You're allowed to imbibe.

[mick]

Folks,
Where is the best, or popular, place, to put that water bottle we should be using: in the fence, other side of the fence, on deck circle, a baseline extended, dugout, ...?

Thanks
mick

Didn't need a drink today. 45 and rain.

[Cubbies87]

I run into the same problem.

I usually bring one of those green Gatorade squirt bottles for the ease of squirting, it's small enough to be in play without being in the way, and it usually holds enough water for one game, and I can refill it between games.

When I get to the field, I check the backstop. Often times the fence will have curled up at some point, and I stick the water bottle there. It stays out of the way, easily accessible to me, but not out in the middle of the fans or players. It can even plug up a gap if the gap is small enough.

If there isn't a gap or a curl, I lay it down about 60 degrees from a line extending directly behind the point of the plate (I just stood up and tried to eyeball it). That keeps it out of the way on a passed ball 95% of the time, while keeping it accessible to me.

I don't like having to walk past players or leave the field of play to get to a water bottle. I see it as asking for trouble, not to mention that if it is easily accessible to fans and players, you might find something undesirable in your water.

[DG]

Originally posted by mick
Folks,
Where is the best, or popular, place, to put that water bottle we should be using: in the fence, other side of the fence, on deck circle, a baseline extended, dugout, ...?

Thanks
mick

Didn't need a drink today. 45 and rain.

45 and rain, where the heck you located? It was 95 here today. I use two different size water coolers, small and large, depending on temperature, and whether it is a double header. One is a quart and the other half gallon. I use one of those spring clips you get at the hardware store, that the teenagers use to put their keys on, and I clip the water bottle to the fence near where I am, about head height, at whatever location I think will be convenient to use during the game, and pick up to leave the game. If PU it will be on the backstop near whichever dugout I will exit by. If BU it will be about 20 feet down the RF line from 1B. If it is really hot (85+), I also carry a small cooler with a slushy mix of ice and water with a blue hand towel, that I will use to wipe down about every inning or so (only if working the plate). If it is damn hot (90+) I also add a couple table spoons of spirit of ammonia to the slushy mix. I wipe down while pitcher is warming up so no time is lost. I will often wrap the towel around my neck and go back to work. The towel I use is about like a shop rag, ie thin, so it is hardly noticeable, and if it is I don't really care. My mission is to not drop dead from heat stroke. Whenever possible (ie my partner is equally equipped), I use a powder blue or cream shirt in hot weather. This helps some. And I also wear wicking shirts and shorts underneath.

I have a DH scheduled for Sunday afternoon and the forecast is for sunny and 95 degrees. I will have slushy mix and half gallon for this.

[jxt127]

Watching a tournament game a few years ago and the throw from F8 hit the umps water bottle on the ground at the fence and rolled well up the third base line. 2 runs score and the defence coach comes unglued enough to sit by himself in the bleachers to watch the rest of the game.

Most fields locally I just use a big blue thermos and leave it on the field equipment box where i can just lean over the fence and pick it up. The other is a 90' field and a long walk to the gate so I leave it at the backstop to one side. Seems to keep itself out of trouble there. Tournaments the scorekeeper keeps a cooler full of water bottles.

We were about 65 degrees tonight at game time for the early evening game. Between games I'm standing on the mound looking up into the rain. Have one fan telling me she came all the way from Texas to see this game and I had better not cancel it! I'm just telling her that at as an old person my bones don't appreciate getting cold and wet when half the park lights go out. Can't get them on again so oh well no game sorry and good night all.

[DG]

65 is short sleeve comfortable in my neck of the woods. I don't get much of that after mid-May. Rain makes it even better.

[UmpireBob]

The fields I work on during the regular season all have a green tarp across the backstop. I just place my jug of Gatorade and my towel in the top of that, between the tarp and the fence. So far, there hasn't been an issue with it.

I liked the idea of using one of the spring clips to attach a thermal bottle to the backstop. I have two games to ump this weekend, both are plate games, and it is supposed to be upper 80's on Saturday. Along with my change of clothes and some baby wipes, looks like I'll be bringing a cooler of drink as well. As tournament play progresses through the week, I'll be going to some other LLB complexes I've not been to before. Maybe using the thermal bottle is the thing to do.

[tornado]

I use an equipment bag that has clips on one end. Most fields have chain link backstops so I hook the bag to the fence straddling a pole (so it doesn't block any views)halfway to the dugout I entered from. I keep my water bottles inside.

[UmpireBob]

tornado,

I like that option as well. Could do somewhat the same with a backpack, and would allow me to keep extra pencils and such in there as well. Good ideas!!

Bob

[WindyCityBlue]

This'll probably rankle a few...

An umpire's gear NEVER belongs on the field of play.
There...now I feel better. Think about it, you are bringing something onto the field that could affect the game. Don't do it...Put it behing the gate or back stop, not in one of the dugouts. I recognize that some of us work a couple of games in a row and may be alone...keep hydrated. But, we get enough grief without causing it ourselves.

At most good varsity parks and above, build a repoire with the kid retrieving foul balls. Smile, say thank you and when you need a drink, ask him if he can bring you one. Don't forget your partner(s).

[mcrowder]

I bring a large thermos that has a strap. I tie the strap to the fence high enough that I can drink from it without untying the strap. I put it down the 1st base line, about halfway between home and first - and have never had it hit by a ball in play (hit a couple of times by fouls).

