I read Tim C's journal, and it seems like a great idea to keep blogs of them, so i created one for myself, and am going to post every game i do this year there. It probably won't be as good as Tim's, but i think it would be interesting if quite a few of us started this, and posted the address here. mine is:

http://umpiresjournal.blogspot.com/

will def be checking in on this...

Here is my journal for today.

Got paid on site.

Now mentally I record that my partner called an IFF on a little short popup behind the mound that I did not think anybody had an ordinary effort chance at so I did not call it, and I may have missed an FPSR call. After the out at 2B I turned to make the safe call at 1B and when I looked back at 2B the runner was getting up off the ground on the other side of the bag. My consolation is that my partner should have called it if I missed it so maybe I didn't. But I'm not gonna write it down and read about it 3000 games from today.

Personally, I'm looking for the link to the "Cokalinski Combine Blog." Anybody have it?



Tim.

Just because R1 ended up beyond the base does not mean that there was a FPSR violation. Only if R1 went beyond the base and THEN contacted F4/6.

<i> Originally posted by DG </i>

<b> Here is my journal for today.

Got paid on site.

I may have missed an FPSR call. After the out at 2B I turned to make the safe call at 1B and when I looked back at 2B the runner was getting up off the ground on the other side of the bag. My consolation is that my partner should have called it if I missed it </b>

The FED mechanic at least in the NY State Association is the PU is responsible for calling the FPSR when we have R1.

Reason: As demonstrated in your thread, once the ball is Released from F4/F6 you as BU are no longer watching R1 but getting ready for perhaps a banger at first. By the time you do look back at R1 it's too late. That's why the interference call on a FPSR situation for the Most part belongs to the PU.

As Bob pointed out, you DO NOT know if in fact R1 made contact with the fielder or not. Simply sliding past the bag isn't cause for interference unless the runner contacted the fielder or altered the play. All you saw was R1 getting up on the other side of the bag.

It's good you didn't call the FPSR from your view, otherwise you would have a heck of an argument with the irrate coach who is coming out of the dugout.

Therefore, if a journal is going to be kept it should be about mechanics as well.

Pete Booth

DG
 

"But I'm not gonna write it down and read about it 3000 games from today."

I recognize that I am not as good as umpire as you.

I find that the journal has allowed me to track and understand my development as an umpire. The same issue should not come back to the front over the years . . . I should be able to work on new issues.

Having diaries of over 3,000 games has allowed me to compare where umpiring in general was in the 60's . . . the changes in the 70's . . . the affect on me of going to professional school twice in the 80's . . . the frustrations I felt in the 90's when I relocated to three different areas of America and what I did to keep working games at the top of the heat . . . and now in 00's seeing the documented change to group hug umpiring and the "get the call right" philosophy.

DG, I try to imrove as an umpire each year, each game, each inning and even each pitch -- documenting what I do, the games I have worked and the issues that re-occur has helped me greatly over the years.

I am not suggesting that anyone use the system I have developed . . . I am not suggesting that what works for me works for others . . . I also recognize that most people feel as you do.

Re: DG
 

Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Tee? Dammit man, what are your ransom demands? :D

True. That's why I said "might have missed". I did not see contact but he was getting up at the feet of the fielder. So my consolation is maybe it was not FPSR since PU did not call anything.

Tee et al.,

I don't know how good an umpire I am or anyone else is because it is hard to evaluate plate and base jobs from the keyboard :). I would love to keep a journal of my almost 13 years of umpiring. I have tried to start journals but I just never follow through. I am someone that relies too much on the file cabinet that is my brain. Anyway, I say if you can keep a journal do so. If you can't you will probably still survive. I am a firm beleiver that history teaches us many things since we can't know where we are going unless we know where we have been.

Lawrence