Microphones for umpires?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

There are several reasons why not:

1. It is hard to keep up with conversations when every other (%(&$($($^(*&% &^&%(&^$#@@&% word is $#@!^@&$% so you can't @$@^$&***$ use it on @#$@%Y%$ TV. And why should people like me have to listen to that @#@^^% on my $@@&&#(%*%*&^()) TV. And hearing some @@^$$&# player or &)(*^^&^) Manager talking about the *(^%&$^##& game needs to stay as )&^$^#$ private as (*&^(%*#$#*& possible.

2. In my games, there are conversations between me and players or even coaches that need to stay private, I would have to think that MLB games have tons of that stuff that should never get on the air, and will inflame things on the field if they do.

3. If fans want an idea of what PU/F2 talk is about, tell them to rent Bull Durham. other than that, let them enjoy what they see, not what they don't need to hear. Let them hear the educated broadcast team instead, esp. such baseball heavyweights as McCarver.

The OP isn't (I don't think) suggesting that all conversations be broadcast to the crowd. Rather, he's suggesting that the result of "unusual" plays be explained -- much as the R in football doesn't broadcast all conversations, but explains penalties. Here, either Bucknor or West could have said, "R1 was obstructed at second. When a play was made on him, the ball became dead. Nothing after that is allowed to stand. All runners are placed at the base occupied when the ball became dead."

[voiceoflg]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

The OP isn't (I don't think) suggesting that all conversations be broadcast to the crowd. Rather, he's suggesting that the result of "unusual" plays be explained -- much as the R in football doesn't broadcast all conversations, but explains penalties. Here, either Bucknor or West could have said, "R1 was obstructed at second. When a play was made on him, the ball became dead. Nothing after that is allowed to stand. All runners are placed at the base occupied when the ball became dead."

That is exactly what I was suggesting, Bob. Leave the mic off at all times until something like that comes up and needs explaining. Granted, managers will then want nitpicky stuff explained to the crowd. But that would be up to the umpire.

[LMan]

from ChicagoSports:

Call of the wild (play): Brutal
Only Cubs' Hughes nails crazy sequence

An obstruction of justice? Actually, no

June 25, 2007


Moments after the Cubs' baserunning cirque de soleil ended Sunday and the umpires ruled everyone safe, White Sox radio play-by-play man Ed Farmer said: "Whoever makes this call, it's the wrong call. This is brutal."

Sox TV voice Hawk Harrelson called it "B.S." three times before proclaiming: "I'll guarantee you, this will be one protest that's upheld."


Neither Harrelson nor partner Darrin Jackson had any idea why the umpires huddled after the play.

If only someone on the telecast had been listening to Cubs radio play-by-play man Pat Hughes, who immediately identified the cause of the controversy.

"There's going to be interference called on the shortstop, [Juan] Uribe," Hughes said. "The runner from first was [Angel] Pagan. He smacked into the shortstop as he tried to round second base. And now the umpires will get together and sort it all out."

Farmer's analyst, Chris Singleton, also noticed the interference.

"Pagan and Uribe bumped pretty hard," he said. "That threw Pagan off."

But Farmer either wasn't listening to Singleton or didn't think the interference would be a factor in the call.

"I guarantee this: If [umpire] Joe West contradicts the play that happened, [Ozzie] Guillen's going to be tossed," Farmer said. "There should be two outs and [Mark] DeRosa at second."

Then a revved-up Farmer fired this off: "The blood in Ozzie Guillen's veins has started to heat up. If this play is reversed, he will come out of [the dugout] like there's a Chrysler engine attached to his backside."

But Guillen didn't even seem as fired up as Harrelson and Jackson.

Jackson: "It's not that confusing to me. They get [Felix] Pie and that's all there is to it. Pagan was called out. He's just a gone goose, as is Pie. I don't know why [Pagan] is even on the field. He was called out. It's really a straightforward play. … This could be the worst call I've ever seen."

Harrelson thought the umpires might call a triple play. After the umpires did just the opposite, Harrelson said: "I've never seen anything like that in my whole career, as a player coming up in Little League to D-ball to C-ball to A-ball to Triple A to the big leagues.

"This is absolute B.S. There should be two out and a man on second. And they've got the bases loaded and no out. Dadgum right this game's going to be played under protest."

After a replay showed Uribe's collision with Pagan, Harrelson said: "Anytime I've ever seen an obstruction play, they call a dead ball. A dead ball means that everything stops right there."

But in this case, everything was just getting started.

[jkumpire]

Since NFL games do not allow protests, and crews have known to make mistakes in games on rule and judgement call, it is still a bad idea. How do you explain Type A obstruction to a crowd who thinks they are getting hosed? Or a manager who will use an explaination to whip up the home crowd by trying to show they are wrong.

IMO it's a bad idea all the way around.