Quote:
Originally Posted by David B
I don't think a good umpires ever enforces everything. That's what makes the difference IMO between an average umpire and the one who gets selected to do the "money" games.
You must know when to make the call and when to simply let them play baseball.
But, you must also have the backbone necessary to enforce the right call when it's needed.
At least that's my take.
Thanks
David
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Couldn't agree more. You can tell the difference between the official that reads the rules and the one that studies them.
When I officiated Ice Hockey we used to talk about those rules that are black and white and those rules that were in the "Grey Area." If you missed the the black and white rule, then it was just that much more difficult to sell the call when the rule was in the "Grey Area." I believe Baseball has a lot more grey area rules however, that means you need to study them more for the intent and application in order to come up with the right decision at the right time. Add hustle, attitude and game management skills to your game, and experience and your ability to enforce the most trivial of rules at the correct time will generally be more acceptable. And yes, there are exceptions to this too but, that is only because we are human.
So in general, I enforce everything when its applicable, as determined by my experience.