Bill Hohn: Worst MLB umpire or merely the most glaring?

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Major League Baseball umpires are ostensibly the best in the world. And several former MLB umpires are among the best teachers of umpiring in the world. So when there is some bad umpiring going on, it leads one to wonder why we can't come up with someone better. With the microscope of television and delivery of every game that's played, we all see all the bad calls that we can stand, making it look more glaring than it is.

But it seems like Bill Hohn is on more than his share of bad call highlight clips. Is there anyone who is regarded as worse than him?

I thought it was Tim McClelland who was the worst? I guess you just watch TV and whoever appears to miss a close call is the worst to you.

From the other thread...

And from asking for the appeal with his right hand to working a knee to ringing the guy up for flinching to tossing a guy from 80 feet away ... Hohn's just plain embarrassing.

1. Right hand...who cares? Find a real reason to hate on him.
2. The knee is no longer a valid plate stance now or what?
3. Yeah he missed a call; big deal.
4. How else do you eject someone who is in the dugout? Get a clue.

And before you come and say it, no I'm not being disagreeable;

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by LDUB

And before you come and say it, no I'm not being disagreeable;

I don't have a dog in this Michael Vick, but that's just not true. I hate to "disagree," but Luke, you disagree with a lot of people whether their post is idiotic or not.

You just like to disagree and stir the pot. Everyone knows that, and that's okay. That's just you, and we accept you for it. But to say that you only disagree when people post idiotic things is just, well, idiotic.

[JR12]

Originally Posted by briancurtin

He once took a foul ball so hard it got knocked off.

Lol!!!

[cc6]

Originally Posted by LDUB

The knee is no longer a valid plate stance now or what?

I thought the knee stance wasn't used anymore or valid. My guess is one knee would make it hard to move from behind the dish and to see over some catchers.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by cc6

I thought the knee stance wasn't used anymore or valid. My guess is one knee would make it hard to move from behind the dish and to see over some catchers.

OK, first: you must learn to distinguish MiLB from MLB. In MiLB the umpires toe the line and do exactly as they're told in order to advance. This includes using prescribed plate stances.

In MLB, the umpires can do as they like. The knee does make it more difficult to get out from behind the plate, but in the 4-umpire system that's less of an issue. And plate umpires do not need to "see over" catchers in any currently accepted stance: they're in the slot.

[Dakota]

Actually, Gerry Davis is the worst. No question.


Wait... never mind.... I'm just holding a grudge for a "bad" call he made 3 years ago...

[Steven Tyler]

Originally Posted by LDUB

I thought it was Tim McClelland who was the worst? I guess you just watch TV and whoever appears to miss a close call is the worst to you.

From the other thread...



1. Right hand...who cares? Find a real reason to hate on him.
2. The knee is no longer a valid plate stance now or what?
3. Yeah he missed a call; big deal.
4. How else do you eject someone who is in the dugout? Get a clue.

And before you come and say it, no I'm not being disagreeable;

I suppose he is a member of the "Bad Umpire of the Month" club.

[LMan]

So, does this mean Doug Eddings is off the hook?

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by LMan

So, does this mean Doug Eddings is off the hook?

Wait, I thought it was agreed that Angel Hernandez was the worst!

[jwwashburn]

Originally Posted by mbyron

OK, first: you must learn to distinguish MiLB from MLB. In MiLB the umpires toe the line and do exactly as they're told in order to advance. This includes using prescribed plate stances.

In MLB, the umpires can do as they like. The knee does make it more difficult to get out from behind the plate, but in the 4-umpire system that's less of an issue. And plate umpires do not need to "see over" catchers in any currently accepted stance: they're in the slot.

The best umpire I ever worked with in High School ball(he used to work NCAA, as well) was about 6'6" and used the knee because it was pretty darn difficult for him to get low enough AND hold that-he found the knee to work very well for him. I never once had a problem with my partner not being in the right spot.

Joe

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by LMan

So, does this mean Doug Eddings is off the hook?

Not for Cards fans.

Anyway, I thought it was C. B. Bucknor.

[jwwashburn]

Wow!

I forgot just how bad this was.

If that fist pump was not an out signal, what was it?

And for Eddings to say he actually KNEW Paul did not catch it is preposterous. there is NO way that the PU could know that. Even from the super slow mo, I do not think anyone could know that.

[Kevin Finnerty]

I don't know how many pitches most people have caught with a catcher's mitt, but I have caught countless thousands, and there are catches you make with the web mashed into the ground and the ball hits the web and bounces up into the pocket of the mitt. That's the kind of catch that Josh Paul made on that Eddings disaster.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

I don't know how many pitches most people have caught with a catcher's mitt, but I have caught countless thousands, and there are catches you make with the web mashed into the ground and the ball hits the web and bounces up into the pocket of the mitt. That's the kind of catch that Josh Paul made on that Eddings disaster.

I don't want to rehash this, as we thoroughly discussed the play at length, but I watched the Comcast replay close-up over and over, and it looked to me that the ball hit dirt, and kicked up a little dirt as it bounced into the glove. In any case, it is incumbent on a catcher to realize that it may or may not be called a catch, and Josh Paul should have tagged Pierzynski just to be certain. Eddings changed the way we call the play, but it would have been moot if Paul had done his job properly.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Agreed.

And it was the last thing Paul ever did as an Angel.