Forgive me, for I have sinned

[MD Longhorn]

I'll echo what you've heard here. Call the close ones - the ones where your decision needs to be heard to stop play. 90% or more of all fouls don't need to be called at all.

One of my (many) pet peeves is the newby or the 1-year of experience repeated 20 times veteran umpires who have to yell foul ball the millisecond that they see the ball hit foul. Had this happen to one of those guys. Ball swung at hard and barely hit - rolling foul down the line with lots of spin but staying straight. Partner yells foul, ball hits the grass lip and the spin propels it immediately back foul.

Foul is an action that can't be taken back. Avoid it, call it when and if you HAVE to.

[jTheUmp]

Lesson learned. Henceforth, I shall only call foul when absolutely necessary, starting with my game tonight.

[MikeStrybel]

For what it's worth, you can wait until the ball is touched or comes to rest before making your 'Foul' call. That'll prevent most mistakes and make you disappear a bit out there. Good luck with the rest of your season.

[Mrumpiresir]

Your only mistake was rushing your call. Slow down, learn from it.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Mrumpiresir

Your only mistake was rushing your call. Slow down, learn from it.

Well, I think it's more than that. He had no idea where the ball was and made a call based on a guess on where the ball was.

If he adopts the philosophy above, this won't ever happen. A call on an obvious foul ball is unnecessary.

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Well, I think it's more than that. He had no idea where the ball was and made a call based on a guess on where the ball was.

If he adopts the philosophy above, this won't ever happen. A call on an obvious foul ball is unnecessary.

Yep. There shouldn't have even been a call to make in the first place, much less a call that had to be rushed.