Baseball/softball crossover mechanics

[Kevin Finnerty]

I thought getting old, fat and slow is what makes you become a softball umpire.

[johnnyg08]

A lot of the guys that I know that do softball do it strictly for the money...they get the same money as baseball and the games rarely exceed an hour.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Umpiring for the money ... I'd never really thought of that.

[johnnyg08]

You know what I mean

[charliej47]

If you study the umpire books and watch higher level games and the PROs, you'll see that almost all of the umpire mechanics are the same.

I use both softball and baseball mechanics for both games. I use what is comfortable for me and the level of play.

[johnnyg08]

I would say that upper level softball umpire mechanics are quite a bit different than upper level baseball. Except for maybe the "safe" signal. Admittedly, I don't watch much softball.

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

I would say that upper level softball umpire mechanics are quite a bit different than upper level baseball. Except for maybe the "safe" signal. Admittedly, I don't watch much softball.

I would say the main difference is the BU working outside the diamond in softball. I don't think even that is hard to learn; you just have to figure out where to be so you'll have the best angle. I'm sure that would take some time for a baseball umpire to get used to, just like I'm not quite as comfortable working the bases on the big diamond. If you're already a good umpire in one of the sports, you could move to the other with little difficulty.

[MichaelVA2000]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

I thought getting old, fat and slow is what makes you become a softball umpire.

I thought those were qualification for becoming a better baseball umpire.