ASA/USA General Council Meeting

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Ridiculous.

Even if they could deal with issues of local laws and defining a "weapon", this is just silly.

Absurd.

Ludicrous.

Do they seriously think someone who would have otherwise brought a weapon intending to do harm to someone would pause and decide against it because they might be ejected???

Those who voted this in are goofy and obviously have little ability to think clearly.

I think you are being too kind. And no, people who are going to bring a gun to the field are not going to worry about being ejected. For that matter, the umpire who ejects that player may be putting him/herself and everyone else in the vicinity in danger.

[CecilOne]

8. Time limits begin with the first warm up pitch
-- good, what many have been doing
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11. Womens FP players may use either on deck circle
12. All FP and modified...may only use on deck circle on opposite side if it places you behind the batter
--- does required to be behind batter mean not between innings (no batter)?
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"Several proposals to the JO FP lineup were rejected...Either bat all players or nine players, if batting all, no DP/FLEX, listing of EPs throughout the batting order instead of after the first nine, allow any player in the lineup to be a courtesy runner is batting the roster. "

Good rejections. They look like those who don't want to know the actual rule, or are trying to accommodate the other alphabets.
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"All ASA/USA JO Nationals must be completed on the weekend of the last Saturday in July" Why? Ours 1st week of August this year was fine.
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"The National Tournament umpire staff will participate in the pre-tournament bat check process"
--- Does that mean all umps or just more work for UICs?

[Andy]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

8. Time limits begin with the first warm up pitch
-- good, what many have been doing
-----------------------------------------------

11. Womens FP players may use either on deck circle
12. All FP and modified...may only use on deck circle on opposite side if it places you behind the batter
--- does required to be behind batter mean not between innings (no batter)?
----------------------------------------------------

Good question...should be clarified

"Several proposals to the JO FP lineup were rejected...Either bat all players or nine players, if batting all, no DP/FLEX, listing of EPs throughout the batting order instead of after the first nine, allow any player in the lineup to be a courtesy runner is batting the roster. "

Good rejections. They look like those who don't want to know the actual rule, or are trying to accommodate the other alphabets.
-----------------------------------------

The person proposing these keeps saying...that's what everybody else is doing, we need to do it too...After speaking with him , it seems as if his intention is to get free substitution in place.

"All ASA/USA JO Nationals must be completed on the weekend of the last Saturday in July" Why? Ours 1st week of August this year was fine.
-------------------------------------------

School schedules were given as the reason...some places start school the first part of August.

"The National Tournament umpire staff will participate in the pre-tournament bat check process"
--- Does that mean all umps or just more work for UICs?

The interpretation of this is to be determined. I argued against it. The umpire coordinator needs to solicit local umpire volunteers for this duty. Times often conflict with pre-tournament umpire clinic, I don't think the tournament umpires should be checking and potentially rejecting bats, then have to go on the field with that same team and/or player.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Andy

The interpretation of this is to be determined. I argued against it. The umpire coordinator needs to solicit local umpire volunteers for this duty. Times often conflict with pre-tournament umpire clinic, I don't think the tournament umpires should be checking and potentially rejecting bats, then have to go on the field with that same team and/or player.

If they are specific to the statement, local umpires not assigned to work the tournament aren't part of the umpire staff.

I suspect that the TD/ASA Rep didn't want to be placed in the position of being the "bad guy" of rejecting a bat, so it gets dumped on the umpire. However, I often ran into non-approved bats in the dugout simply because those testing the bats did just that, and only that. This way the bat can be inspected ahead of time and make the pre-game that much easier.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

If they are specific to the statement, local umpires not assigned to work the tournament aren't part of the umpire staff.

I suspect that the TD/ASA Rep didn't want to be placed in the position of being the "bad guy" of rejecting a bat, so it gets dumped on the umpire. However, I often ran into non-approved bats in the dugout simply because those testing the bats did just that, and only that. This way the bat can be inspected ahead of time and make the pre-game that much easier.

Pre-Tournament bat testing is now mandatory at all National Tournaments, both FP and SP. The reason given for this proposal is that the umpires are the experts in this area. While I agree with this, I don't think it should fall on the umpires assigned to the tournament. I don't think it should be a big issue to get some local umpires to participate. I was a Tournament UIC a few years ago where all they did was the compression test and slapped the sticker on the bat.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Andy

Pre-Tournament bat testing is now mandatory at all National Tournaments, both FP and SP. The reason given for this proposal is that the umpires are the experts in this area. While I agree with this, I don't think it should fall on the umpires assigned to the tournament. I don't think it should be a big issue to get some local umpires to participate. I was a Tournament UIC a few years ago where all they did was the compression test and slapped the sticker on the bat.

As they did at the one I worked and that is my point. I don't agree that umpires are the experts at the testing stage, but they are, er well, should be the experts as it pertains to the non-approved list, appropriate stamp and the condition of the bat and the rules which are to be applied.

[Big Slick]

The official version of the rules are here:

http://downloads.asasoftball.com/abo...hanges2017.pdf

One interesting tidbit (and last item on the list) is that umpire uniforms is now removed from the playing rules. I've always wondered why umpire uniforms is part of the rule book; now we need other codes to follow suit.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

I think you are being too kind. And no, people who are going to bring a gun to the field are not going to worry about being ejected. For that matter, the umpire who ejects that player may be putting him/herself and everyone else in the vicinity in danger.

Well, I'm not intending to be the person bringing a heave-ho to a gun fight!

(And, yeah, I was thinking much worse than what I wrote ...)