Nasty weather on the horizon...
 

I've been reading Sports Officiating: A Legal Guide 2nd Edition by Alan S. Goldberger. Some of the topics contained are very self explanatory and obvious but most people never quite think of them as liabilities. I figured in such a litigious society (of course I'm referring to the US) it might not be a bad read to reduce exposure.

Anyways, I just got done reading around weather (during baseball games) and the use of caution to continue after lightning. At times, I've considered investing in a hand-held (pager-style) lightning detector. The book doesn't mention the use of these devices to my surprise. Do any of you carry such device when the weather might turn for the worse? I know that some of the coaches around here have them but seem to never have been activated when the conditions warrant. I've never understood why they have them if they are not used. Just curious if anyone routinely carries a detector and if they seem to work well. TIA

-Josh

I occasionally work at a park where...
 

they have the one mounted on a pole. It flashes a bright strobe, a shrill siren wails for about 30 seconds and the light continues to flash until the lightning risk is gone from the area. Then we wait 30 minutes after the light quits flashing. Never seen lightning there. Played in rain there when it did not go off. Stopped play two times in the last five years when I was there. I am sure there were other occasions it went off. The park director and league administrators love it. I guess it is fine if that is a real risk. I have no personal experience with lightning strikes to anyone I have ever known or even heard of. I guess I am just lucky.

Your mileage may vary.

What level is this? HS? Pretty fancy, sounds like a great system to me!

-Josh

It is actually a City-County Park
 

That has a five field cloverleaf of fields in one location dedicated to baseball (t-ball through High School/Legion level) and another four field cloverleaf for softball plus soccer, basketball, tennis, some sort of paddleball, handball, skateboarder/in-line skater, BMX races, lighted beach volleyball and a nice pool with slides, waterpark stuff also. Obviously, a LOT of money spent. Most of it donated I hear from the families that owned the land used to develop it. Coincidentally there are new neighborhoods going all around the park with pricey homes. I guess they did not give away all the land they owned for a park. (grin) Pretty smart actually.

We are planning a new park in my city. How are the five fields laid out? Do they share a press-box? I have seen many four field configurations, but never five. It would help us to get an extra field in the same area as the four we are planning.

until my job details include being able to detect lightning, i wont be purchasing a lightning detector.

it isnt all that hard to just follow any of the common guidelines anyways.

It is your job to detect lightning though. Because guess what, if someone gets struck by lightning under your watch, you could be held liable legally. Hence I asked the question if people carry the detectors

-Josh

Josh,
Perhaps the detectors are not activated [turned on] because of the difficulty in rescheduling games, ... or because of the score.

Actually I believe they have enough things to worry about and they just don't think about it.

-Josh

Have any of you ever had the situation where you are on bases, and you do not feel safe due to lightning, but your plate partner lets them play on?

You don't need your partners permission to stop a game if you feel there's a danger. I don't know of anyone I work with that would argue with me were I to make the decision to suspend the game due to a concern about lightening. And conversely, I wouldn't argue with any of them if they made the decision, even if I disagreed with it.



Tim.

Good call, Tim.
If we disagree then all the attorney fingers are pointing in our direction.

You already own lightning detectors: they are located on either side of your nose. :cool:

I won't be purchasing one...I'll err on the side of player safety...if I see lightning, we're coming off the field...period...it's pretty simple really. "one more pitch," "let's just finish the inning" is not worth my $95 game fee when I have to hire an attorney to defend my wanted to finish up "just one more hitter..." no gimmicky lightning detector for me.

I have often wondered how safe it is to stand in a small cyclone fence enclosure in a lightning storm, but I have never searched for the answer.

my .02
 

If I'm on the plate and you are on the bases, Im looking out and you are looking in.........and you see lightning..........throw your hands up and call time.............

I dont know of anyone I work with that would criticize you for stopping the game........

To me, its just understood that that is one of those things we have equal jurisdiction over..........

Agreed...I've suspended the game quite a few times while on the bases. If my partner disagrees, well that's his tough luck because I'm having everyone inside of the dugouts or emergency shelters immediately. It's one topic I will decide without directly discussing it with my partner, it's for his safety as well.

Seems as though nobody really carries such a device regularly.

-Josh

The unit that the original poster was referring to is made by Strike Alert and it works very well. I have several friends that officiate soccer and they always wear them when the weather warrants. I am told that the units rarely give false alarms (unless you are near a welder) and the units have given ample notice for the officials to clear the fields for an impending storm.

That said, I never invested in one. I check the radar on my cell phone before the game and if there are cells moving in our direction, I inform my partner that we need to be on the lookout. We inform the managers at the plate meeting of the possibility of a weather problem and that thunder will be the first clue that we may clear the fields. I have never had a problem with HS, Summer or Fall leagues using this formula:

• Lightning is difficult to see in daylight.
• In order to hear thunder, lightning had to have occurred.
• If I hear thunder, lightning will soon be seen.
• Successive thunder claps mean clear the field (read below for the reasons).

Now, we don't have the advantage here in CT of being able to see for 30 or 40 miles out. Hell, we are lucky if the terrain allows us to see 4 or 5 miles! So when we see lightning (during daylight hours), it's right on top of us.

Exactly Oz...
 

Since I have a few alternate vocations in the 'Youth Arena', I purchased one of these units.

It is reliable, rarely falses (cell phone calls, motors and fluorescent lamp starts), and gives a decent heads up in my neck-o-the-woods. Which is usually actually IN the woods (Scouting)!

For baseball, it has given me no advantage over simply being alert (and having an alert partner).

One time, it indicated a series of strikes 20-40 miles away. At that time, there was a clear blue sky above. Nothing to indicate trouble brewing. In about 45-50 minutes, the storm was upon us and the game was suspended. That was the only time an alert was associated with a game I was in.

I have used this device more so while camping and hiking since the skyline is even more obscured there.

FWIW.

Strike Alert is a portable system. It's called a personal detector. About $75.

There is also one called Sky Scan (About $200 with Power Adapter). Sky Scan also has a more rugged version for about $800. We have the $200 one at our park.

The permanent one with siren etc. is probably a ThorGuard. It seems to be fairly widely used. From what I've heard form a couple of users, expect to pay 5 figures.

Internet search
 

Not to sure what that will turn up. But if you travel to Phoenix, AZ, they have quite a selection for planning purposes. I would say Phoenix probably has more baseball fields per square mile than any other big city. Check out the lighting at the Red Mountain complex. Others are home to cactus league MLB teams. A few are city diamonds formerly owned by MLB teams.