Crew Chief?
 

I was noticing the umpire lineup announcement at the beginning of a MLB game. They listed the 1st Base umpire as "Crew Chief". I thought the "Umpire in Chief" always calls home plate. Is there a difference between "Crew Chief" and "Umpire in Chief"?

At levels where the crew remains together for extended periods of time whether it be a series or a season, the crew chief remains constant. So, in essence the umpire in chief need not be the plate umpire. When a crew chief is not designated, generally, the PU becomes the crew chief, aka, umpire in chief.

You got it all mixed up. The Umpire in Chief is always the plate umpire. The Crew Chief is like a team leader or team captain and stays the same no matter where they call.

Crew Chief is the now accepted designation for Umpire in Chief.

Not really. The latest version of OBR still designates the plate umpire as the UIC in rule 9.04(a). "Crew chief" is really a designation of the senior-most umpire of an established crew.

And now for a little worthless trivia:

In the MLB, there are 17 crews, named "A" through "Q". Only one crew, "Crew B", has two umpires with the same number of years in service. Jerry Layne and Bob Davidson both have 23 years, but Layne is the crew chief. All the others have crew chiefs that are senior to their partners.

The longest tenured crew chiefs are Dana DeMuth and Gerry Davis. Both have been chiefs since 1999.

Joe West, the most senior MLB umpire with 34 years in the Bigs, earned his crew chief status in 2003.

Ed Rapuano is the latest designated crew chief. He earned his status in 2011.

The crew chief with the least amount of MLB experience is Gary Cederstrom, with 18 years of service. There are five current MLB umpires--Davidson, Jim Joyce (23), Larry Vanover (19), Angel Hernandez (19), and Wally Bell (19)--who are senior to Cederstrom but aren't crew chiefs.

So, you've got a Crew Chief, and a UIC in a game. Who makes the final decision on a protested rule, when the four guys can't come to a decision? I know in LL, when you've got a game UIC, which isn't always the PU, he's got the final say so. But I don't know what the Crew Chief's duty is.

While, the black letter law is that the PU is UIC, at levels where a Crew Chief is designated, he generally assumes all the roles of UIC and the duties there unto appertaining.

He's the boss of the crew but nt the "boss" of the game.

That might be true at the local level, Kyle. For example, a two-person crew may entail an experienced father doing the bases with his son doing the plate. So the expectation is for the father to be the UIC.

But LL rules, just like OBR, designate the PU as the game UIC. You cannot have the BU be the UIC, because there are certain responsibilities that belong to the UIC that cannot be delegated. For example, Rule 5.01 tells us that the UIC calls "Play" to start a game. You won't see a BU make the "Play" call from behind first base. ;)

FWIW, when I umpire LL games as BU, and I have an inexperienced umpire doing the plate, I will advise him/her when it comes to things like calling games due to weather, etc. And it will be him/her, as the UIC, announcing those decisions. I won't take it upon myself to make those proclamations and usurp his/her authority.

LL rules have the adult have that authority if it's a junior umpire.

Rita

There are responsibilities that fall under the PU and responsibilities that fall under the CC. Quoting the rule book is no good as it is fraught with errors and inconsistencies. This is another example of this. UIC in the rule book means PU at times and CC at times. Generally it is CC. Although the CC cannot overturn another umpires ruling, he is the final say when it comes to rules interps, weather situations, and the like. PU and BU are equals. If there are 2 umpires, one should be recognized as the CC and it need not necessarily be the PU.

The term UIC is commonly used during a tournament environment where there is one umpire that oversees the umpiring crews. Although that is the case, there is still a CC on the field.

Simply discussing terminolgy I know but there are differences.

OBR

Quoting the rule book won't help because "crew chief" isn't there.

Stating the obvious again? UIC within OBR is an antiquated term and is no longer used. Just because it is referenced in the rule book does not make it right. Consider it one of the 230+ errors in rule book.

I don't recall ever seeing that in the LL rule book, Rita, at least not for regular season play. In the tournament section of the book it does say the UIC must be an adult.

What the LL rule book says is that if there is no adult umpires on the field, the league is to designate an adult as the game coordinator, and that game coordinator has sole authority of rule 3.10(b). But I couldn't find anything that says if the crew is made up of an adult on the bases and a junior behind the plate, the junior umpire is not the UIC for all intents and purposes.

Heck, I've seen junior umpires that could run circles around their adult partners.

UIC within OBR may be antiquated at the MLB level. But does it not apply elsewhere?

If there's a two-man crew working a MiLB A-Ball or Double-A game, is one of them really designated the "crew chief"?