Quote:
Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
No.
HHH,
I have to disagree with you, just a little...
I know you are a good umpire and enjoy reading your advice, but I travel all over the West and Midwest for my college ball and have never encountered another umpire signal an uncaught third strike. (Am I to assume you are making the "Safe/No Catch" signal?)
At this level, we rarely encounter the guy that is unaware of the drop or the catcher that won't fire it to first.
On a swinging third strike that is not caught, signal it and take your mask off. That is all that either team needs to know. Most of us remove our masks anyway when a ball is in the dirt and a play will ensue. Witha called third, hopefully our younger umpires aren't calling it until a second after it hits the mitt, you'll have a different approach to your "Punch out". Signal the call like a swinging third strike - i.e. closed fist up and out. Take yur mask off and watch what happens.
Much like we don't call "Ball Four, take your base" or "Strike Three, You're Out!", we shouldn't do too overt of an action to assist a player.
I'm sure that you meant well with this and maybe I'm missing something, but a lot of our younger members might get the wrong idea. (Especially with leagues that wish they had catchers who could hold a pitch!)
All the best to you and if you want a laugh or two, check out the latest soap opera on the Football Board about overruling your partner. He just couldn't let it go.
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WCB;
Yes, I give the safe/no catch signal. So do most of the top umpires in the area in which I work. (Their signal may vary, but they announce their decision.) Some, like me, verbalize it as well. We only do this when there is some doubt such as when the catcher short hops the ball. Likewise, when he catches it on the fly but there is some doubt, I verbalize "That's a catch."
I am not assisting the player. I am telling everyone on the field what I have, even if I am wrong. It is no different than a shoestring catch in right field. As the base umpire, I tell the players "Catch" or "No catch."
Suppose I think that the catcher short hopped the ball when he thinks that he caught it. If I signal no catch, he makes a simple throw to first or tags the runner and there is no crap house. OTOH, if he thinks that he caught it and I disagree and do not make a call, now we have a third world play on our hands.
Preventative umpiring, that's all. Your method, Windy, was popular here until about ten years ago. Then, at the directive of umpire big dogs. we were told to inform the players of what we had. Even if they disagreed with us, they had plenty of time to make a play and therefore we did not get into an argument.
Peter