The Official Forum  

Go Back   The Official Forum > Baseball

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #16 (permalink)  
Old Mon Apr 19, 2004, 10:17am
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Edinburg, TX
Posts: 1,212
Send a message via ICQ to Carl Childress
Quote:
Originally posted by mcrowder
Tried it on Saturday for the first time. My back was killing me. I suspect I'm doing something wrong, as it was only 2 games.

I did, however, feel like I had a better look at the zone, and I didn't get hit once.

PS - longsleeves over armguards... nice idea for you Yankees. It was 90 degrees on Saturday here in Texas.
I'm about as deep in Texas as you can get. I use skin tight UnderArmour covered by the loose garmet. Obviously you haven't used their remarkable products. On a one hundred degree day you'll feel as if you're in air conditioning. Trust me: No one who ever uses it discards it.
__________________
Papa C
My website
Reply With Quote
  #17 (permalink)  
Old Mon Apr 19, 2004, 10:36am
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Edinburg, TX
Posts: 1,212
Send a message via ICQ to Carl Childress
Quote:
Originally posted by mcrowder
Tried it on Saturday for the first time. My back was killing me. I suspect I'm doing something wrong, as it was only 2 games.

I did, however, feel like I had a better look at the zone, and I didn't get hit once.
mcrowder:
Here are the salient points for using the GD stance:

1. Put your nose on the black edge of the plate nearer the batter.

2. Stand at least an arm’s length behind the catcher: one good step. If a coach begins to chirp about your calls on the low pitch, back up farther.

3. Place your feet about 6 to 8 inches wider than your shoulders. You need a good, wide, rock-steady foundation.

4. Come to the set position well before the pitcher begins any preliminary movements.

5. Rest your hands on your knees, just like the umpire does in the infield. The point: In the usual stance the umpire uses his muscular structure to maintain his calling position. In the GD stance all that is taken care of by the skeletal structure. Bones, not sinew, keep you in place. Bones, not muscles, support your weight.

6. Don’t shift your position unless the batter blocks your view of the pitcher’s release point.

7. I haven’t found this necessary, but.... If you feel any fatigue at all, you might try dropping your seat an inch or so at the time of the pitch.

8. Advantages of this stance: (1) You’re set well before the pitch. (2) You see the pitch from about the same perspective every time. (3) You place no strain on your muscles.

Remember, I’m 66 and this past July (95 to 100 degrees) I called four straight games (14u/115 time limit) behind the plate. Gerry Davis and UnderArmour kept me fresh, cool, and collected for over nine hours.

Now, I didn’t run a marathon afterwards, but I did take my wife to a late movie — and managed to stay awake.
__________________
Papa C
My website
Reply With Quote
  #18 (permalink)  
Old Wed Apr 28, 2004, 08:06pm
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally posted by Carl Childress
Quote:
Originally posted by brian43
forget arm pads. taking a shot in the arm is part of the game and pads would look ridiculous.

tough it out
You're kidding, right? Shin guards? Chest protector? Throat guard? You don't wear those, right? Tough it out.

The forearm guards don't show when I umpire, and I don't bleed internally when I'm hit.

By the way, if you wear your protector, it's not hard shell. Right? And you cut off the shoulder pads. Right?

Hey, if that's what you think baseball is, I want you toughing it out on my crew, calling the foul line in right field.

Have a nice day.
you might as well stand behind a plexi-glass panel and call the game from there.

make sure you cut your fingernails really short, wouldnt want to break a nail.

im sorry, but i dont care if you are carl childress. i will never wear arm pads, and even if i get hit, an ice pack after the game will cure the swelling.
Reply With Quote
  #19 (permalink)  
Old Wed Apr 28, 2004, 08:35pm
DG DG is offline
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 4,022
[/B][/QUOTE]

im sorry, but i dont care if you are carl childress. i will never wear arm pads, and even if i get hit, an ice pack after the game will cure the swelling. [/B][/QUOTE]

If you would use ice after a game you ain't tough enough ("tough it out").

