Quote:
Originally posted by Carl Childress
Quote:
Originally posted by Tim C
Rich you beat me to it!
I was going to say, "in my area CC, we always place the least competent umpire of the crew on the plate in big games, less likely his performance will bite your crew in their collective butts!"
|
Well, we'd like you and Rich to hustle down here and try out for our association. We're short umpires for our Freshmen and JV games.
Seriously, I don't understand the comment, even in jest. Rich, you put at the plate the guy who can't get to third? Our plate umpire covers third in several instances: bases empty triple, R1 and ball go to third on a base hit, R2 tags on a fly and goes to third, R2 goes to third on a throw across the infield, and (optional) R2 goes to third when F1 picks off and the throw goes into the outfield.
Of course, if your comments related to a four-man crew, you're entitled to your opinion. We use two-man crews until the play-offs, when we'll switch to four. Our last district games are played on 3 May this year.
We don't decide where the umpires go; that's the province of the coaches. They flip a coin, and the winner picks where the series starts. Almost all choose to start away, so they get the double-header on their field. That toss also sets the umpires: The "losing" coach wins second and the plate. The "winning" coach gets third and first. We rotate once for the second game. PU goes to third, etc.
If there's a third game, (always immediately after the first), they flip again. We have had instances where the plate umpire of the second game is chosen also as the plate umpire of the third game. The coach who lost the first toss wins the second. He gets to choose whether he wants the second-base umpire to have to plate. I've had that double-header twice in thirty years.
Umpires aren't assigned until the state tournament, where there are four schools in each division competing for the championship.
It appears that our coaches are somewhat less cavalier about who calls the plate than is obviously the case in your areas.
|
My original comment was completely in jest, but obviously you are short a sense of humor. Big surprise, there.
I don't care how you folks choose your playoff umpires. It's obvious the rats run the show where you live and you are (talent and experience aside) the beneficiary of such a system. I could come down there and be the best technical umpire around, but without such familiarity I'd be sitting home come playoff time.
Believe it or not, regional umpires are hired by the teams where we live and, GASP, we decide as a crew who's working what position. If a coach ever tried to tell me who was going to work the plate, I'd probably start laughing and ask him if he was already trying to work ME.
I don't work freshman and JV games, sorry. Can't help you.