Baseball vs Softball Umpiring

[Chess Ref]

I am going to start umpiring. Classes start in about 3 weeks. Anyone feel like pointing out the pros and cons for umpiring each sport ?

[PS2Man]

I umpired softball for 8 years at the same time as working baseball. I just came to the conclusion that I liked baseball more. Not much else to say.

[U_of_I_Blue]

I'm 19 and have been IHSA certified for 3 years. I mainly do our summer leagues here in town because school stuff tends to get in the way of spring and fall ball. Now, I think the age level makes a huge difference in what I enjoy umpiring. If i'm doing the little people 9-10 or younger, baseball all the way. The pitchers there at least hit the plate everyonce in a while and not every pitch is a rainbow like it is in "fastpitch" at that age. However, when we start talking jr. high/high school age and up, I would honestly prefer working softball. From my experience, softball games (when played by good teams at that age level) are very up tempo and quick. Baseball seems to drag un unnessecarily long at times. However, I love doing both sports and wouldn't give either of them up at this point. Just my personal opinion.

Josh

[georgelog]

Baseball vs. (Fastpitch) Softball? First off, they are two different games. Most of the rules are the same; it's still balls, strikes, safes, and outs. Other than that, the similiarities drift apart. If you've worked LL then the differences start to come into perspective. Umpiring fastpitch at the HS (or 18U) level compares to LL Majors.

Baseball: (1)BU inside except in 'A', (2)pitch always moves down (unless F1 throws a "submarine"), (3)strikezone below the numbers, (4)time between each pitch, (5)lead offs, (6)pickoff throws, (7)balks, (8)double plays, (9)dugout quiet & serious, (10)lots of baseballs in the PU's ball bag

Softball: (1)BU constantly moves outside/inside, (2)pitch moves up then down or moves only up (riseball), (3)strikezone similiar to LL Majors, (4)little time between each pitch, (5)the lookback rule, (6)the pitching circle, (7)leaps & crow-hops, (8)double plays are rare, (9)dugout emotional with constant cheers, (10)maybe two softballs in the PU's bag

Overall, fastpitch is quick paced and emotional. Baseball is slower and serious. Both are good games.
Slowpitch softball? Don't waste your time.

[Strike3UROUT]

Many of my fellow IHSA umpires have gone to either 75% of their schedule as softball or some even softball ONLY.

One of the biggest reasons is time of game. If you have two good pitchers in a HS softball game you are looking at between 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes to play the game. Unfortunately in our are HS baseball has a lot of athletes trying to pitch but NOT a lot of good pitchers. After you get to the #2 or #3 pitcher on the team there are a lot of walks and a lot of base hits allowed. I averaged out all the baseball games I worked last year and came up with 1hour and 55 minutes on the average with 3 hours and 3 minutes being the longest. I had several HS softball games that ended in under 1hr and 15 minutes and none that went over 2 hours. Another thing to remember is that softball pitchers can pitch 2-3 times or more a week so you really never see their #3 pitcher at all.

I have always enjoyed baseball and will not go to all softball. However, if I worked 3 or 4 days in a row I'm smiling when I see that my Friday game is a softball game.

[JRutledge]

I like baseball over softball. I played the game as a kid and thru high school. I like the strategy of the game. Baseball games can take a little longer. But if you call strikes the game will move much faster. I have found that in-between innings is what takes long. Most umpires do not make sure pitchers take the right number of warm-ups and allow them to lolly gag between innings. The time difference is usually based on not keeping things moving rather than game time. So what that softball games end quicker. I would rather do something I enjoy than do something I fall asleep doing. For me it is about love, not how much time. When you love something you will do not count the time you are doing it. The main thing I really dislike about baseball or softball is the weather. You can have your whole week set up with games and not work any of them. But I have done softball games that talk long because the girls could not field a routine grounder. I have done HS regional games in softball that looked like football scores and took almost two hours. So it really comes down to what you love the most.

Peace

[Strike3UROUT]

You are exactly right that you have to love what you are doing to do a great job. I try very hard to give the pitchers only 5 pitches between innings but this is not the only thing that slows the game down. Since there are a lot of small schools around where I work there are a lot of walks, errors and stolen bases. Seems like a lot of kids go to "hitting coaches" but NOBODY works on their defense. I've seen so many routine double play grounders butchered up it isn't even funny.

Another factor of making baseball games lasy forever is when the batter steps out of the box between every pitch. A lot of players have a habit of taking 5-6 steps up the line to take the sign and then of course by the time they take 5-6 steps back and get adjusted it's one pitch and they are going to do it all over again. I had a couple of games last year when I told the coaches in the pre-game that the batters HAD to keep one foot in the box at all times instead of walking around getting the signs. When they started doing this I made sure the pitcher didn't "quick pitch" them but indeed waited for them to get ready. I found it to work quite well and it really reduced the time of the game.

[greymule]

I have done a lot of both baseball and softball.

Girls' fast-pitch is a lot of fun. At the higher levels, where the pitching is good, I'm done many games in which there were very few walks, frequently not a single one. They don't blast the ball to the fence, but there's a lot of slashing, bunting, and stealing action. Even at the 12-year-old level, low-scoring games are the rule. These games are not boring!

Of course, in whatever game you're doing you have to be completely in command of the rules (except slow pitch, see below), but it's particularly important in FP. With the pitching dominant, the girls are coached to push the limits to gain an advantage (for example, with the look-back rule).

Rec leagues are a different story. In areas with good programs, you can have terrific games. In other places, you'll have games full of walks, errors, interferences, obstructions, crazy plays, etc. You're often lucky to complete 4 innings where no inning starts after 1:45 and the last inning stretches past the 2-hour mark.

I stopped doing FED baseball a few years ago. The games took too long, and I couldn't seem to find a way to keep them moving. Another factor was the many rules I was uncomfortable enforcing, and every year they seemed to add another one.

Years ago, I worked a semi-pro summer baseball league that contained mostly college players and some ex-pros. Too bad that league eventually folded, because baseball at that level was the most fun of all.

Over several decades, I played a great deal of slow pitch softball. I loved it and looked forward to spending weekends playing in tournaments. (I confess that in some ways I liked it better than baseball—shame on me!) I finally turned to umpiring, and I have certainly officiated a zillion games. The game is so hitting heavy that the rules anybody cares about are easy—I know guys who have umped for years and know nothing but the basics. But the equipment—the red-hot bats and rock-hard but ever-deader balls—has destroyed the game. There's some easy money to be made in co-ed business leagues, but the quality of play is often pure picnic level, with a couple of swell-headed heroes showing off to the girls from the office. I would now agree with georgelog: "Don't waste your time."