Again the media sets it straight!

[LMan]

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/15378691.htm

[mick]

Mr. Donnellon,

In response to your confusion,
"...frequently shake off, baseball already has enough unnecessary, interest-killing delays.
It shouldn't tolerate
umpires adding to them,...." - http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/15378691.htm
...I offer that the cummulative delays of a methodical umpire's signals add no more time to the game than the resulting time loss of 4 foul balls.
Further, I would like to remind you that "it ain't nuthin' until the ump calls it."
Be well.
mick chambers
Houghton, Michigan

[SanDiegoSteve]

Mr. Donnellon,

It is quite apparent to this 21 year veteran of umpiring that you obviously know nothing about umpiring, and have never officiated a game in your life. The plate umpire is supposed to delay his calls on balls and strikes. It's called timing. Umpiring looks really easy from your vantage point, but from behind the catcher, I assure you it is very difficult. Leave the umpiring to the umpires, and you stick to writing about things you know nothing about.

I'd just love to see how you would work, if 40,000 umpires came to your desk and screamed and yelled at you, and nit-picked everything you do, criticized your writing style, and told you that you were wrong about everything you did.

Steve Meyers

San Diego, California

[Tim C]

Mr Donnellon:

Thank you for the asute and well written column.

The column proves that on a slow news day even a monkey with a key board can produce something that an editor will print.

Tim Christensen
Portland, OR

[Rich]

Originally Posted by LMan

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/15378691.htm

What an embarrassment to Philadelphia sports writers.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser

What an embarrassment to Philadelphia sports writers.

Um, Rich, Stephen A. Howling Smith is also a writer on Philly.com. This story doesn't even come close to some of the beauties that he's penned, when you're talking embarrassments.

[ozzy6900]

I sent this dummy an email. I don't know why I did it, but I think that it has something to do with my age and my lack of tolerance for morons such as this.

*********************************

Mr. Donnellon;

Referring to your article posted about umpires on Monday August 28, 2006, it is quite obvious that you know nothing about baseball etiquette or umpiring.

Many of the players have forgotten the simple etiquette of waiting until the umpire makes the call. I've seen many a player start off to first base thinking the got ball four when I am just calling strike 2 or 3. Players that jump out thinking they have ball four are showing up the umpire (whether they realize it or not). Sure it seems like an eternity to the batter but in reality, it is only a second so just wait! You might get the call after all if you stay put!

That brings me to the job of umpiring. We are taught to see the pitch, see it again in your mind then call the pitch. You seem to want to call the pitch before the ball even gets to the catcher! Rushing the call produces only one thing - inconsistency. Players need consistency in order to work their "magic". If I call a spot a strike in the first inning, it had better be a strike in the ninth inning as well. Rushing the call causes timing errors and blown calls. Watch a local youth umpire do a game, then watch a trained High School or NCAA umpire - pitch, thud, pause, call - every time, every pitch!

Do some umpires delay more than others? Yes, there are times that a borderline pitch makes you guess for another moment. Remember what I said earlier about consistency, it's one of the most important things to the players. Sometimes after seeing over two hundred pitches, you loose focus. When that happens to a plate umpire, it can be a disaster to the game. Try to imagine a projectile coming straight for your you at anywhere from 90 to 100 MPH and you loose focus! That is where we are taught to slow down even more and "see" the pitch again in our heads.

Mr Donnellon, a plate umpire gets less than a second to make a decision on a pitch and he/she does it over two hundred times in a game. May I suggest that you try it sometime. Many sports writers have done this and found that they didn't have a clue and had even less of a clue when they took off the mask. What they did have was a little more respect for a part of the game that is taken for granted.

Thank You,
Mario (Last Name)
(City and State)

[mick]

Originally Posted by ozzy6900

I sent this dummy an email. I don't know why I did it, but I think that it has something to do with my age and my lack of tolerance for morons such as this.

Those are my problems, also.
Dunno why, just did it.

[greymule]

When you watch old films of MLB, among the most prominent of the many striking differences from today's game is the way the umpires made calls. Even in the 1960s, the right arm appears to be up before the ball hits the catcher's mitt. Out calls are also just about immediate.

Undoubtedly this is why the average length of a World Series game was so much shorter in the old days:

1903: 1:48 (Longest game: 2:02)
1909: 1:56
1927: 2:11
1930: 1:49
1932: 2:11
1937: 2:08
1938: 1:59
1939: 1:46 (The first 2 games took a total of 3 hours even!)
1946: 2:34 (The umps were starting to slow down a little)
1960: 2:40
1985: 2:45
2003: 3:21
2004: 3:23
2005: 3:51 (One extra-inning game took 5:41)

[LMan]

"Undoubtedly?" You are certain that no other factor over all those years had/has anything to do with the lengthening of games from 1903 to now?


Really?

[Peruvian]

Originally Posted by greymule

2003: 3:21
2004: 3:23
2005: 3:51

No, I think you can chalk these up on FOX's side of the board.

FOX games and ANY games the Yankees or Red Sox play take FOREVER and are unwatchable.

[socalblue1]

Consider a few of that changes that changed MLB from pitcher dominated to hitter orientated:

1. Removal of the spit ball / doctored baseball
2. Reducing mound height from 15" to 10"
3. "Livelier" baseball
4. Expansion
5. Designated hitter
6. 80% of the games televised
7. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[SanDiegoSteve]

Yeah, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the time spent between innings for TV timeouts (two minutes +), which was not a factor in the early days. Even the last 15 years, where they have lengthened the TV timeout to accomodate more advertising.

There is also the aspect of situational pitching, which was unheard of in the old days. In those thrilling days of yesteryear, the bullpen was a place relegated for has-beens, also-rans, and sore-arm sad-sacks. Today, there are mop-up men, long relievers, set-up men, and closers. In the old days, the pitcher was expected to pitch a complete game, or darn close to it. These days, 6 or 7 innings into the game, we're changing pitchers. The time spent warming up these pitchers contributes to longer games as well.

Mound conferences last longer. Players step in and out of the box more than they did back then. Nomar fidgets with his batting gloves and performs histrionics between every pitch.

There are many other possible reasons why games take so much longer. I would not say it is because the umpire has a 2 second delay on his strike call. This would only account for anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes extra per game, and that is negligible. I would say that "undoubtedly" it is not the umpire's calls which lengthen games.

[ctblu40]

Hmmm?

When drawing comparisons or using analogies, shouldn't the two subjects be related more closely than simply being part of the sports world?

Can you imagine NBA players frozen in place after a whistle, waiting as a referee casually indicates a charge or a block?

I can't imagine this, however I've never seen an NBA player 'charge' at over 90 mph.

Does this guy know anything about baseball?

Why can't it also have standardized calls for strikes, and balls, as they do for safe and out?

I thought there were standardized calls for these plays? If he's referring to the 'hammer' vs the 'point', I think each NFL referee, in their later years, personalizes their signals as well, but I still understand what they're calling... maybe I'm a genius?

...personalizing basic calls as if they were some sort of an art form.

Hey Tee, didn't you just post that calling pitches is an art form?

And my personal favorite...

Whether it was Tim McClelland making everyone wait for him

and

People in the game have told me that McClelland is a good guy and a good balls-and-strikes umpire...

Is it possible that these two statements are the basis for a good causal argument?

[umpduck11]

Did Joe west pi$$ in this guy's corn flakes ?