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Originally Posted by GoodwillRef
why is it different is baseball? Are umpires just bull headed?
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I don't know if I really care for it to be either way, but I know my wife does, she hates baseball and the way it allows men to act.
The difference between baseball and every other sports is that it is the only sport that allows a coach to come out and potentially argue ever play. You would probably run any coach that did, but by rule he could.
Over time umpires and the game have adapted to meet the acceptable needs of the game. Look at how the strike zone was called 10 years ago vs now. The rule book didn't change regarding the zone, but the desire to call it by rule did.
If we as umpires didn't use certain standards and mechanics, we would create more problems for ourselves than we want. Ex. Umpires start jumping in and correcting our partners without them asking. This creates an illusion that our partners can't handle their job and it cause an increase in the visits to them by coaches. The coach might even use our actions against our partner, and we just lead to an increase in ejections.
If you want to make things better and get things right and increase crew communication in baseball umpiring, then you yourself have to be more willing to seek help, even without being asked.
Ex. I was working a DI game where the score was 3-2 bases loaded and a HR ball was hit right down the right field line. I was U1 and I went down the line. It was this month in one of those cold grey fogged bay area games I was talking about. When I turned I got set early in an attempt to find the ball. I NEVER SAW THE BALL AFTER I TURNED TO GO OUT ON IT. Let me be clear, it wasn't that I saw it and couldn't tell if it was fair/foul. I never picked it up again. I did everything I was suppose to do, mechanics were text book, I just couldn't find it.
I heard it hit foul, I looked at the bullpen of the team on defense, no reaction, I looked at the right fielder no reaction, I listened to the dugout of the offensive team no reaction. I signaled foul, then pointed foul, and jogged back to my position.
The HC started out of the 3rd base dugout to talk to me and before he got to the plate, I held my hand up and asked him to go back to the dugout. I told him I was going to talk with the PU and we would let him know.
At this point, how many umpires would have let the coach come out to argue the call. Then if you end up getting help after the arguement and you change the call, what does that look like to the other guy?
Well the PU told me the ball was about 150 feet above the pole and it was either fair or foul by a nut hair. We decided that it was too close to change. I told the coach and he said thanks for getting help, we just wanted to make sure.
I also brought this situation up when teaching at a recent HS clinic. The guys got the point as to why it is bad to get to close to your play. YOU MIGHT MISS SOMETHING! We were working the point of the plate and I was teaching them to be at the edge of the circle. It was nice to see the recent EOS clip and have it pointed out that the PU was too close on a couple of plays at the plate.