I saw a base umpire signal time by using the signal for a technical foul in basketball.

Was it the same guy who said the ground can't cause a fumble when a fielder dropped the ball after diving for it?


Tim.

Yes, its called "Umpire School". There used to be three...now there are two. They are in FLA.

What the hell does he know about calling the bases? He always has the plate.

BTW, I found the second sentence of your quote elsewhere. It was in a combo dictionary/thesaurus as an example of "understatement."

(In our association, he'd have the bases at something approximating 50%, or he'd be a different kind of umpire--unemployed.)

I agree, EVERTHING Carl has said should not be held gospel but one thing for sure his contribution to basball officiating ranks at the top. Controversial or not.

As I once told a rookie getting ready to work a game with a very very good umpire, "You should be lucky if he lets you hold his indicator while he ties his shoes."

No, he claimed it was a catch because the outfielder held it for 2 steps.

:confused: Was that both feet down BEFORE he crossed the foul line? Or is it DBT? :D

Huh?
 

56,

Please give us more details, like when and where did you see this?

I have worked with hundreds of college umpires, professional umpires, and ex-professional umpires. I have seen people kick dirt off covered bases with a foot, I have never seen an umpire of that caliber brush or clean off a pitcher's plate, or brush off a base.

I admit I did clean off a pitcher's plate once, with my foot, after a pitcher asked me to. It was a 14 yr. old kid game. I beg forgiveness......

I have seen tons of less-experienced umpires and "sm*****s" brush off pitcher's plates and bases. Some of them are SB guys, they can be excused for being from the DARK SIDE.

I'll bite on this one. Bases used in a recent game were popup bases unlike any other I've seen. It was like a Lego into the ground, a bunch of holes on the bases that snapped into a plate that was put in the ground with a bunch of dots on it.

Base came off, dirt covered the plate that was in the ground, and I had the SS and 2B use their fingers to get all the dirt out in between all these bumps that were about 1/2 inch high. They still couldn't get the base in after about 2-3 minutes.

The PU called out "need the brush", to which I beckoned him over, he brushed off the plate that was in the ground, removing all the dirt, and the fielder reattached the base.

Does that make me smitty? :D

If those are the bases I'm familiar with they don't snap into place. The base sits on tip of the nubs.

If those are the bases I'm familiar with they don't snap into place. The base sits on top of the nubs.

They may "sit" but the definately have an exact location where they need to be, and when they are secure, there is a bit of noise that lets you know its on correctly.

You have that a bit wrong. The call that's obvious to everyone is the *right* call. The call can't be, "wrong," if it's obvious to everyone. It might not be exactly what you think you saw, but it's most certainly the *right* call.

And why praytell would you make a call contrary to what you saw?
That indeed would be a smittyism

Quiz:

R2 stealing third, F2 fires down. F5 receives ball before R2 begins head first slide. F5 lays glove down six inches on 2nd base side of the bag. Everyone, including his coach see R2 slides into the tag clearly before the bag, but you, and only you, think that you saw his right hand touch the bag a micro-second before his left hand touched the glove.

Your call?