It's About Time . . .

[Emperor Ump]

I think there are 3 things which prolong games:

1. A good portion of that is game management by the umpire. Keeping the ball in play, always having baseballs ready, not calling time unnecessarily, ending visits in a timely manner, managing the between inning situations...
   
2. Next thought would be pitching. If the pitcher can put it in there the game will go quicker. A good pitcher will stay in longer and need less visits.
   
3. Finally defense if the defense can make the expected routine plays things will move along well. If they can make the tough plays things will go even quicker.

Unfortunately as umpires we have no control of 2 & 3, but you can shave half an hour or more off of a game by managing the game well as an umpire.

[dash_riprock]

Originally Posted by Emperor Ump

I think there are 3 things which prolong games:

1. A good portion of that is game management by the umpire. Keeping the ball in play, always having baseballs ready, not calling time unnecessarily, ending visits in a timely manner, managing the between inning situations...
   
2. Next thought would be pitching. If the pitcher can put it in there the game will go quicker. A good pitcher will stay in longer and need less visits.
   
3. Finally defense if the defense can make the expected routine plays things will move along well. If they can make the tough plays things will go even quicker.

Unfortunately as umpires we have no control of 2 & 3, but you can shave half an hour or more off of a game by managing the game well as an umpire.

Add "keeping them in the box" to #1

[Fritz]

How about a ban on pitching coaches calling each pitch for the catcher - and waiting until the batter is in the box and ready to swing before signalling the call to the catcher? Then because it takes so long, the batter requests time, which I feel is reasonable given that he has been standing at the ready for at least 15-20 seconds before the pitcher even begins to think about his motion.

Geesh, I mean really, how many different kinds of pitches can most HS guys throw anyway (effectively)?

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by Fritz

How about a ban on pitching coaches calling each pitch for the catcher - and waiting until the batter is in the box and ready to swing before signalling the call to the catcher? Then because it takes so long, the batter requests time, which I feel is reasonable given that he has been standing at the ready for at least 15-20 seconds before the pitcher even begins to think about his motion.

Geesh, I mean really, how many different kinds of pitches can most HS guys throw anyway (effectively)?

This one is starting to get to me too...coaches giving 15 signs for a kid who can barely get his fastball over for a strike...it's getting bad.

[zm1283]

Had a freshman doubleheader last night. First game lasts 3 hours, 10 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. The first inning was right at an hour. First inning and a half was an hour and 23 minutes. I've never seen so many walks and errors in one game.

Coaches agreed that for the second game they would play either an hour or three innings, which was a welcome relief.

[IowaMike]

Originally Posted by zm1283

Had a freshman doubleheader last night. First game lasts 3 hours, 10 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. The first inning was right at an hour. First inning and a half was an hour and 23 minutes. I've never seen so many walks and errors in one game.

Coaches agreed that for the second game they would play either an hour or three innings, which was a welcome relief.

I used to coach a freshman team. You can get some bad games at that level, then other days a doubleheader will be over in 3 1/2 hours. The main conference in my area made some changes for freshman games this year. We always play doubleheaders in Iowa, so now both games at the freshman level are 6 innings, and no inning can start in the second game after 1:45. Freshman play at 10:00 am here and there is often a varsity or sophomore game scheduled for 5pm the same day. They need time to do field maintenance etc., thus the time limits.

I would say that the average varsity game here runs around 1:30 to 1:45. We usually start doubleheaders at 5pm and generally finish up somewhere around 9pm. That time includes a 20-25 minute break between games. Of course, I have been at doubleheaders that didn't finish until close to 11pm, but those are rare.