Quote:
Originally posted by PeteBooth
I always wondered by PRO Umpires do not change positions during a 9 inning game, especially the PU.
Pete Booth
|
You know, Pete, in my area we do that for scrimmages: We always have more umpires at a game than we have innings. So we put a guy/gal behind the plate for two innings, then move him, etc.
There is one reason only why your perfectly sensible suggesion has no chance of happening.
It's not consistency of strike zone. Professional pitchers and batters can adjust to a chance in one at-bat. It's not the time required to chance. Simply, each umpire crew is expanded to five: four on, one changing into or out of plate gear.
It's ego.
I was a plate hog because all the coaches told me I was the most consistent umpire they had ever seen. (Of course, they had no ulterior motive when they said it. Right?) But the reactions to my plate games beginning from the time I switched from the slot back to the box convinced me I had learned the strike zone.
So I wanted the plate because when I was calling the balls and strikez, I KNEW those players were getting the best umpire that night in that area. I KNEW THAT!
Whether that "knowledge" was right or wrong is irrelevant. Once I get behind the catcher, you ain't getting me out of that spot.
It's where the action is. It's where I want to be. I called for 25 years in a temperature/humidity environment that would kill a devil's angel. When the thermometer drops below 85, I put on a jacket.
Give me the plate -- from start to finish.