Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Jim Porter
Because the *right* call is the call obvious to everyone. If the whole world sees an out, by golly it's an out. What kind of an umpire would say that it wasn't? Our very jobs are to ensure that one team does not gain an unfair advantage not intended by the rules. It isn't about microscoping and minutiae.
It's not a Smittyism, it's advanced umpiring. It's how such concepts like the phantom tag play and the neighborhood play came to be -- two techniques we see employed by the big boys in MLB on a daily basis.
A few years back there was a rookie working the plate in a MLB game. I can only remember that the Boston Red Sox were on defense. The bases were loaded with one out. There was a sharp grounder to the shortstop. He threw to the catcher in plenty of time to get the runner from third on the force. R3 was out by 6 steps. To the whole world's surprise, the rookie called the runner safe.
It took a look at the replays from two different camera angles before it could be ascertained that the catcher's toes were on the dirt in front of the plate, and just before he caught the throw his heel came up off the plate.
It was a very bad call, and it cost the rookie his job in The Show. He went back to AAA and hasn't filled in since. The reason is simple -- he had obviously not developed the instinct required to make the call that's obvious to everyone, nor had he developed the judgment on exactly when to use it.
If you don't like these concepts, that's okay. A lot of amateur umpires are taken aback when they first learn of them. Some never get it. But you'd be wise to understand them and try incorporating them over time.
When the world sees a color and calls it brown, don't be an overbearing oaf and insist it's burnt sienna. Agree with the world and say it's brown. It's their reality that matters, not yours.
|
Jim,
I agree with almost everything your saying. In fact, that was exactly how it was taught to me at umpire school in 1997.
However, I will add this: MLB has changed. I have heard direct from a horse's mouth (one of my old mentors who is in MLB). Over dinner he bluntly told me that MLB had changed and had changed very quickly.
With the proliferation of TV cameras (EVERY game (especially now that Montreal is out of the league) has multiple cameras AND the stadiums have tv monitors located throughout the stadium), MLB umpires today ONLY care about getting the play right. And "right" now means: what everyone will see WHEN THEY LOOK AT THE REPLAY on tv.
While the "neighborhood" play at second base on the front end of a double-play is still there (because everybody wants to prevent injuries)...the old addage "if the ball beats the runner, call him out" has died. The MLB boys now CARE (a lot) that the tag is actually applied before the runner hits the base. WHY? Because they will be crucified on TV (during the game and during Sportscenter) if they get it wrong.
Announcers don't get the "unwritten" rules. If you call a guy "out" during Game 7 of the a post-season series because the ball beat the runner and everyone thought he was out....but replays show the tag wasn't actually applied: then the umpire is going to be crucified for a long, long time.
Calling balls and strikes in MLB is now different than calling balls and strikes in AAA or below. Ques-Tec doesn't care how the catcher "receives" the ball, and neither do the MLB higher-ups. Calling plays on the bases has similarly changed.
As my mentor stated, "its a matter of self-preservation."