Quote:
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Originally Posted by Tim C
[B]
Taking your mask off with your right hand has NOTHING to do with your quality as an umpire.
As long as the mask is quickly moved to your left hand (so during an out call you aren't jabbing the mask around) there is NO DIFFERENCE of which hand was used.
This is the type comment is the "easy out" used by evaluators to separate the field.
Please don't tell me you can evaluate an umpire's performance simply by which of his hands first touches his mask.
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Hopefully, friends may disagree on this.
I have seen first hand how taking off the mask with the right hand can cause (and did) cause a huge sh!t storm.
4A district play-offs. Winner goes to state, loser goes home. Visitors up by one. Bottom of 7, twos out, R3. R3 has been getting a bigger and bigger lead. For whatever reason, decides to steal home and is off on the pitch.
PU steps back to 3BLX and, (go through the steps with me here) 1. takes off his mask with his right hand. 2. Transfers the mask to his left hand in front of his body. 3. Rings up R3.
Here is what EVERYBODY in the stadium saw: PU calls runner safe and then when catcher throws ball to ground, PU calls runner out.
The transfer looked precisely like a safe call....both hands came together in fron of the PU and then separated.
After tagging the runner, the catcher lobbed the ball to the ground, as the PU signals out.
Holy crap, did we have "issues" and it took every bit of restraint possible to not toss the home coach after the final out of the game.
Yes, taking the mask of with the proper hand will remain part of our evaluation.