[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by chuckfan1

Ok, heres another one..........coming from a rook, so I just want to get some opinions...........Making the call at first on a groundball in the infield. Ive heard for years about watching the foot hit the bag, and LISTENING for the ball hitting the glove. Do you guys do this? Or just get a good angle, and "pause, read, and react"?

On plays at first, the important thing is to let the play go to it's conclusion before making the call. There's nothing in the book that says we have 5 / 10 seconds in which to make the call.

The first part is to get into proper positioning to make the call. Without proper positioning, you are dead already By proper positioning I mean angle over distance. Too many umpires simply stay stationary at first base and don't move and that's when you get into trouble.

Second watch the ball as you would do when doing the plate. I've seen umpires get their bell rung because they turn too quickly. Watch the ball and don't move until you see the fielder actually Release it.

This is especially important on steal attempts at second base. Some umpires turn automatically to make the call at second without seeing F2 release it and that could be dangerous.

When you are in proper position and watch the ball actually release from the fielder into F3's mit, you get a good prosepective on the play. In addition, as others mentioned look at the foot and listen for the sound, let the play finish and IMO if it's a banger - Sell IT! with both verbalization and mechanic (ie; the fist forward punching the runner out).

Pete Booth