Thoughts, notes, and questions from Nationals

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by teebob21

Questions:
[*]What is the best course of action at a National when presented with a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" rules moment? For context, my crews twice encountered situations where we felt we needed to enforce the rules as written. The first time was a team with mixed color and style hats/visors...the TD and UIC instructed us to let it go, as the TD had told the team that headgear matching the team colors (red, white, and blue) was OK, so the players wore a bunch of different hats/visors.

Always do what the UIC tells you to do. That is their call.

The other situation was a foreign substance discovered after a new pitcher had thrown for two outs + a runner in the inning.

What happened there?

[*]What has happened to the "community" at these events? The past two years, very few umpires have gotten together after games ended for dinner or (for those who enjoy them) adult beverages? That used to be a common thing...but granted, both times I traveled to the East Coast and knew no one. That may have had something to do with it...

Damn good question, but it is happening everywhere. I used to grill after every tournament, but it got to the point that it ended up being myself and the TD. If I had known there was nothing going on last year, I would have taken you out to a couple of places.