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Originally Posted by wadeintothem
Ground rules is a job. You can establish ground rules.. or it can be covered by simple statements like "if it goes through the fence, throw your hands up and__________________ " whatever the ground rule is.
Having fences repaired for a hole pregame is not part of your job. If it was a safety issue ONLY.
It could happen, but its simply not.
I work hundreds of games a year, no one starts directing grounds crew to fix holes.
That is pregame only.
You guys are playing holier than thou pretend to simply make an argument. If you do start fixing stuff pregame which is not safety related, then that is lame, beyond your job as an official, and a waste of everyones time.. furthermore VERY smittyish.
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Whiskers_ump is right in that it is part of our job (explicitly stated in the book) to walk the field before games, especially on fields with which we are not familiar. Wade is correct in that it's not our job to fix fields before the game. That is the grounds crew's job. He is also correct in that obvious safety hazards should be fixed before the game, if possible.
However, I still think that it is our duty as umpires to walk the fields
thoroughly and find these potential issues in advance, rather than say in the middle of a heated game, "oh, gee... I guess there's a hole there." I'm not saying we need to carry a ball around with us to test every nook and cranny. I am saying that we need to be proactive as umpires, and that finding these issues before the first pitch is one way to do that.