strike zone

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by josh0987

how big is the strike zone in width

You can look up OBR rule 1.05 and get the dimenstions of home plate which others have told you, then you can look up the definition of strike zone on OBR rule 2.00 ,however, IMO those are simply reference points meaning

The strike zone is that which is accepted in the leagues we work.

for example, one's strike zone in the "rugrat" divisions of baseball (9/10's) is different than Varsity level HS ball.

If you call the Varsity level strike zone in a 9/10 game you will still be umpiring.

In General Terms, whenever you are getting complainst on your zone:

1. Check with your partner who might be familiar with this league and seek his / her input and

2. Try changing it a bit and see what happens.

I'll give you an example;

two yrs. ago was my FIRST full season umpiring a collegiate wood bat league. During my first few games I received many complaints about the zone. One of the comments I heard was "hey Blue this isn't JV baseball" so I checked with my partners and changed my zone For that SPECIFIC League and it paid off.

Just a NOTE: No League likes a POSTAGE STAMP Zone.

The strike Zone is cause for much debate but over the years the best way I learned to define is: The Zone is that which is accepted for the League in which we umpire in.

Pete Booth