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Originally Posted by Dakota
Personally, I don't buy any of the reasons stated for not allowing them, other than the somewhat irrational "'cause he said 'no.'"
Amongst everything else hanging from the chain link, they are not a clutter problem.
The objection that the umpire is the official time doesn't wash, either, since it is apparently based on the assumption that the umpire needs to have the authority to shave the time.
And, besides, the umpire can still keep his "official time" in his pocket and the timer on the fence is unofficial and for information only (like football officials keep the official time even though the scoreboard displays the time).
Of course, this is not an issue worth kicking against. If the UIC doesn't want them, don't use them.
I keep a countdown timer that beeps in my second ball bag. It will let me know when it expires, but it is only loud enough for me to hear, and perhaps the catcher, with all the noise at the typical ball game.
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Me irrational? I'm gonna tell my shrink on you.
I believe I have already stated that we do NOT stand for umpires to shave time. If it's an 80 minutes no new innings and the game is not complete before that time, you are expected to go at least 80 minutes.
And, I think I've already said that if your association uses a kitchen timer, alarm clock, the old Longines clock from Yankee Stadium or Big Ben, I certainly have no problem with that.
We also discourage our umpires from "digging around in their pockets" for their timepiece, especially when you know damned good and well it's not 1:20 yet. A glance at it between innings when you've got a minute and standing on the foul line or getting a drink should suffice. We have more important things to do when standing behind the catcher than dig around for a timepiece.
Plus, if you have that much crap in your pocket that you can't easily retrieve your timepiece, you have too much crap in your pocket.
This is NOT meant to be critical of associations or individual umpires who use kitchen timers or other timepieces. A kitchen timer on the fence is no more irrational than my 15 year old watch with a stopwatch function in my otherwise-empty front right pocket. I understand their function and actually agree that it's a good way to do it. Besides, my wife doesn't have to wonder what happened to her kitchen timer on the side of the fridge.
it's just not the way we do things here, and by God if my UIC says don't do it, I'm not going to do it. (Besides, he carries a much bigger gun than I.) By all means, do what your association expects you to do.