Calling Balls and Strikes: Umpire School vs Common Practice

[ilyazhito]

I umpire both baseball and softball, and one can say that I have an unusual style in baseball: I use the umpire-school heel-toe position to get set to call balls and strikes, I call the pitches by number (I call "Ball One!" "Strike One!", etc.), and I call strikes by pointing. I was initially taught to use the hammer, but I could not assimilate to using it initially, because of the uncaught third strike scenario. I now know the work-around that softball and umpire school uses (call strike 3, signal safe, and say "No catch!").

However, I know that most umpires do not call pitches by numbers, except for Ball Four and Strike Three. Some (those who have had exposure to umpire school, probably) do use numbers, but it is not the norm in any level of baseball besides professional umpire school and the short-season minor leagues. Personally, I use the numbers because it helps me to remember the sequence of pitches in longer at-bats, and keeps me on track if I forget to click the dials on my indicator. I also use numbers because it is what will be expected of me if I go to umpire school.

Why do the umpire schools teach calling balls and strikes by numbers, if it is not common practice in the other levels of baseball? Do they want to produce standard umpires who can easily be evaluated? Do they want the umpires to keep the count in their heads without relying on their indicators? Or is there another reason for this practice?

[michblue]

Per umpires I know that have went to or taught at umpire schools, the school's teach the way they do so everyone is graded equally and fairly.

[ilyazhito]

OK. I get that they want standard umpires, but did they just come up with the numbers on their own, to be different, or was calling balls and strikes by number a common practice that just faded away, remaining only in the umpire schools and lower-level pro baseball?

[thumpferee]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

OK. I get that they want standard umpires, but did they just come up with the numbers on their own, to be different, or was calling balls and strikes by number a common practice that just faded away, remaining only in the umpire schools and lower-level pro baseball?

Don't fight the system! Do what they ask you to do and do it better than everyone else. THEN you can use the same BASIC phylosophy and make it your own once you get there!

[ilyazhito]

The previous post is a non sequitur. Of course I will do things the umpire school way in umpire school (and hopefully in the lower levels of minor league baseball). My question was whether calling balls and strikes by numbers was a practice specifically created by umpire schools, or was it a more common practice that died out outside Umpire School World and the lower levels of Minor League Baseball, where umpires are evaluated by Ump School standards?

[CT1]

From personal experience: Numbering strikes, while uncommon, is not rare. OTOH, I've never worked with anyone that call balls by number.

[ilyazhito]

Originally Posted by CT1

From personal experience: Numbering strikes, while uncommon, is not rare. OTOH, I've never worked with anyone that call balls by number.

Maven from the Umpire-Empire forum does, but you're in CT, and he's in FL, so it's natural that the two of you have never met. Is there a reason why more of your partners have called strikes by number, than have called balls by number?

[thumpferee]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Maven from the Umpire-Empire forum does, but you're in CT, and he's in FL, so it's natural that the two of you have never met. Is there a reason why more of your partners have called strikes by number, than have called balls by number?

BECAUSE, AS AN UMPIRE, YOU DONT WANT TO BE SAYING, "TWO BALLS".
Like asking the coach, or player, "do you have any balls"?
Why say "ball" if everyone in the ballpark knows it's a BALL? It's like screaming, "FOUL BALL, OUT OF PLAY", when the ball is over the backstop, in the trees and kids are running after it!

Personally, I randomly verbalize balls so only the catcher and batter can hear. On boarder-line pitches, I verbalize it emphatically! "BAAALL"!

[ilyazhito]

Originally Posted by thumpferee

BECAUSE, AS AN UMPIRE, YOU DONT WANT TO BE SAYING, "TWO BALLS".
Like asking the coach, or player, "do you have any balls"?
Why say "ball" if everyone in the ballpark knows it's a BALL? It's like screaming, "FOUL BALL, OUT OF PLAY", when the ball is over the backstop, in the trees and kids are running after it!

Personally, I randomly verbalize balls so only the catcher and batter can hear. On boarder-line pitches, I verbalize it emphatically! "BAAALL"!

No MiLB umpire who uses numbers says "Two Balls!" Instead, he (or she, for the occasional female umpire) would say "Ball Two!"
The reason to give a verbal call on all balls and all called strikes is to give consistent timing. Umpire School also teaches to call all pitches audibly, with the strikes slightly louder than the balls. Even umpires who have stopped saying "Ball One" and started pointing strikes in AA ball might still be making loud "Ball" and "Strike" calls, to keep the good habits that they had learned in umpire school.

[scrounge]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Maven from the Umpire-Empire forum does, but you're in CT, and he's in FL, so it's natural that the two of you have never met. Is there a reason why more of your partners have called strikes by number, than have called balls by number?

I've never heard him say that. And he's in Ohio.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

might still be making loud "Ball" and "Strike" calls, to keep the good habits that they had learned in umpire school.

Yes... even experienced umpires at all the levels I did (up through college) would say "ball" or "strike" -- except on balls that, for example, went to the backstop.

Beyond that, it's personal preference -- either your own, or that of your assignor / evaluator. It just happens that most (not all) choose to drop the number as not really adding anything to the call itself.

[ilyazhito]

Originally Posted by scrounge

I've never heard him say that. And he's in Ohio.

My apologies. He is in OH, not FL, but he actually did say "I say "Strike 1!", "Ball 1", etc. and hammer strikes. Pretty much what we did in the cages at Jimmy's..." in the "Strike Call" thread.