Who Does the Plate?

[lawump]

Originally Posted by Tim C

We are assigned either stick or bases. We do not have a choice and the decision is never left "up to us."

That's the way it is done in central SC in high school and American Legion. We even assign a crew chief for each game. That crew chief may or may not be the plate umpire. The crew chief is almost always the more/most experienced umpire.

[yawetag]

Here, we decide when we talk to each other the night before. Every time, I say "Do you want the plate or bases?" If he makes a decision, he gets what he chooses; if he says "It doesn't matter to me," I'll usually take the opposite of what I had the last game.

The only exception is if we've worked together. Before asking, I'll say "We worked together last year at ... and I (1) had the bases, I'll take the plate. (2) had the plate, so what would you like this time?"

Personally, I don't care what I do. I find, though, that most umpires will find excuses to not take the plate. It makes no sense to me.

[collint1993]

I normally want to do the plate and I am normally assigned to it. But every now and then we aren't assigned and there have been days when I just didn't feel it and me and the other guy flipped a coin. Normally you'll work with the same guy more than once.

[scarolinablue]

Originally Posted by lawump

That's the way it is done in central SC in high school and American Legion. We even assign a crew chief for each game. That crew chief may or may not be the plate umpire. The crew chief is almost always the more/most experienced umpire.

Same way in the Upstate of SC...