Officiating and the Crowd

[ozzy6900]

First of all, there are only 2 people on the field that can call a pitch and they are the Catcher and the Plate Umpire. No one else (including the Pitcher) are in a position to see the pitch in its true form. Now the center field camera and all of those strike zone things that are used on TV are useless because they are not lined up with the pitch yet everyone is an armchair umpire because the think they are seeing the real pitch. Like I said, only 2 people on the field get that view.

As far as crowds go, we all hear them, it's hard not to. But we don't concern ourselves with the crowd. The old saying goes, "They paid their money, they gets their say!" and that is exactly how we deal with it. We focus on what is going on between the lines because that is what we are there for.

We really don't care who wins or looses either. At the plate, we live pitch to pitch and on the bases we live play to play. We listen to coaches and managers who always have a "better view" even though we are within feet of the play. We listen to players complain and managers moan about pitches and we still do our jobs. With all that going on, who the hell has time to pay attention to the crowd?