Do the pros read these forums?
 

I know that professional umpires are not allowed to post on umpiring forums, but with all the talk about them in the major and minor leagues, do they read discussions on here at all? Would they be offended by people saying they made a bad call, or would they not care? How come Rob Drake set up a forum if you're not even allowed to post on forums as a professional umpire?

Obvious troll, but...
If they were offended by someone on the internet saying they made a bad call, I would hope they wear ear plugs during games and also ignore all other forms of media. What kind of question is this?

Rob Drake addressed the situation on his site, and I believe he also did so on this site.

No, they aren't as easily offended as some people on here are. They wouldn't think they were being "attacked" by critcism.;)

How about whether they read the forum?

I imagine some of them do...just for a good laugh.

Is Rob running a poll?

Mullett or no Mullett?

i read them when i was in...and posted under this alias. there are a handful of minor league guys that are on here. a couple post under aliases, the rest just lurk. don't know about big league guys, but i doubt it.

Only when they need a good laugh like when you post videos from your living room! :D:D

Greasy Mullet has my vote!

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...e6gmd/610x.jpg

If McLelland reads this forum, it's nothing I wouldn't say to his face.

Could you imagine that thing paired with the Bill Hohn 'stache?
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...xm129/610x.jpg

Wouldn't they get fired? Kind of a big risk to take.

not necessarily.

If you think that's a mullet, you don't know what a mullet is. Rob just needed a haircut.

If I were in their shoes, I'd love it. What would be greater than coming to a message board to read people kicking a call that I nailed?

Almost anything. If you got the call right, you don't deserve to have people saying you made the wrong call.

Drake cut his hair this year.

I think he also made the wise decision to stop wearing his shades on his hat like an idiot.

He looks like a professional this year. Last year, he looked like a pompous slob.

I've met a few who say when they're completely bored they visit a couple of sites for a few chuckles.

They can stand up to professional professional players, managers and thousands of fans who think they've made a bad call, why should they be bothered by you?

As for Rob, you're a year late.

Really? I mean, who actually cares?

I never said they should be bothered by me. Why would they? I always support their calls, such as the out call on Jeter.

You support the obvious blown calls as well? Why? If I'm talking about some pro umpire kicking the living crap out of a play and he comes here and sees it, why would he care? He knows he booted it, and can handle us jumping on him. You don't have to blindly support every call an umpire makes. I happen to agree on the Jeter call, but that's another thread.

tim mcclelland is prolly one of the few umpires who has top MLB credibility that few players, if any would bother arguing with him. Despite his small strike zone, how many pitchers do you see arguing his zone? Even pitchers are praising it. In the 07 one game playoff padres-rockies, when he made that slow call at the end, the padre catcher said that because it was mcclelland making the call, there was no way he'd go argue it. IMO, he does seem to have a somewhat lazy strike mechanic (called and swinging), but with his credibility, he can pretty much do whatever he wants to do.

if u look at the link below, in 2008, he only tossed out 2 ppl and one of those was bobby cox (who gets thrown out all the time by everyone).
List of 2008 MLB Ejections


of course, the umpire who'd get the most criticism is Ron Luciano, the guy has a complete disregard for professionalism. From eating a hot dog between innings with fans to bringing his coffee onto the field during live action to shooting out runners, he's prolly the only ump that fans actually came to see. It's fun joking about imitating Luciano but I would never actually do it on the field...

Oh, you mean when he was making the wrong, convenient, lazy, oh, and did I mention wrong call at the end? Lot's of people argued it. The game was over so you really didn't see it, but the Padres and their fans are still bitter about it. We are all still waiting for Matt Holliday to touch home plate.

Give me 10 Lucianos over 1 McClelland. He was wrong with George Brett and the pine tar when he was a rookie, and he was wrong in 2007 as a veteran!

If you think that Tim McLelland is one of the most credible umpires among players, then you enjoy a fantasy world existence.

The time has long since come for a motivated and interested umpire to take his spot.

What would you have called? And if you choose to say anything other than, "the same way thing he did" then prepare for the, "Quit making up rules."

There is no other way for him to rule in that situation, it clearly stated in the rulebook how far up the bat the tar could go, he exceeded it (by some reports 6"). TM made the only call he could, he called him out. When a call is spelled out in B/W in the book, you cannot use "the spirit of the rule" to issue your call. Yes, MLB overturned it, but that is a separate issue (mostly because they new the rule was antiquated so the next year they removed it).

The San Diego catcher did not argue the call. He stated both to the press and to the author of As They See 'Em that he did not argue the call only because it was McClelland who made it.

