Watch this LL Umpire

[RPatrino]

I Tivo'd the WR final, and have only had the time to see the first 3 innings. I agree that the guy on the dish had trouble with the breaking ball on the outside corner. His zone was tight, and consistant for 2 innings, and then opened up a slight bit. I thought this caused a bit of confusion. My feeling is that if you are going to be tight in the 1st, you need to be tight until the end.

Another question I had is about the batters stepping out of the box after every pitch. In HS we don't allow this, and I don't recall allowing it when I worked LL. Some of the batters seemed to walk half way to the coach after every pitch. Is this now common place in youth ball?

[jwwashburn]

I remember in years past, on the LLWS, seeing every batter keep a foot in the box.

I remember when they changed the rule in High School...we called a few strikes and the word got around and then they spent time playing baseball instead of Hargroving around.

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by umpjim

So the NE and Mid Atlantic regional ump shirts were supplied by LL. Thanks. Probably a screw up. (Thats how I ended up with one). Anyway, they match.

The league hosting the Regional is responsible for supplying shirts and hats to the umpires, so you get whatever color and brand the tournament director/UIC decided on.

[Fittske]

Originally Posted by SethPDX

The league hosting the Regional is responsible for supplying shirts and hats to the umpires, so you get whatever color and brand the tournament director/UIC decided on.

This is usually true at the local and state level, but for regionals, there is usually an "umpiring coordinator" that sits on the regional umpiring staff that orders regional shirts for the pre-selected umpires. Each umpire is contacted for their shirt and hit size, and uniform number (for regions that use them) It is up to the umpire to select the correct size. As far as uniform color, this is totally up to the regions. Most regions usually run there regional softball tournament one week prior to the little league tournament, so what happens is the umpire shirts for both tournaments are ordered together and a lot of times they end up being all softball colors. Here in the southern region there are some pretty good umpires that sit on staff. Most do high school and college ball so they usually do a good job at keeping the softball colors away from the southern regional tournaments.

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by Fittske

This is usually true at the local and state level, but for regionals, there is usually an "umpiring coordinator" that sits on the regional umpiring staff that orders regional shirts for the pre-selected umpires. Each umpire is contacted for their shirt and hit size, and uniform number (for regions that use them) It is up to the umpire to select the correct size. As far as uniform color, this is totally up to the regions. Most regions usually run there regional softball tournament one week prior to the little league tournament, so what happens is the umpire shirts for both tournaments are ordered together and a lot of times they end up being all softball colors. Here in the southern region there are some pretty good umpires that sit on staff. Most do high school and college ball so they usually do a good job at keeping the softball colors away from the southern regional tournaments.

In the West where I am I was contacted directly by the tournament director in Missoula for the Regional I worked to get my shirt size. He ordered our shirts and hats. From talking to other umpires I know who have gone to Regionals I have the impression that out here, each tournament director/UIC decides separately what the umpires are wearing. This is at least how I think it is in the Western Region.

The LL Baseball Regionals (the level that gets on ESPN) in San Bernardino have been using black and cream shirts for a while now.