Baseball
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Pass Judgment
If two runners pass each other on the basepath, one of them is out. The out is immediate, just as if a tag had...
When ‘Time’ is Right
Most baseball games are routine in terms of the calls the umpires must make. We know the plate umpire has to call balls and...
Dead Ball Ground Rules Needed For Quirky Ballfields
Very few baseball fields are identical. While infields are all alike, size-wise, the shape of the outfield will vary and the alignment of outfield...
Double the Trouble
Unlike in football and basketball where referees must determine the legality of athletes crashing into each other on almost every play, baseball is a...
Homeward Bound
By George Demetriou
Grand larceny is a term used to designate theft that is large in magnitude. Grand larceny can be contrasted with petty larceny, theft that is...
Use Your Head With Doubleheaders
By Jon Bible
Doubleheaders (DH) can be the bane of an umpire’s existence. At the most basic level, a DH just means two games instead of one, whether of...
Abandonment
A walk-off is a run-scoring event in the bottom half of the last inning of the game that gives the home team the win....
