Post Script to: "I played pro ball! Did you play pro ball?"

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by cc6

Is this Single A that he played? Any professional experience is impressive. The odds of making it into the pros are apparently staggering.

And he apparently felt his one week (if that) of rookie ball experience gave him license to pop off to umpires and make a jackazz of himself.


The really good coaches (and umpires) don't have to go around reciting their resumes in order to impress people.

[greymule]

The notion that having played pro ball automatically confers expertise about the rules is truly specious. The former MLB players I know are not sharp on rules, nor are they particularly interested in the subject—even the guy I occasionally umpire with. They usually have a passable command of the rules that directly affected their play, but with things like INT and OBS, they admit that they just used their instinct and let the umpire make the call. And for things like whether an appeal of a particular missed base results in a force out, they wouldn't even pretend to know.

A good response to "I played pro ball" might be "So did Tim McCarver."

When I umpired in Trenton, New Jersey, the response might have been "So did a dozen other guys in this park."

[umpjong]

Originally Posted by greymule

A good response to "I played pro ball" might be "So did Tim McCarver."
"

Isnt he MLB's rules interpreter/expert?

[ManInBlue]

Originally Posted by umpjong

Isnt he MLB's rules interpreter/expert?

He and Joe Morgan share that responsibility. There are a whole bunch of rules for them to understand. I think they split them up about 50-50.

Unfortuneatley they talk about the 50% that they aren't responsible for!!