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Originally posted by PeteBooth
I'd like to recap my season and see what you take from each and every season to improve and give YOU Yourself and Honest evaluation.
One thing I've learned is that the strike zone is that which is accepted by the leagues in which we umpire. Also, there are book rules and rules that the League itself adopts like special ground rules.
We discuss many a ruling and varied issues here on the net but how does that apply in reality?
1. The strike zone - We can all talk about the book zone and have a heated debate on whether to extend it, shrink it or just plain ignore it, but the truth is: The leagues that pay us determine how we are to call the zone...
I watched my partner and what his zone was and starting with my 4th assignment I improved dramatically and started calling the game that suited them. Along those lines are the neighborhood play - again accepted practice for higher leagues.
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I think that you have to consider whether you are officiating various levels of ball or if you are moving up to a higher level. If you are new to a league coaches are more likely to try to get on you. It is good advice to bounce your strike zone off more experienced umpires to discover if it is or isn't appropriate for that level.
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2. Base Awards - My suggestion - Do not get hung up on the book definition. I umpired in one field in which all base awards (from no matter where) was one base. RE: DBT was only about 5-6 ft on either side of first / third so just about every over-throw went into DBT. Again, these people are paying me so who cares.
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Club Rules cannot supercede book rules. I agree it might seem awkward to be the only umpire calling it by the book but I would at least let the coaches know that a club rule is in fact not legal. I had a Little League where there was also a small area beyond the infield foul lines. Coaches wanted the ball hitting the fence to be a one-base award but I told them there was no such animal.
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What have you learned from your past season that you would like to improve on or share with others to aid them in their development. - Pete Booth
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I think getting to games really early like 45 minutes before rather than our association's 20-30 minutes allowed me to relax more easilly. I also learned that it is dumb to umpire while you are having an attack of kidney stones but since it was the first time this happened I wasn't really sure what was going on. I think it helped to be even more approachable than in the past as long as the coach wants to talk and does not become argumenative. - Jim/NYC