[His High Holiness]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Carl Childress

Mr. Obsorne:

Probably you don't have your PBUC manual at work. (grin) When you get home this evening, check out 8.8 to see what the VERY current (2000) edition has to say about where the umpire stands with runners on the corners.

I just talked to Garrett Prestwood who attended the Jim Evans Pro School in 2001. He insists that the B position was taught for runners on the corners. I can check with a D1 conference umpire who attended pro school in 2001 if you need further confirmation. Further, if you check the UDP manual section 7, you will see that position B is the position listed.

I don't have a copy of the 2000 PBUC manual. It appears that we have a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. I can, however, assure you that in August 2000, at a single A minor league game in the Carolina League that I attended at Prince William County Stadium, the base umpire worked position B with runners on 1st and 3rd.

What we have here is a classic case of the poor journeyman umpire having to check out for himself what actually occurs on the field. You absolutely cannot believe what you see in print or what big dogs say about how they work. Only by going to the field and watching real umpires work can one determine what the true state of affairs is.

Carl did not intentionally mislead anyone. His only sin (g) was to believe what he read in a book. In umpiring, this can be a fatal mistake. You must confirm what you read or hear from a big dog, with what you actually see on a baseball field. Too often, it is not the same thing.

Peter