Approximately 5 feet is the NFHS rule. If the ball was live (I'm assuming it was), then it was clearly a balk as the pitcher was clearly within 5 feet of the rubber.

Found it - FED 6-2-5

""or positions himself within approximately 5 feet of the pitcher's plate without having the ball"

Thanks J!

Maybe its in the eye of the beholder, but that's not the way I saw the video Dave. I clearly saw the coach give the umpire a little shove from behind. The umpire turned and they both went face to face yelling at each other. I think the "head butt" was a collision of both faces as they tried to outscream each other.

Once the coach was tossed, and the umpire turned his back and began walking away, the other umpire should have been there (if at all possible) by then to step between the two.

Besides, the ball did look a little low!:p

I think 6 feet is set in my mind because of basketball. The bottom line you can be called for a balk if you are not straddling the rubber. Thanks for the clarification.

Peace

If you hadn't "quoted" that other post, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing the King Rat version.

Being grabbed and turned around from behind isn't threatening? Horsesh!t. I can tell you from my short time on the force, little feels more threatening than being grabbed from behind.

The movement of the head coincides with the body move forward and the act of yelling. Heads move when one shouts...watch the coaches.

The one sin this umpire committed was the failure to remove his helmet.

Why? He knew the manager was coming out and was going to get run. Why even bother respecting him by removing it? King Rat......that's priceless.

My training, at all levels, is to remove my mask for an ejection. From Hiler three man NCAA camps, to Evans, to ABUA, to Gerry Davis, to Doug Harvey...all instructed the same: the mask comes off for an ejection. I see no reason to exempt helmets.

I have since been informed that at PBUC, when the mask comes off, someone goes.

All I said was, had the umpire removed his HSM, then the coach's slap would have struck his face instead of the HSM. That's it. There's no hidden meaning in my comment, just a statement of fact.

Its a little like NFL players 'fighting' with their helmets on :rolleyes: . If a coach wants to slap my HSM (I don't have a HSM, but if I did....) with his bare hand, be my guest, I'll be doing the laughing :D

Fixed that for you, and I disagree.

His sin was wearing a dazzle shirt. Anyone see a zipper?
He looked to be six feet behind the catcher. No wonder he was getting grief. Buy the HSM but stand that far back?
Yes, when talking with a coach (especially if you're gonna launch him) take off the mask, and the :cool:

Not talking about a special exemption for helmets. Masks/helmets, same discussion.

Fair enough. But then you are saying that you'd leave the mask/helmet on with the head coach coming out to argue? That's what I thought you were talking about.

Looking at the video, I probably would've removed the bucket once the head coach came out to argue balls and strikes. Cause once he did that, he was going.

I guess I should have defined "physically threatening" a little better. By "physically threatening", I meant that the act had the potential to cause physical harm.

Touching somebody and attempting to turn them around is NOT going to injure them. Getting in somebody's face is NOT going to injure them.

Butting somebody in their unprotected face with a rigid metal mask certainly COULD cause injury.

That's what I'm saying.

So, by that definition, I maintain that the only "physically threatening" act was on the part of the umpire.

The biggest "sin" in this incident was hardly the umpire's failure to remove his mask. You say that the umpire's mask hitting the coach was incidental - I say it appeared intentional. You may be right - but I doubt you are.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

you guys will argue anything.
 

i would remove my mask before ejecting anyone..thats how it is taught..what a joke..i think this happened a little to fast to think about taking of a mask.
Yea, the coach did nothing Garth,,,so you would let someone touch you...you such a good umpire, we all wish to be like you.
yea , a bobble head...you look so good in your gear..we look at amazement on hoe ripped you are and how perfect you look..In fact, i bet 3/4 of you think that when the game is going on, all the fans are looking at you..lol.
No one but no one, puts there hands on me....specially in a half *** high school game...
critize, joke and examine it to death because most of you would have handled it diffrently..lol thats why your in the bigs making 100,000 of dollars..lol.
who cares what shirt color he has, what helmet he's wearing and what calls he made,,,he's working hard and some coach pushes him or turns him around.
great respect, sportsmanship and way to teach our up and coming citizens how to handle a problem....this is high school baseball...not getto ball in east l.a....you never ever touch another human being unless ya wanna fight!!!

Mike1989, here, this might help you. You'll thank me later.

What the he!! are you talking about? Where did I say I'd let someone touch me? Where have I done anything but take the side of the umpire?

Before you address one my posts, try reading it first. Or perhaps even better, have someone literate read it to you.