[tcblue13]

Dear Umpie,
I saw a decent ball game last night. I went as a fan just to see a game and to go to school on the umpires. I got there in the third inning. Home team was clearly better than the visitors but the Umpire Mechanics were HORRIBLE. These blues were not in my association.
Game 1 - Varsity
PU crouches behind catcher - other ball and stick mechanic, calls a strike as he points to his right. I was not at the start of the game but he batter's box was chalked way too small - I am assuming baseball. BTW Would you have allowed the game to start on a field that was not lined properly? Maybe both coaches agreed to play anyway. But the smaller batter's box put the visiting team at a disadvantage as they had two slappers in the lineup. PU did not brush the plate from the time I got there to the 6th inning when a "fan" questioned how he could call a pith a ball when he couldn't see the plate because it was so dirty. He also held up his hand to the pitcher to allow the batter to get set, IMHO not keeping the ball live between pitches. We were told not to do that. Even if a batter holds up her hand, that is not a request for time.

Game 2 - JV
PU is now BU and vice versa. BU has his pullover jacket untucked and it hanging to his thighs. What made this so bad was the PU warned the visiting team about their untucked shirts as the leadoff batter was coming to bat. He also crouched behind the catcher, no slot, but he did use a hammer instead of pointing on his strike calls. He was way quick on calling balls and strikes. On one pitch that was extremely low, bounced in front of the batter, he called it a ball as it bounced. The pitch hit the batter on the foot so his called ball had to be changed to dead ball. He was calling strikes as the ball was hitting the mitt. This plate meeting did not involve the size of the batter's box but they played anyway. I doubt the JV coaches even noticed.

I am so thankful for my association teaching us proper softball mechanics. Am I overly critical of fellow umpires? I want to feel like a part of a fraternity that sticks together and stands by each other but I couldn't really find anything there to stand behind. Honestly they looked like baseball guys who were just grabbed to do a softball game. I want to keep going to games just for the fun of it but I don't want to overly scrutinize the men and ladies in blue.

Blue in NC