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Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve:
To say that all the calls I made have been correct is absolutely hilarious. What I said was, experienced umpires analyze all the "clues" and information at their disposal to make an informed and proper JUDGEMENT CALL! I can count on one hand, how many instances of a POSSIBLE pulled foot occured in my 20-years of officiating. And I've used the "crutch" of asking my partner too. (Didn't avoid arguments; simply deflected the shouting toward him instead). What we "old timers" are suggesting is that we all become more experienced and comfortable with making our own judgement calls, rather than relying on someone else who has a different angle or view of the play. Face it . . . we've got pulled feet and phantom tags at second base and no one questions it. We've got foul balls where our partners could probably be in a better position to view it, we've got balls that hit the ground and go over a fence and our partners may see it better than we. There are many, many calls where we could be "second guessed" by our partner, but we need to learn how to make our own calls. That was my only point.
Jerry
P.S. And I believe the proper mechanic under discussion is actually, "IF you need to go to your partner for help, do it before you make the call." I seriously doubt they're teaching "If you don't think you're going to make the correct call, ask your partner for help."
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