Jon Bible, Carl Childress, Paul Runge, Mike DiMuro, Eddie Lopez, Mark Hetland....many others. You are supposed to get much closer to a tag than to a force play. Many times, you cannot see a tag from far away. That is why you see umpires right on top of tag plays (8 to 10 feet) and far away on force plays (15 to 18 feet). This is why you run to the cutout to make the call on steals, but stay closer to B or C for force plays.

8-10 feet on a tag play? Then we're on the same page. To me, the ump in the picture looks closer than that (although parallax can distort things). And yes, you can be too close, and I know you know that. So do your esteemed teachers.

Yes, if you are interfering with the play, you're way too close. It was Carl Childress who said you should get your nose in there on tag plays, but I'm sure he didn't mean between the fielder and the runner!:p

The guy in the photo is on the grass outside of the cut. That is plenty enough far from the play. He's just fine.

Agree. Getting too close causes the play to "blow up" on you.

The flattening effect of photographs is not an instance of parallax, which involves shifting viewpoints. Still, you're right to observe that "parallax can distort things." :p

Try telling a coach, "parallax can distort things"... "I was in the best position to see the play, Coach. Now go back to your dugout."

This guy is toes to the edge of the dirt circle. Aren't we supposed to take tag plays on the bases from the cutout? It shouldn't be any different at the plate.

It's unfortunate that some Umpires always look for the negatives of other umpires. Maybe that's the way they build themselves up. I'm suprised nobody has said anything about the plate umpire's grey ballbags.

:eek: Uh oh, here come the defensive posts where they tell you it's only because of....(insert your own reason) that they do that, not to build themselves up.

By talking about situations on here and by learning from other's errors, that's how we can improve.

Angel Campos just showed a terrific example of where to be on a tag play at the plate from 3BLX. He was right on top of the play, just as I was taught. He was looking nearly straight down at the tag, about 4 feet from the plate, and correctly called the Padres runner safe. He had a perfect look at the play. It was textbook positioning for a tag play, which is right on top of it.

I couldn't have been prouder if it were me own boy!:)

I love it when a PCL guy I've seen work makes it up to the Show and does well. I also saw him in the Northwest League when we had a short-season A team. Thanks for the story.