[WindyCityBlue]

I will address this to those of you who can read...

I made it perfectly clear that it is conferring with your partners to correct a JUDGEMENT CALL or RULE INTERPRETATION is acceptable and the right thing to do. We see examples of this at the CWS and almost every week in MLB. Fan interference, foul balls, dropped catches and balks are all examples of calls that lead to these issues. This post began witha pulled foot and has moved away.

I worked an American Legion State Championship last year that had a play over ruled. One of my partners (6 man) called a balk because the kid turned his shoulder toward first to check the runner. He is a terrific umpire and works a lot of high school baseball. As we know, his call was wrong. I was crew chief and asked him what he saw. He explained and I told him that Legion ball is governed by the American League version of OBR. He made a mistake and agreed that we need to reverse it. We took heat from the fans and one coach road him hard the rest of the game, BUT WE GOT IT RIGHT.

Sure we do our best, but we mess up and it is up to us as ambassadors of the game to get the call right. Baseball is a sport that allows for appeals and assistance. I'm not asking anyone to hesitate or second guess a partner. I teach my clinicians that it is imperative that you get the call right. I am certain that I have gotten many calls wrong over the years. But, I can sleep at night because I was big enough to have my call corrected or diligent enough to correct my partner's erroneous call. Despite what many think, you get to work at this level because of the way you treat the game. There's plenty of time to sooth egos over a beer after the game. And yes, I've been the one that has had to buy the beer because of a bad call.