Only use the timing play signal when 2 out and runner on 2nd?

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by Tim C
I KNOW what is happening around me when I umpire.

NO PROCESS is changed when this wasteful signal is given.

Other signals give a road map of what should happen.

I am not a big signal guy at all.

Working two man also limits the amount of signals that need to be given.

We already talked about the IFF followed by "I got third on the tag."

Time Signal does not give direction, does not change the coverage, and certainly does not change either umpire mechanic . . . it is nothing more than telling someone something they already know.

It is kinda like giving the "Foul Tip" signal after a great big swinging strike . . . doesn't happen when I'm dishin'.

I agree -- so I give it not as a separate signal, but combined with the others -- end the "rotation" signal by tapping the wrist, or pointing to the plate with one hand while tapping the wrist with the other, for example.

I don't give it with R3 and 2 outs -- I've never seen an R3 who couldn't make it home before BR passed first by a sufficient margin to be tagged out. (And, yes, I recognize that R3 could stumble and fall, and by the time he gets up it could be a "close" play.)