New
 

hey. I am currently a basketball official and due to the request of an AD I am going to take the leap to baseball. I told him that I would only work is jr high games next year as I have no experience. He wants me to jump right in however and work the plate and he will provide a baseump. I would love to start studying now, I know from basketball that you can know all the rules and still be terrible as alot has to do with game experince. Could you guys give me some pointers to get started, just reading this forum has helped already. thanks

JV ball, call anything close to the zone a strike and the game will move along quickly.

I took the same road 3 years ago. I actually prefer the plate rather than the bases. Call balls and strikes w/ confidence.

One other thing I do is ask both catchers their first names and call them by it the entire game. I aslo tell them my first name and tell them it is ok to call me by it rather than "sir" or "blue". Although very few do that.

I am not sure they publish this book anymore, but if I were you I would try to buy the book from Referee Magazine called, "Behind the Plate" written by Carl Childress (who is the editor of the paid part of this web site) The book goes into great detail about how to set up and the philosophy behind calling strikes. When I worked basketball during my first year, later that spring I was assigned my first baseball games as well. I did not know a thing about what to do, but someone gave me this book and I read it from cover to cover a couple of times. The very first game I ever worked was a varsity game and I was able to look like I knew what I was doing and got through it. The bottom line is if you can work the plate, you can umpire. They could stick some dad out on the bases and they are mainly going to remember the job you do behind the plate (I have worked game like this early in my career). Also if you have worked basketball, it will not be that big of an adjustment to deal with the style of game. Baseball games are a much more laid back environment, fans are not right next to the field. Coaches are not complaining about every call or no call (they cannot argue ball and strikes by rule, so that cuts down on what they say) you make. When they do complain, they usually let everyone know they are upset which does not allow for comments to be misunderstood or them to say things under their breathe too often.

Just read everything you can, work your first game and try your best to get better from that point on. Just like any other sport it takes time to understand all the idiosyncrasies of a game, then it becomes like riding a bike with a lot of reputation.

Peace

Well .....................
 

Really ? Standards must be lax in your neck of the woods. Or maybe there are just not enough trained umpires.



Doug

Actually, no one really cares about baseball as a whole here. I have said this before, basketball and football rule here. ADs and Principals only care when the team goes far in the playoffs. This is not California, Texas or Florida. ;)

Peace

After seeing The Big Lebowski on Showtime last night (a great movie) I've figured it out. Rut is a nihilist. That explains everything.

Bunny Lebowski: Ulli doesn't care about anything. He's a Nihilist.
The Dude: Ah. Must be exhausting.

"Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters....
...to me.......anywhere the wind blows........(gong)" "

Freddie lives!:D