My 1st Ejection

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by ozzy6900

To the amateurs out there, the number one, most important thing that an umpire needs to know is the status of the ball. Nothing can happen without the ball! Try to keep that in mind in the future!

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.