pointing at home?
 

I just saw a play in the Yanks and Tigers game.

The Tigers runner came around and slid in and touched home as the Yankees catcher had the ball skip off of his glove.

The Home plate umpire pointed emphatically toward home(at least I think that is where he pointed).

I have never seen this. What was he doing? Any ideas?

Sounds like he was saying "score the run!".

The player's slide was late, and he almost missed touching the plate with his hand. I'm sure the point was to simply say that he had a touch of the plate and the play there was over.

I see that often - he's saying the runner touched the plate.

I have never been taught that one.

Is that a pro mechanic?

Why isn't that tipping the hand in a situation where the runner misses home and there is no pointing?

That mechanic could also be used if a fielder blocked the runner from touching the base/plate, and the umpire subsequently awarded the runner the base/plate.

Not at home plate in the majors

By the way, this plate umpire does something else that I cannot recall ever seeing in the bigs...He stares at his "clicker" after a batter.

Really?

Meant to say if the fielder blocks the plate/bag without possession of the baseball.

By the way, no one points at home plate more than Jim Joyce.

Are saying it was a timing play? That's the only time I recall seeing it.

Remember -- ML umpires are basically like Supreme Court justices: appointed for life. Many MLUs develop individual quirks which I would never teach or recommend to young umpires.

If you want to see really sharp, correct mechanics, go to a Double-A or high A minor league game and watch those guys work.

He's calling "got the plate" just like he'd call an out if there was a good tag. No call means nothing happened. In this case something did and he called it.

And on a swipe tag at a base you'll see them point at the tag and give the out call.

They point often. No big deal.

Pointing is a faux pas when a runner scores with no play at the plate, because when the umpire fails to point, it screams, "He never touched it!"

But you're describing a different situation in which there is a play, and the umpire sees that the runner scored. The by-the-book mechanic would simply be a Safe signal; it sounds like this PU just used the point instead, which is a little unorthodox.

Remember, on a banger play at the plate where the runner touches home, and the catcher either tags him late or misses the tag completely, the umpire signals Safe. If the runner misses home and the catcher misses the tag, the umpire gives no signal. There is no "tipping" here, so I don't see where a "point" or "no point" under this particular circumstance is any different.

Not always true, and in fact this is possibly the answer here. You're right that in MLB, the obstruction rule at home plate is completely different than what we're used to. However, if the ball gets away as in this case, you CAN have obstruction on the catcher.