Any one ever have an issue with ground rules ?
Where i umpire theres 4 different fields you might find yourself umpiring on and totally different from each other.One has a shortened outfield another has no room on the left foul side etc.etc.
The groundrules for each field has pretty much been in the hands of the umpires for years but it seems that each umpire has a slighty different interpretation of them.
I quite often find myself asking the teams on the field their understanding of the these boundaries and even some of the groundrules.Just wondering if anyone else has this situation and if so how they deal with it.
pops

peace

The way I see it, if you are the umpire on duty at the time, along with both coaches, you set the groundrules. I frequently get their input, especially in high school ball where the field is much more familiar to the home coach than anyone there. But, since you are the person primarily responsible for the safety of the players, as well as the fairness of the contest, you should have the final say.

If it's league play at a complex owned and/or operated by a local association, they set the ground rules.

If it's league play on public property, the umpire sets the ground rules.

If it is a tournament, the UIC should set the ground rules.

The most important thing is that when one crew/umpire turns over a field to a relief, they should make sure they pass along the ground rules used so they at least remain as consistant as possible.

If it is H.S. ball, the umpire does not have any authority over the field until the game starts. Whether or not to start and/or play the game, and to define ground rules is the responsibility of the home team administration (Coach or AD). For us, part of the pre-game comference is to ask the home coach for any ground rules. Of course, the visiting team has to agree; if they don't, then the umpire becomes the arbitrator.

That, of course, assumes that most H.S. games are played on H.S. fields. That is not always true, especially for private or inter-city schools. But if the school plays a home game at a public facility or at another school, they still retain this responsibility.

WMB

For HS Softball, I concur with WMB.
Jim

Skahtboi:
"The way I see it, if you are the umpire on duty at the time, along with both coaches, you set the groundrules..."

I agree with Skahtboi; That's the way we (in Holland) set the groundrules. Always with a little help from the hometeam. But WE SET THE GROUNDRULES, hometeam can learn from that and pass it on (for the next games)...

What I never understood is; why make a softballfield, that's not conform the rules?
I mean: have you ever played chess on a board with 49 fields (7 x 7) i.s.o. 64 (8 x 8)???

Agree. If the field has "normal" deviations (e.g. no fencing, etc.) I will state how I will handle DBT, etc. If the field has unusual deviations (one example: park shared use, including the outfield being used as a soccer field with a goal in the outfield about where a fence should be), I'll ask the home team how they usually play it, and then I decide if I agree. But, I decide.

No, but I have played solitare with a deck of 51 cards. ;)

Dakota: "But, I decide!"

But - as noted above, not under NFHS rules.

"with a deck of 51"

Statler Bros fan? That is from one of my all time favorites.

WMB

True, I should have noted ASA... I rarely have ground rule issues with the HS varsity fields, so it didn't occur to me.

Yeah ... countin' flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all...

[Edited by Dakota on Feb 4th, 2004 at 11:17 PM]