[jumpmaster]

First, there is no excuse for non-hustle by the PU or the BU. Your call is your call, live with it. This is constantly taught, retaught and occasionally beaten into us in the local association. (jj)

Second, the "old guys" in my association realize that we have the same problems with turn-over of high school umpires as other associations do. In addition, few of our guys have attended an advanced camp of some sort. Therefore, we will not always have the top-notch cream on every baseball field every day.

Since we like the common sense solution around here, the "old guys" started using this signal as a means of assisting the younger officials. By NO means is this meant to be an excuse for poor mechanics or poor judgement. It is meant as a tool to assist. By coupling this with constant teaching, coaching and mentoring of young umpires our association has developed a reputation of developing excellent umpires. It works for us.