The Padres manager made a similar statement.

I suppose if McLelland had the advantge of seeing the play in slo-mo and from four different angles, he may have made a different call. In real time, from his positioning he made his call. Get over it.

McLelland made the correct call in the Brett episode by the rule in existance at the time. And he made the call only after be asked to examine the Bat by Billy Martin. He conferred with his crew chief who agreed with the call, and, if fact, offered to announce the call and call Brett out. To his credit, rookie McLelland said it was his call and he would make it.

Later MLB hung him out to dry with the "spirit of the rule" statement.

It should be noted that Brett was warned in a preivious game about the pine tar on his bat, AND after the incident, his bats never had as much pine tar. And remember how Brett and Royals tried to hide the bat? Rats all the way.

I had it right in live action. I saw him miss the plate by plenty when it went down. And I was just watching on TV, not right on top of the play. I very rarely blow calls in my games, too. I can't remember missing one by as big a margin as that one was missed.

He's laid claim before that he was good enough.

Couldn't be any more obvious on live TV. How could he get one wrong by such a big margin?:rolleyes:

Major League Baseball: Media Player

Thank you Luke, the video shows it clearly to me.

McLelland couldn't even adequately explain that call to the rest of his crew after he made it.

And because one catcher didn't argue one call, that means McLelland is one of the most respected umpires among the players.

If you are referring to the Brett call, you are mistaken, at least according to the crew chief who discussed the situation with McLelland BEFORE the call was made.

I'm referring to the Padres-Rockies one where he ended a team's season, not the one where he took a mid-season homer away.

And you were listening in on the post-game conversation how?

I was given an account by two of the participants at two different times that echoed each other's.

But that's okay; it was a great effort and a great call with everything on the line, and we are all privileged to watch the work of one of the profession's true greats.

There, how's that?

It was proved. We all saw the video in the link. That is from TBS; what you saw on your TV. From that original shot in real time it is impossible to be sure about anything.

You may be right. McClelland had a really bad angle on the play. Who's fault was that? And I couldn't get the link to work. I'm going on memory from the live play, saying "safe, he didn't touch the plate!," yelling it over and over, before they ever showed a replay.

Hey, I'm really sorry that McClelland blew the call, but blow it he did. If he didn't see it, it was because he was screened by the catcher, which means he had a poor angle.

If it were Doug Eddings, C.B. Bucknor or Angel Hernandez or other unpopular umpire, everyone would be jumping all over him. But no, we dare not criticize Tim McClelland. What, we build a shrine? How about that horrible call against the Twins last night? Wow, talk about a gross miss! Are we going to stick up for that call too, just because we're "brother umpires." What a crock. If a pro or and amateur misses a call, there is nothing wrong with saying so.

McClelland is not immune to criticism anymore than Hernandez, Bucknor or Eddings are. The fact is he blew a critical call, and people can discuss the ramifications of it just like as would for any unpopular umpire.

No

That is Mike Muchlinski... a guy who takes time out of his busy schedule to come up to the NW and train our new guys...
So he missed the call, we have all been there...Mike is a guy (like Drake et al) who will be the next generation of full time umpires..
A guy with solid mechanics and great presence on the field.

Nuff said

Suggestion for those arguing: consider not responding to a post in which you feel attacked. I did this for the first reply of the thread, and looked like the bigger man for it. This is an approach to at least consider.

Steve is talking about the play in the 2007 season with the Rockies/Padres, not the play in the Twins/A's game on Monday.

I admire him for all that he's done, and his being a good guy makes his blowing that call so much worse.

I didn't say who it was, I was just pointing out the gross miss. Isn't Mike the guy who just worked the plate at the AAA All-Star Game? I thought he was terrific in that game. I was just making a point that it's okay to criticize an umpire for a bad call. Whenever I make a bad call, my partners aren't shy about letting me know about it after the game, so what's the difference?

No, I was talking about the Twins/A's game too. Gardenhire, who is a major garden tool, actually had a case this time. And even he said after the game that sometimes umpires miss calls and that it's part of the game. My point is that saying "how hard the call was," or "oh, you think you could have done it better," or "he had a bad angle" are not valid excuses to miss calls. And yes, I think I wouldn't have missed either of those calls. You think I would? Then you don't know me at all. (Not you, Nigel, but anybody in general)

That's why it is hard to get your point across in writing...when I first replied "NO" to your earlier comment, I was referring to your line about backing up your bretheren no matter what...

I also only wanted to point out who the ump in question was as well...

Yep, Mike is a good guy and I thought he did a great AAA all-star game as well.