Was watching a game last night and new ump behind the plate (solo) who honestly IMO did not put in the proper time studying the rules... and the whole game the coaches were telling her various calls to make... was a terrible called game outside of strikes and balls, which the ump was a varsity pitcher, so she had that part down pat.

Anyway, batter up and gets scared of a strike, puts her hand across the plate and gets hit. Ump gives her the base and the coach tells her the batter shouldnt have put her hands up, it is a ball. Ump brings the batter back and calls a BALL!

A few innings later a batter gets hit with a bad pitch; the batter had tried to evade, and put her hands up to protect herself, and the ump calls a ball and wont give her the base.

I didn't get involved in any of the calls of course, and the coaches went pretty easy on her IMO, since the ump was so unknowlegable, they could have beat her to get her to reverse the call... and just "allowed" the call to stand for the sake of getting on with the game.

Anyway, aside from just passing this on.. I'm just making sure: a batter can put their hands up to evade a ball out of the strike zone (protect themselves) correct? I'm making sure I'm not missing an accepted intent of a rule (re using hands to protect self) as "quoted (insisted on)" by the coach. Had I been umping I would not have allowed the coaches to call the game, and would have called a dead ball - strike on the first instance... and dead ball - award the base on the second instance.


[Edited by wadeintothem on Apr 8th, 2004 at 01:17 PM]

Actually, it should have been a foul ball. Hands are part of the bat. :D


(Sorry, couldn't resist!)


HBP is always a dead ball. If the batter is swinging, it is a strike. Otherwise, it is umpire judgment..

In the zone - called strike.
Out of the zone - judge any attempt to avoid, which may include protective behavior.

I hope the second call went against the coach who protested the first call. ;)

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Nope, the same coach got his way in both calls...

Hands part of bat.... ohhh boy :)... maybe some hitters would do better with bunting to just slap it...

Go easy on the ump. First game this year...or maybe ever. They will learn in time. If we hadn't surrounded ourselves with such good people, I'm sure we would have never survived.

Maybe you can offer to help out or mentor. Possibly ask them to be your partner for a lower level game. Better yet, find a scrimmage to work and teach as you go.

We will help anyone as long as they want to learn.

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"If we hadn't surrounded ourselves with such good people, I'm sure we would have never survived."
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HA!

My local UIC wears torn blue jeans and a dirty T shirt to ump and is fairly pathetic IMO. I dont pay him much attention other than trying to get my sched more than 1 or 2 days in advance from him.. and he certainly is no fountain of Umpire Knowlege. I know twice as much as him about the rules, and I dont know much. There are only two umps in my league that even wear a uniform, me and another guy.. everyone else just shows up, puts a mask and hides behind the big black pillow and says ball or strike. The area UIC is a good umpire and teaches and dresses properly.. but he's not around. I only see him at the class in the begining. I wanted to get in a few years before I tried going to HS ball.. which is when I will probably/hopefully deal with him. I'm anxious to move up to a better/higher level, but want to make sure I dont embarrass myself.

When I decided to ump, I decided I would do it right, always look professional and in proper uniform, learn the rules as best I could, and try to be a respectable umpire, as opposed to the norm in my league.

I've learned even much more since I decided to see if I could find a place online where umps chat (this is Y2 for me, so I'm not that experienced).. and found the boards. Thank God for the internet.

<b> originally posted by Wadeintothem:

.. everyone else just shows up, puts a mask and hides behind the big black pillow and says ball or strike.
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</b>

Are you talking about a balloon protector? Wow, I haven't seen one of those since <B> I </b> played baseball. Uh, that was before light bulbs were invented, I believe. At least, I only seem to remember day games.

[Edited by TexBlue on Apr 8th, 2004 at 05:51 PM]

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I dont use it.. I bought the right stuff.. but yep.. many still use it...

Re: .
 

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What associations rules are you operating under? Just
wondering?

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ASA...
the high school is NCOA so I will likely be joining them soon so that i can do some high school games, but the league is ASA.