Quote:
Originally Posted by RichMSN
The NFHS still wants plate umpires to cover third on bases empty triples and have the plate umpire run over the mound to cover the plate. How can I possibly take any of their stuff seriously when they can't fix something that elementary? I find it amusing that Mike talks about "modern mechanics" and yet the NFHS mechanics are about as archaic as they come.
The only supplemental materials I keep with me are the BRD, the Evans, the PBUC manual, and the J/R manual. The BRD usually handles (quite well) all the gratuitous differences between the NFHS and normal baseball rules and Evans typically covers everything the PBUC manual does not.
The NCAA has used the bat in front of the body criteria for years now (unless they've changed -- I decided spending 10+ hours of my day umpiring 18 innings for $185 was a poor use of my weekends). It's merely a criteria that gets us back to the rulebook language of "did he make an attempt." I think I can handle that without being told I have to look for a bat crossing the body. I guess that's arrogance. Sigh.
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The NCAA changed the checked swing mechanic this year. Fed saw their efforts and followed suit. The hands in front of the body mechanic is...how shal we put it...archaic.
In Illinois, we don't teach that the PU handles 3B when bases are empty. We utilize a PowerPoint presentation and make it available to all IHSA officials to reinforce proper, contemporary mechanics. For what it's worth though, I have no problem covering 3B on a shot down the right field line or a trouble ball when my BU is going out to cover them. I suggest that most other umpires are willing to do the same. Then again, I follow current mechanic guidelines.
If the question regarding the check swing was not important, why did the Fed spend two pages covering it in the current supplement? I would love to be the evaluator when I overhear an umpire say, "Strike - his hands were in front of his body."