Verbalizing the Count?

[Durham]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

Durham:

Your humor is apparently lost on some people. Good luck Sunday.

Thanks!

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

Durham:

Your humor is apparently lost on some people. Good luck Sunday.

Peace

[jkumpire]

Originally Posted by Durham

What is wrong with that? Isn't that what we all use?

In my corner of the world we use one fist and shout "it's loaded", or "I'm loaded" if it's a beer league!

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by cardinalfan

How about two closed fists and the shout of "The count is full"?

I've been to several clinics over the years and it has always been taught that "full count" is slang and that an umpire should always say, and indicate "3-and-2" or "3 balls, two strikes", but never "full count".

Now, informally, if either the batter or catcher asks me "What's the count?", I may say "Full count." But I consider this a private, informal conversation.

To me, putting up two fists indicates that there is NO COUNT. Also, most of the fans don't understand that signal. It's naive to think that none of our signals are intended for the fans.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

[mbyron]

I never verbalize the count. I use telepathy to plant the count in the minds of all present.

[Chris_Hickman]

Whe the count is 2 balls and 2 strikes..... I say 2 "n" 2... I call that the "Chuck Woolery"!!!!! I loved Scrabble!

[skinner51]

Two closed fists are a NO Count. Try 2 balls on the left hand, and no strikes on the right hand. What do you show, 2 balls and 0 strikes. So, a full count should correctly be displayed as; 3 fingers on the left and 2 fingers on the right and announced as "3 balls, 2 strikes."

[UMP25]

Or just "three and two."

[PeteBooth]

As with most of these type OP's do what your association wants you to.

MAIN POINT - EVERYONE knows the count.

Pete Booth

[David B]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

As with most of these type OP's do what your association wants you to.

MAIN POINT - EVERYONE knows the count.

Pete Booth

Or i would add, should know the count. Maybe just me, but saying the count if not that important. As long as I know and the battery know I'm fine.

We give the count, and two seconds later what do we here, "what's the count blue?"

Thansk
David

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by David B

Or i would add, should know the count. Maybe just me, but saying the count if not that important. As long as I know and the battery know I'm fine.

We give the count, and two seconds later what do we here, "what's the count blue?"

Thansk
David

Yes, they should know.

But the batter, runners, and defense need to know too, not kust the battery. It affects potential actions.

[BretMan]

Whatever you do, don't do what a guy I worked with last year did!

First inning, he is behind the plate. When he held up the count on his fingers, he made no verbal announcement. Okay, I can live with that. But for some reason, I kept having the wrong count- or, at least, a different count than he was showing. I'm scratching my head, trying to figure out how I'm missing pitches.

I decide to huddle up with him between innings, just to see if we're on the same page. As it turns out, we definitely were not!

As he explained it to me, he always shows the number of balls on the right hand, the number of strikes on the left hand. His explaination for why he did that: So the count would look the right way to the pitcher!

Don't be that guy...

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by BretMan

As he explained it to me, he always shows the number of balls on the right hand, the number of strikes on the left hand. His explaination for why he did that: So the count would look the right way to the pitcher!

Don't be that guy...

I was that guy for the first two games I did behind the plate. My grandfather was in town for my second, and asked me after the game why I did it that way. My answer was the same as your partner. My grandfather straightened my mechanic fairly quickly.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by David B

We give the count, and two seconds later what do we hear, "what's the count blue?"

I answer, "Still 2-2." Usually gets a giggle from F2.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Partner on Wednesday verbalizes the count, when necessary, as I've been accustomed to do, that is, "TWO...TWO", signalling with fingers, of course, with one hand for the balls and two for the strikes. We post-gamed it, agreeing on the clarity of using fewer words, skipping the "and" between the TWO's, and omitting the words BALL and STRIKE.
Partner on Thursday commented to me, "You're supposed to say "TWO BALLS...TWO STRIKES", not just the two numbers." He said, "That's what the book says."
I thanked him for his input, since I'm always willing to yield to "the book" in order to comply with Fed mechanics. But I can't find anything specifying one way or the other.
I know different officials have different habits and preferences, and I come down on the side of clarity with the fewest words necessary. But there a preferred Fed mechanic for verbalizing the count?

It really doen't matter to me what you use, unless its "twenty-two" when the count is two balls-two strikes, fist banged together to indicate a count of three balls and two strikes.

However, since you base your practice on "clarity", explain to me how 1 - 2 is more clear than One Ball - One Strike.