Short video
 

I was cleaning up the website and found these. They're 3 years old, now.

I know, I know, I run like a dork and would never be confused with a real umpire.

Rich plate

Rich plate 2

--Rich

Unless you were wearing white and working in a snow storm, I just get a blank screen from those links.

They are QuickTime movies. You probably need a plugin. Works fine in my copy of Firefox on my Windows machine. Not much to see, anyway. Just 2 minutes of me working a college game at Miller Park.

It's hard to look like a gazelle running in shin guards and plate shoes.:)

I take it that your partner went out on a ball down the line in Video 1?

You hustle, and that's what counts.

I have QuickTime 7.3 and I just watched a differnt clip on it, so it is working. But for some reason, it appears whenever I click on your link I get a question box asking if I want to download Quicktime....oh, well.

The browser is looking for the plugin, not the program.

The movies are hosted on my own site (actually the only files up there right now). You could right click and save the file and then open them in QT if you want to see them. It's not really worth it, though.

After some tinkering, I got to see the clips.

1. You look good and trim, to the point that your plate coat looks big on you.

2. My wife said your legs looked short, but I explained that as long as they reach the ground it's okay.

3. You drop in your stance a bit late for what's accepted around here. Stance height looks good, though.

4. Great hustle on getting back to the plate. I hate to see umpires who hustled during the play leisurely stroll back to home after the play.

5. Two man at the college level?

Tell your wife she's quite astute. My 29" inseam isn't going make anyone think I have long legs.

My takeaway from this video was to set earlier.

I think I could (and did) probably get away with the late set with 99% of my pitching after 20-ish years, but on days when I'm not quite on or the pitching is a bit weak, being locked in earlier helps.

And I'm not, unfortunately, as trim as I was then. Hopefully by next spring I will be. I'm about halfway to my goal.

And no 3-man in D3 here until the conference tournament. And it depends on the conference.

Haha yes you do! Alas, that's the only thing i found wrong with your vids. Good plate work!

You just look way too stiff when you run. You run like i run when i'm holding in a #2 and i'm hustling to the john. :D

But as you would know, it's better to hustle and look bad than to not hustle at all. Nice work Rich!

Rich...You have given all of us fellow 29 inch inseamers hope.

Yep,
 

Garth noted:

"5. Two man at the college level?"

We service 42 colleges in the Pacific Northwest. 40 of them use 2 man crews. Only Oregon State and the University of Portland (our only D-1 schools with baseball as of the moment) use 3 man.

Only at playoff level baseball do any of our other 40 colleges go to 3 man.

Regards,

Thank you, Mr. Lincoln. :cool:

Most QuickTime movies don't play on my computer. Rich's worked fine. :confused:

I've never run comfortably with my short legs and wearing shin guards and a cup. I get where I need to, though.

My wife, not an umpire, told me before I watched the video that she thought I was "coming down" too late. She's seen me umpire so much, she's become a pretty credible evaluator.

I'm ready to skip basketball season, have it be spring, and start up with baseball.

Our D-1 schools, D-3 school and Jucos all use three man. The Jucos will use two when there is an availability problem.

It seems you get "locked in" too late. Your head is moving down, into position, as the ball is being delivered. Sometimes the catcher has already caught the pitch by the time your head reaches its finally location.

Nice stadium! Where's it at?

David Emerling
Memphis, TN