Dropped third strike

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

And just what pro school did you attend? I've read many of your posts, and nothing in them indicated the knowledge acquired at a pro school.

JE - twice. Last year and 2003. Thanks for asking.

And you telling me I'm wrong is the highest compliment I can get.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

JE - twice. Last year and 2003. Thanks for asking.

And you telling me I'm wrong is the highest compliment I can get.

2005 and 2003. Hmmmmm. Aren't both of these years' school sessions prior to the Doug Eddings debacle, which has changed the way the mechanic is taught? No wonder it wasn't taught, there was not yet the need to teach it! Don't try to say that SoCal is wrong now, based on what you didn't get taught in '03 and '05.

[UmpJM]

And,

For anyone interested in Jim Evans' thoughts on the subject, you can find them in the thread linked below:

Evans take on the Eddings Play

Personally, I'd be inclined to go with what he said.

JM

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by CoachJM

And,

For anyone interested in Jim Evans' thoughts on the subject, you can find them in the thread linked below:

Evans take on the Eddings Play

Personally, I'd be inclined to go with what he said.

JM

And this is pretty damn close to what SoCal and I said is the way it's being taught since the Eddings caper.

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

2005 and 2003. Hmmmmm. Aren't both of these years' school sessions prior to the Doug Eddings debacle, which has changed the way the mechanic is taught? No wonder it wasn't taught, there was not yet the need to teach it! Don't try to say that SoCal is wrong now, based on what you didn't get taught in '03 and '05.

A fair point.

So ... who here went this year - did they actually teach this? It hasn't yet filtered down to anything I've attended ... but I'm not TOO old a dog to learn new tricks though.

Personally, I think the Eddings Debacle was more along the lines of his ambiguous signal - his actual signal didn't look like what he'd been using earlier. And also personally, I think "He's Out!" works just fine in borderline sitches like this.

[SanDiegoSteve]

I have found that SoCalBlue has his ear to the ground when it comes to what's going on in umpiring, so I just trust that the info he supplies is accurate.

[JRutledge]

This is all great, but who cares what the pros teach. This was a Little League game and what is taught at the pro level is involving a much smaller number of people. I would not suggest you do anything the pros do unless you have confirmed this from the people you work for. Now this is just an opinion and you should feel free to do your own thing. The Eddings situation seemed to be caused by a signal that I have never seen used. I just know as a PU, I never say anything on a close play. I look for help from my partners (with a non-verbal signal) to tell me if the ball hit the ground or not. I have a catch. Not sure we are going to have video replay to review 100 times to see if the ball hit the ground or not.

Peace

[socalblue1]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

This is all great, but who cares what the pros teach. This was a Little League game and what is taught at the pro level is involving a much smaller number of people. I would not suggest you do anything the pros do unless you have confirmed this from the people you work for. Now this is just an opinion and you should feel free to do your own thing. The Eddings situation seemed to be caused by a signal that I have never seen used. I just know as a PU, I never say anything on a close play. I look for help from my partners (with a non-verbal signal) to tell me if the ball hit the ground or not. I have a catch. Not sure we are going to have video replay to review 100 times to see if the ball hit the ground or not.

Peace

Jeff,

I could not disagree with you more. The mechanic is taught by both pro schools and every clinic I have attended.

The reasoning behind the mechanic is sound - ensure everyone is on the same page in regard to an uncaught third strike.

It's your choice, but I know for a fact that the NCAA region & super region umpires were evaluated on this mechanic in 2006.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by socalblue1

Jeff,

I could not disagree with you more. The mechanic is taught by both pro schools and every clinic I have attended.

The reasoning behind the mechanic is sound - ensure everyone is on the same page in regard to an uncaught third strike.

It's your choice, but I know for a fact that the NCAA region & super region umpires were evaluated on this mechanic in 2006.

Is the mechanic in the book? If it is not in the book then you will have different points of view on this. Also when I talked to Minor League guys and fellow college guys, I did not ever hear of "one size fits all" mechanic with a ringing consensus. Now I am not disputing this was an issue on the NCAA playoff level, but I did not read anywhere where something was adopted across the board. Guys that work playoffs get a different set of directives sometimes than everyone else. Also, what works for NCAA does not necessarily apply for all other levels. I know in my state we do things differently than what is stated in the NF book on purpose. So what you just described might go completely out of the window if you are not working an NCAA game. I also know what happens in one conference can greatly be different from another conference. There is an NCAA conference that requires one of the base umpires to use an indicator along with the PU and you know how that subject gets thrown around here.

Peace

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

This is all great, but who cares what the pros teach. This was a Little League game and what is taught at the pro level is involving a much smaller number of people. I would not suggest you do anything the pros do unless you have confirmed this from the people you work for.

In our association, only pro school mechanics are taught, so we do the things the pros do, and we use the mechanics at every applicable level.