RefereeUmpireSchool.com
 

Hey Everyone!

My name is Aaron, and my buddy Jake and I have put together a website to help people who want to become umpires. NOTE: The site is NOT trying to teach veteran umpires. The site is designed for non-umpires, to help them get started.

Our goal was to cover some basic information people needed to get started, and also point them toward useful resources like this forum and association websites. We also put together an updated list of umpire camps and clinics.

Now we're looking for feedback to help us improve. The site is in very rough shape right now and we know that it will need constant improvements. Keep in mind that we are not trying to impress you guys, we are looking for insights as to what might be useful new and aspiring umps. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

The site is called Referee Umpire School. We were planning on including content for officials of other sports, but we have started with baseball.

Jake and Aaron

http://www.referee-umpireschool.com

Well, there's no "Newbie Sanctuary" here as there is at the ABUA site, so I think you might get some harsher "feedback" here. Instead of reposting my comments from the other site, I will simply state outright that the content [that part which is not cribbed from other people's work (and maybe some of that, too)] is at best a WOBW. HS sophomore-level amateurish and flat wrong in several important places.

I took a cursory look at this site and my initial reaction was, 'so what'?

There are many more websites that have been around longer and are much more comprehensive. My opinion is, if you are going to try to something in an established field, that something should be new and different. This site is neither.

I would try a different subject, perhaps something you are an expert in?

To Be Fair:
 

We sometimes see new people try this type journey.

This never works as no veteren wants have children teach down to them.

This site should hae been developed, off line, for at least a year.

It is sad that they have "borrowed" way to much information and I hope they have formal permission to use the items.

AND BLACK pants . . . you have got to be kidding me.

T

Unless you own the videos you're posting on the site, you should probably take them down. There are many reasons why those specific videos shouldn't be used, but one is that they could disappear at any point, rendering your site less helpful.

Any information encouraging sports officiating will have it's good points and I applaud your efforts, though you certainly have a long way to go.
I especially like the opportunity to meet Thai girls... :rolleyes:

JJ

3. If the batter breaks his wrists when swinging, it’s a strike.
This could be one of the criterion in which you judge if he swung or not. The best statement you can make when asked about a check swing is that he attempted or did not attempt to swing at the pitch. Other criterion might be that the barrel of the bat goes past the middle of the batter’s body or not. One other criterion might be that the bat crossed the middle of the plate.
Most veterans do not use any physical point (wrists, bat, hips). We simply determine if the batter offered at the pitch.



4. If a batted ball hits the plate first it’s a foul ball.
To rule it foul it must have come to rest in foul territory or be touched in foul territory.
Why not say why the ball is not foul for hitting or coming to rest on the plate? The plate is in fair territory. The foul lines come don to the plate and form the outside edge of home plate. This is important for rookies to know because they are going to have to explain it to dumb coaches!



5. The batter cannot be called out for interference if he is in the batter’s box.

The batter’s actions are what causes interference and not necessarily where he is. In the batter’s box, if he does nothing out of the ordinary, it is more difficult to commit batter interference but it is possible.
There are also situations where the batter cannot just disappear! Again, very important for a rookie to know.


6. The ball is dead on a foul-tip.
The ball is always live on a foul tip. Therefore runners may be put out or advance at their own risk on a foul tip.
You need to explain what a foul tip is. Rookies watch baseball games where announcers call every ball fouled back a foul tip.



7. The batter may not switch batter’s boxes after two strikes.

The batter may switch batter’s boxes at any time while the ball is dead.
The batter can switch anytime as long as F1 hasn't come set.


10. The batter is out if he starts for the dugout before going to first after a dropped third strike.
The batter is out if he leaves the dirt circle around the plate area after a dropped 3^rd strike unless he is making an attempt to reach 1^st base.
This is a pro rule interpretation.

Fellas,

If you're using this guy as being any sort of example for umping, you've already taken one HUGE step backwards.

How to Be a Baseball Umpire : Equipment for Baseball Umpires - YouTube

I know you guys are out to make a buck, and that's fine. God Bless America. But I'd stick with something that you have an expertise in. Clearly, umpiring is not it.

Heres my Feedback

Right off the bat, I can see this site is more about making a buck, (which is fine), then having a new creative approach to grab umpires intrests. Kind of like walking into a new resturant that was cheaply designed and constructed, then serving a just ok meal. You will probabbly not get a lot of return customers.

First of all , lose the whistle, it not used in Baseball.

Next, it is obvious that just about everything is copied from other sites and the ingenuity of a new website just doesn't do much for me. Google.com is more helpful.

As already suggested and is obivious, this site was NOT well planned, and probably took more time to put together than the time used to plan and test it. And I personnally know that what I see, was not that difficult to establish in web development, now days.

You might want to try and capture a more limited audience first and expand from there. Twenty years ago you probably would have had something usefull but, that was twenty years ago.

