement to touch any other base. However,...
Get Out of the Way, Blue!
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or many umpires, their definition of a job well done includes being able to walk off the field without anyone really noticing they were...
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...
The Stands Have Eyes
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or roughly the first half of my amateur umpiring career — which lasted from 1966-2016 — umpires could go about their business without having...
Sorry, ‘Charlie’
If you’re new to umpiring (and maybe if you’re not), you might think rules should be enforced literally, no matter the circumstances. After all,...
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...
Order of Operations
Some umpires are unabashed about their love of double plays; they do serve to shorten the inning. Double plays can occur in a variety...
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....