[WindyCityBlue]

Okay, that's not as bad as putting it at the back stop, but if you are working the dish, I don't recommend it. You should stick around the plate, not walk in front of a dugout and down the line, that just invites trouble.

Now, I'm not worried about lawsuits from players getting hurt during playing action, we've already seen that this is an insurance company scam. But, I am concerned that a player could get injured because of my act. (A foul ball directly over the thermos is dropped because his glove hits it or his hand get jammed against it becaus ehe isn't looking for it. I am more worried that a thrown or batted ball could hit the parcel and be deflected. Again, an ounce of prevention...

[jumpmaster]

For those of us that don't work upper level ball, i.e. collegiate or minor league, this is a real issue.

Even in the AAA Legion games I have called (the highest level I work) hydration is an issue and not every team has a water jug. I have been to MANY parks this year where there was no water to be found.

In the interest of keeping my stuff out of the field, I could put my water bottle 120 feet down from home plate, outside the fence, but I am just too lazy to run that far between innings to get half-a-swig of water. I sweat more running than I do get drinking.

I carry a small water bottle and place it on the 1B side where the backstop makes an angle and begins running parallel to the 1B line. I am willing to take the risk that a ball will come off my bottle oddly, no different than off the fence post. I believe the risk is justified.

[His High Holiness]

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
This'll probably rankle a few...

An umpire's gear NEVER belongs on the field of play.
There...now I feel better. Think about it, you are bringing something onto the field that could affect the game. Don't do it...Put it behing the gate or back stop, not in one of the dugouts. I recognize that some of us work a couple of games in a row and may be alone...keep hydrated. But, we get enough grief without causing it ourselves.

At most good varsity parks and above, build a repoire with the kid retrieving foul balls. Smile, say thank you and when you need a drink, ask him if he can bring you one. Don't forget your partner(s).

Windy;

You are absolutely correct for NCAA ball and above. At those levels, they take care of us. Unfortunately at the lower levels, the umpires have to take care of themselves.

10 years ago, I was doing a high school level game. During that game, I followed your advice because it was the advice of big dogs everywhere. My cooler was outside the field of play. Between innings, I would walk over and drink.

The next day (after this game), I was violently ill with the runs. After running tests, the bacteria causing the problem was identified and it took three days of antibiotics to clear it up. The health department came and checked my well and all kinds of things around my house. On a hunch, I gave them my cooler from that game since it still had some water in it.

The cooler tested postive for fecal matter. No other source of contamination was found in my house and none of my other family members got sick. I had not been to a restaurant in over a week at that time either.

Other umpires I know have caught players urinating in their coolers.

From that day forward, when I do baseball below the NCAA level, I keep my cooler next to the backstop, in the field of play, where I can see it. (At the NCAA level, they bring me water or gatorade in sealed containers.) I don't care what is appropriate, looks good, or the big dogs say. My health and well being comes before perception.

BTW, I wrote up this horror story for ABUA in 1999. I cannot find it over on their site however. It was part of a long 4 part article that I wrote for them on working the plate.

Peter

[mick]

During large tournaments, the umpires on break and watching the game will be ready with fluids. That's a real fine way to keep the fields clear, which I, in agreement with WindyCityBlue, think is the optimum.

But in my usual world, or at least the world that I imagine I am seeing at the time, I'm gonna go with DG's spring clips on my nalgene bottle at head high and I'm gonna put it in jumpmaster's location at the backstop corner.

And of course, with Cubbies87's and Peter's advice, my bottle will be on the wrong side / safe side of the fence.

Thanks again.

mick

[WindyCityBlue]

Okay, time for some levity (and I promise I will not use the term "fecal matter" beyond this).

I was asked to work a Legion Baseball Tournament in another state. (I travel a lot for work, so I've got good connections.) The semifinal round comes about and the crew is gathered for the pregame. I've never worked with these guys before, but they seem nice and are really thorough. I'm working third and as we get ready to head to the field, the first base ump asks me to help him carry the Plate umps cooler to the field. I just about fell over. First, why are we carrying it? Second, it was a thirty gallon cooler! I bit my tongue and helped him lug this thing, wondering if a body was inside. We get to the field and he puts it DIRECTLY behind the dish against the back stop. I ask him if he's worried about a passe ball and he says, "Nope, that's where the shade is." The game went on and this guy hit his cooler every inning. In the third, he pulled out a sandwich and ate it! In the fifth, the first base guy came in and they both ate frozen candybars. The coaches just smiled and said that the old timer on the dish had been doing that for years.

I had the dish for the final and joked at the pregame that I wasn't bringing a cooler. That didn't stop them, they brought that bad boy out and put it down the first baseline, behind the coaches box...and yes, in the shade. I thought I had seen everything when the second base umpire, lit up a cigarette before the fourth inning. Since this was a Legion State Championship, I figured that these guys must be good and they were. But the food and cigarette breaks were beyond anything I had seen.

There, it's out there and I feel better. I still recommend keeping all of your gear out of play, at any level. It looks professional and if you are worried about water safety, it makes sense. Finally, this "Big Dog" as HHH put it, learned a long time ago, drink from the same cooler as the team. The king had a taster for a reason!