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Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser
I respect a lot of what you write, but there's no way that this is true. Consider the baseball umpire who:
(1) has to take a batter-runner to second or third because the base umpire went out. Plate umpire, of course.
(2) has to cover third on a first-to-third, especially on a hit-and-run. Plate umpire, of course.
(3) has to pivot into the diamond with 90 foot bases and college/pro athletes and having to pivot in front of them. Base umpire, of course.
I work 60-foot bases during Little League tournament season. We work behind the runners, just like softball umpires do. It feels like I am anywhere I need to be in about 5 steps.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I'd rather work 1 good baseball game than 3 softball games. Others feel differently. Whoopee.
Now, I did like working FP when I had decent pitching and fielding. I felt my reflexes had to be a bit better when working the bases, for certain. But I just didn't get enough good pitching and I'd rather work baseball with mediocre pitching than softball with mediocre pitching.
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Rich,
I think a lot of what you've said also fits the softball game.
Sure, it's a smaller diamond - this means you need to be faster in FP. When doing FP, your reflexes do need to be better on the bases and the timing needs to be better on the plate. Look at the top players in each - the top major leaguers can't hit the top womone's pitching. How do you think those major leaguers would do when facing some of the top men pitchers that I see.
Now the baseball I see is not great and I'm the first to admit that my mechanics are not great - I'll do some high school, Legion, and adult wood bat. I feel like I have too much time to get into position because the ball moves so much slower in BB. It doesn't matter whether it's covering a steal, taking a B-R as far as I need to when BU chases, or taking a B-R into 3rd while I'm BU - the game is a whole lot slower.
If I remember right, Rich - you're out in Wisconsin - right? You've got some really good men's major FP out there, some of the best in the world. Go watch a few of those games and I think you'll see what Mike referred to as needing to be faster to work softball than you need to in order to do baseball.