The original poster was not out of position by what he said. I was not there so I do not know definitely.

I went to the Wendelstedt school this year and was taught just as TC Ump was taught. You check over the right shoulder for the runner at 2nd and react accordingly. You must be in position before the play is made so tha t you can be stopped and set. If in the instance of the original poster the ball was hit as a dribbler then you will have to react without getting in the way. The key is angle and distance. You may have to sacrifice distance for angle. Just do your drop steps and pivots and you will be fine if you get proper angle.

If you are waiting until the catcher catches the ball to react you will not have the proper angle on the play. You will likely see the back side of the runner and will likely have no clue as to a close bang bang steal play at 3rd.

Before going to the school, I would move a step or so toward 3rd but nothing like I do now. Now I realize the proper way of doing it and do have a much better angle and approach.

I have been umpiring for a number of years, I have purchased numerous training aids and went to various schools, yet I have never heard of staying still until the catcher catches the ball. SDS said he would give up the check swing call for the steal play. Truly the check swing call is not your call to make unless the PU asks for help. You must first do your job. You have to make the safe/out calls.

If you need any help or anything just ask and I will do anything I can. Hey even the pros make mistakes. We are human after all.

For clarificiation, what I meant by my title of the thread was that I was really far away and had an unusual angle for the banger at first. It sounds as though, according to you guys, that there was little I could do other than what I did to get myself close to where I needed to be to make the call at 1st.

Thanks ya'll.

What I meant was that he was on vacation after his season was over. From what I remember, as this was over 12 years ago, he did not have any association uniform shirts available, so he wore his pro uniform. After all, he had been a minor league umpire for quite some time to be in the Texas League, which is AA. Why would you expect him to still have his old shirts?

He got assigned the game because the assignor wanted two good officials on it since it was a championship game of a 17-18 yr. old tournament, and it was the time of year that many umpires (the ones who are too "good" to work non-NFHS games) are no longer working.

By the way, this umpire now runs an umpire training program in the Southern California area. If I named him, you probably would regognize the name.