Well, while I have worked many a solo game (as I said, hundreds) I have worked at least 2,800+ games with a partner, and probably around half of them on the bases, so I don't think mixing in solo games got me into any bad habits. You just have to adjust to it. Making calls from what you call weird angles sharpens your ability to call from the plum angles you get working the bases.

JM,

I am not referring to you directly. You have to do what you have to do. But from my point of view working solo stunts the growth of umpires. There are guys where we live struggling in their 4th and 5th year when they finally work a 2 man game. They do not know where to go and where to stand which is extremely basic stuff. Once again this is just an opinion. I know there are people that disagree.

Peace

If I had been forced to work solo exclusively for 4 or 5 years before working 2-man, I would have been lost too. They never did that to us here. Everyone who was qualified got to go work with the veterans, and get work on the bases. Plus, we had instructors, clinics, and several pro school grads and minor league umpires doing drills with us. One in particular had me running pivots from "A" in a shopping mall parking lot under the lights late at night after a game. There was a whole lot of emphasis on developing umpires who wanted to learn and advance when I started out.

There is a big difference between working a solo game here and there and only working solo games for several years until you get a varsity contest (which is very common in this part of the state). Also one of the reasons working with a partner is better. You have someone that can evaluate you on some level if you are working 2 man constantly. When you work the plate, someone can see how your zone looks. When you are on the bases, your partner can tell you about your timing on a play at first. I have worked with many umpires that are just getting their shot at 2 man to see them do things that they might have long stopped doing if they had an experienced umpire watching them.

Also baseball is not a sport where someone can go all over the place and work games at a camp every other weekend like basketball as an example. So many times umpires are just doing what they know to do and often the things they do is just flat our wrong.

Peace

John,

I'd rather eat lead paint than work solo.

--Rich

So would I, but there was never any lead paint around when I needed it, so I just went ahead and worked the games.

The $69 I got for solo JV games was not to bad, even if working solo is worse than root canal.;)

I agree that 2 man crews will generally call a better game and in a perfect world all leagues would hire 2 per game BUT
If he wants to learn 2 man before he gets to varsity he has the opportunity. There are multiple clinics every year teaching 2 man, there are resources on line and published, there are summer games with 2 man crews that he could get. There's no excuse for an umpire to have that deer in the headlights look on the bases after 4 or 5 years if he was truly motivated.
So my question is: Did the solo games stunt him or did he stunt himself with lack of motivation?

Working solo as a beginning ump has its advantages.
It forces you to work on game management skills.
It definitely hones your sense of anticipating where the play will develop.
In one man your always looking for the angle because you usually are sacrificing distance, then when you get to 2 man you've already developed the knack for the angle and by default you've cut your distance.
You have no one to pow wow with on a rules interp question so after your first screw up(when you realize you're not all knowing) it should be a motivating factor to get back into the rules and you learn real quick the art of BS.
The big problem I found after doing many solo games and then going to BU in 2 man was trying to stay in the game.
BU is very boring if you're used to solo gigs.

JM, this is your first year. Does any of this ring true for you?

I enjoy the comraderie of 2 man before and after the game but the game itself goes much faster for me as PU with or without a partner.

Don,

Quite a bit of it does.

Game management, most certainly.

In terms of anticipation, I found I initially had a tendency to commit too early to the "obvious" (to me) play. I believe I am now more patient in letting the play develop and letting the actual action of the play take me to the proper angle and best distance I can achieve w/o sacrificing position for a possible subsequent play.

I am pretty confident in my rules knowledge and have not yet had a situation where I improperly applied the rules. I did have one situation where I wasn't sure & happened to guess right.

When I do work 2-man games (approx. 20% of my games so far this year), I find the biggest liability is I have to think too much about which calls or responsibilities are mine and which are my partner's. I kind of "know" in a book-learnin' way, but it is far from second nature to me at this point.

So far I haven't had too much difficulty in staying focused when on the bases in a 2-man game. Except sometimes when it's the second MSBL game I'm working that day - but that's a different issue.

I certainly prefer working two-man games; for me, doing a game solo is preferable to both eating lead paint and not working a game at all.

JM

And to those who have moved beyond amateur status, while half of this is true (The number one thing you need to know is the status of the ball), the other half is not. One of the things I find myself UNteaching semi-new guys is the obsession with the ball - staring at it ALL the time. In THIS OP, the status of the ball has become important enough to ignore all else until you have determined out/safe... but in many other situations, the status of the ball will remain undetermined for some period of time, or has already been determined, and JUST watching the ball is bad advice.

"Nothing can happen without the ball" --- umpires that follow this cardinal rule will miss OBS and INT calls on a consistent basis. OBS and INT most certainly happen without the ball. MC can as well.

Not only will these happen without the ball, when you miss them you might get a much bigger argument when you miss these plays.

Peace

Watch the Ball Glance at Runners
 

Watch the ball, glance at runners. The ball is the most important thing. (Damn near) Nothing can happen without the ball. Watch the ball glance at runners.

I'm with Tony. Have they stopped teaching this concept?

I have worked with newer officials who while working the bases watch a runner's exclusively. If you glance at the runners while keeping track of where the ball is, you won't miss obstruction or interference.

Both extremes are wrong, ignoring the ball or the runner is bad mechanics. Yes, things do happen away from the ball. You miss those plays working solo, which is an advantage of 2 man.

What a croc. Tell the truth, if Coach popped off with profanities, or whatever, write it up.