Baseball
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...
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...
Not All Double Plays Are Created Equal
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...
Tips for When You Struggle on the Bases
What do you do when you’re struggling on the bases? We’re all going to have bang-bang plays where we do everything right but freeze-frame...
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...
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...
Rungs of the ladder
In my time as a minor league and collegiate umpire and supervisor, I was often asked what umpires should do to move up the...
Always Assume You Are Being Assessed
For roughly the first half of my amateur umpiring career — which lasted from 1966-2016 — umpires could go about their business without having to deal with rating...
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...
No Happy Accidents
Last summer, I was working the bases as part of a two-person crew when it became apparent the defensive team was thinking about making...
An Inside Perspective On Evaluation Camps
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ne of the hallmarks of Referee is the willingness to publish articles offering advice on how officials can advance in their particular sports. In...
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...
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...
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...
Come to Terms With Definitions
This winter, I was approached by the leadership of my local high school umpires association about serving as a classroom instructor in preparing brand-new...
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...
The Debate: Hammer or Point?
By Mike Droll
Whether it’s at an umpiring clinic, professional umpiring school or just learning from a buddy who is getting you ready for your...
‘Feel It’ at First Base
While extra education at camp is invaluable for umpires who are dedicated to working on their craft and/or looking to advance to a higher...
On Your Mark, Get Set … Stay There
Recently, I came across a couple of film clips taken from major league games played decades ago. In one, an umpire called a tag...
11 Hacks for Onfield Umpires
With a new baseball season rolling along, here are a few tips and hacks involving plate work that can help you out as an...
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...
Pick the Proper Protocol with Pitchers
Every umpire will encounter pitchers who aren’t happy with him or her. I had a generous strike zone, but even so a pitcher would...
Which Strike Do I Get?
An old adage that we hear from time to time is, “When in doubt, call ’em out.”
While that is a myth that shouldn’t be...
