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Originally Posted by ToGreySt
couple of things, what do you guys think about calling strikes from a knee. it is something that I would love to try, I really like the idea of being sure that I will always see the zone exactly the same way every time. being a new guy, I know I have a problem getting a consistant lock-in mechanism and I watched the CLE-BOS game last night with Wally bell behind the plate and i got to thinking if that was something I could do. obviously I am aware of the main problem that in a 2-man system I do have a lot of ground to cover.
also, as an aside, do any of you call games wearing sunglasses behind the plate, any pro-cons you guys have observed?
thanks,
Joe
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Joe,
Wally Bell is the only umpire in MLB that continues to work the knee. Runge, McClelland, and Brinkman have all stopped working the knee. Runge now uses a very deep scissors in which his knee nearly touches the ground, but does not. I think in McClelland's and Brinkman's cases, that they found it more and more difficult to bounce up from as they have gotten older. That's just speculation on my part, but it makes sense.
When I was younger, I could spring up from the knee just fine, but unless you stay in really good shape, it's a bit harder to quickly get up and get to your position. Especially working 2-Man.
Sunglasses are fine, but I have trouble with pulling them off my face when I take my HSM off on every play. Every now and then I yank my glasses off along with the helmet, so I usually don't wear them behind the plate anymore.