Smittyisms

[jkumpire]

Originally Posted by fitump56

Brushing off the pitcher's rubber is most often for the umpire to be able to determine when he actually mounts the rubber. Perhaps the MiLB umps I see doing this, on much more pristine fields, are also untaught.

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.