[Panda Bear]

Glad this is getting discussion. I brought the same thing up a few weeks back, (What to do about wrong calls? 1/7/03) and the responses were fewer. Whiskers misread when I said I watched it from behind home plate that I was only a spectator (that is the view of the plate ump of base calls). But his response did point out ASA bans unsolicited intervention. I don't work ASA, but I am concerned about this concept, believing instead in getting it right if possible.

Several posts suggest an impact analysis (last place vs a playoff game), and I agree to a point. Also, as noted, IF you know the other umps / coaches / players it can sometimes be easier to work it out. My mental dilema was that I didn't know them.

Let me explain that I said I agree to a point. I work with mostly kids & limited experience coaches (LL all levels & school), and at least our LL emphasizes learning. A problem I see in several sports is calls (even right ones) that aren't understood by players and coaches, confused further by inconsistent calls, so how are they supposed to learn? Yes, they should all read the rule book and attend clinics. If everyone knew the rules half as well as Mr. Rowe, for example, we would all have a lot less grief. But if we, as experienced umps that do these things still struggle with some of these calls, how are they supposed to figure it out?

I hope that more umps will tend to look for help when you have the luxury of a 2 or 3 person crew, and I would like to encourage talking (calmly, professionally, of course) with coaches and players in some circumstances so that we teach as well as officiate, and sometimes learn something too.

Good discussion!