Really though, I don't use arm pads, but I do wear a throat guard. Reason, I got a fast ball in the throat once, and once was enough. If I ever get hurt in the arm I will start wearing arm pads too. Each to his own.
Reply With Quote
  #20 (permalink)  
Old Thu Apr 29, 2004, 12:24am
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Idaho
Posts: 1,474
Quote:
Originally posted by brian43
im sorry, but i dont care if you are carl childress. i will never wear arm pads, and even if i get hit, an ice pack after the game will cure the swelling.
Yeah sure, tough guy.

Quite frankly who gives a crap what somebody else wears.

Took a direct fastball shot a couple years ago on my radius ( the forearm bone that adjoins your thumb). Swole up the size of a grapefruit in a matter of a minute. Been worrying about getting hit there again, ever since.

Us wimps wear gear to cover what we can. Let me know how it goes when you get to 20 some odd years of officiating. Or 40, like Carl.
__________________
"There are no superstar calls. We don't root for certain teams. We don't cheat. But sometimes we just miss calls." - Joe Crawford
Reply With Quote
  #21 (permalink)  
Old Thu Apr 29, 2004, 09:49am
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 345
Quote:
Originally posted by brian43

you might as well stand behind a plexi-glass panel and call the game from there.

im sorry, but i dont care if you are carl childress. i will never wear arm pads, and even if i get hit, an ice pack after the game will cure the swelling.
In my own association, we had an umpire look into calling the plate behind a 6 foot police plexiglass riot shield. We identified a riot shield that was a about a third of a circle around the umpire.

The problem was the cost. We did not want to spring for about $400 for an experiment. The visibility would be great, protection superb, and it certainly would be the coolest way to work on a hot day.

The potential problems that we identified were that any ball that the catcher did not catch would careen in many wild directions off of the shield. Also:

1. What would the PU do with the thing after a hit? Where would he toss it?

2. What kind of visual distortion (if any) would the PU see looking through curved plexiglass?

3. For transport, the shield would have to be in two pieces. Few umpires could get a six foot object inside their cars.

You raise the subject of protection and how you despise arm protection. You might feel differently as you get older. Bones over 60 can take twice to four times as long to heal as bones under 25. I have known several older umpires whose careers were ended by injuries that would have just produced a severe bruise on a younger umpire.

Peter
Reply With Quote
  #22 (permalink)  
Old Thu Apr 29, 2004, 11:15am
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 31
In my own association, we had an umpire look into calling the plate behind a 6 foot police plexiglass riot shield. We identified a riot shield that was a about a third of a circle around the umpire.

The problem was the cost. We did not want to spring for about $400 for an experiment. The visibility would be great, protection superb, and it certainly would be the coolest way to work on a hot day.

Peter [/B][/QUOTE]

Man...you guys need to work more games...way too much time on your hands.
Reply With Quote
  #23 (permalink)  
Old Sun Jul 11, 2004, 01:15pm
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 18
Have used the GD stance in both baseball and fast pitch softball. Works great for both, and I had no trouble picking up the pitch in softball. I did get hit a couple of times in the left arm calling softball. Not wanting to suffer any more pain, I began wearing a plain black soccer shin guard on my left arm. Didn't catch any flack about it at all, everyone just accepted it as part of my gear. At least until I got hit on the unprotected right arm.

My advice is to try the GD stance, you won't go back.
Reply With Quote
  #24 (permalink)  
Old Sun Jul 11, 2004, 05:22pm
In Memoriam
 
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Houghton, U.P., Michigan
Posts: 9,953
Quote:
Originally posted by Big Kahuna
Have used the GD stance in both baseball and fast pitch softball. Works great for both, and I had no trouble picking up the pitch in softball. I did get hit a couple of times in the left arm calling softball. Not wanting to suffer any more pain, I began wearing a plain black soccer shin guard on my left arm. Didn't catch any flack about it at all, everyone just accepted it as part of my gear. At least until I got hit on the unprotected right arm.

My advice is to try the GD stance, you won't go back.
I've been using it all year.
Yes, ...hit more.
Still like the stance.
mick
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:20am.



Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.3.0 RC1