I can relate to the fact that due to high unemployment, there are some REALLY ingenious ideas out there to make some easy money. I could be wrong however, I just don't see this site as being one.

Keep trying though.

I am wondering what kind of schooling in baseball do they have?...

The are honor graduates of the Lance Cokalinski School of Umpiring and Screen Door Repair.

Wow, there's a name I haven't seen in years.

Have they posted Lance's patented 13-umpire mechanics?

I thought it was 9-umpire mechanics. I remember his instructions on how to wear 3 ball bags as the base umpire, too.

Thanks JJ. You're the first person to mention Thai girls...that's probably the most interesting ad that Google has chosen to display on the site so far.

Thanks, Ozzy. This is great specific feedback.

Everybody keeps accusing us of copying and pasting material on the site...we wrote everything except these "Rule Myths."

This is something that can be found in several places on the internet, but with your help maybe we can have a version on our site that is actually accurate.

Thanks again for your feedback. (Edit) you actually took the time to help us out, and you did something that will be useful to rookie umps.

Jicecone, thanks for your feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to help us out.

First of all, regarding the whistle, our original intention was to continue building the site for officials of other sports (soccer, basketball, and hockey), but we started with baseball because contrary to popular opinion we actually do have some experience in this sport. But all the same, I think we will lose the whistle.

With regard to the planning, we weren't sure what to do. The site did take us a lot of hours to put together. Originally, the navigation bar had something like 12 items in it and we decided to rearrange it.

Our "plan" was to write some content about camps and clinics, some content about the rule book, some about equipment, and mainly to focus on what non-umpires need to do to get started in the profession. We wanted to get feedback on that content before we spent a lot more time developing and organizing the site.

We haven't done any "testing" at all yet. When we posted on the forum, we were just trying to get feedback on what content would be useful to rookies and non-umps who want to get started. Now that we're getting that feedback, we'll be able to rearrange the site and plan it out a little better.

A lot of the people on these forums have misunderstood what we're trying to do. We're not trying to teach the pros. We're trying to help out non-umpires...good people who want to get started in the profession.

We're not trying to position ourselves as umpiring authorities...it's not like we're claiming we're MLB umps here. We have some experience in travel leagues, and that's the type of person we want to help. Think about a high school baseball player who wants to ump for a travel league, but he doesn't even know what to do to get started. That's who the site is for.

All we're asking on the forum is, what would be useful to that person. We're not trying to teach the old dogs new tricks or impress all the hot shots on the forum. We're just trying to get the young guys started.

Regarding "making a buck," we're hosting ads in the hope that they will pay for the cost of the site. It costs us about $100 a year in hosting and domain fees. We're just trying to recoup some of that. We're not trying to make a million dollars, and we're not stupid enough to think that this site is going to write anyone's meal ticket.

Thanks again for your feedback and your encouragement.

Hey Tim, just want to let you know that we are not trying to teach veterans.

We just want to help out rookies and non-umpires who want to get started in the profession.

We asked the veterans for help. We're not trying to impress you guys, we just wanted to know what you thought would be useful for rookies.

Regarding "borrowed content," there are only two things we didn't create ourselves. The Rule Myths is something you can find all over the internet. With some of the useful feedback we've gotten we might be able to rewrite those to be more accurate.

And obviously, we didn't film all of those videos. But the formal permission to use the videos is part of how YouTube works...it is in their Terms of Service. When you put a video on YouTube, other people are allowed to embed it on other websites unless you specify otherwise.

We're not claiming to own the copyright to those videos. We're just using good 'ol YouTube in one of the ways it was intended.

Hey Brian, thanks for this feedback. This is something we will definitely have to keep an eye on.

Based on the feedback we've been getting so far, the videos might not be that useful to new umpires anyway, so we will definitely consider removing them.

Just enough training to ump for a travel league. We're not claiming to be experts. We're just trying to get good people started in the profession.

Best of Luck

Developing Web Sites is a tough business no matter what the subject. Being open and acknowleging constructive critique is a good start for any endeavor.

Again, Best of Luck.

I would not underestimate Lance: he might well have created BOTH.

The 13-umpire system uses one umpire for each defensive player for catch/no-catch, plus one at each base for safe/outs. The PU calls balls and strikes, while the umpire for F2 gets an angle for foul/foul tip.

That's my recollection, anyway. I'd like to see the system in print again to refresh my memory for the next time 6 extra crews show up at one of my games. ;)

Seems that one ump per player and one per base is superfluous, but maybe 10 ump system with a PU on both corners of the plate who confer after every pitch would get the pitches called correctly, by committee. Better yet, a 1 ump system should suffice, just pick out the best looking chick down the 1b or 3b lines and get a seat next to her and after every play or pitch ask, "what you think"?
:)