lot's of umps

[refjef40]

The other day I showed up to the final of a hs tournament and was assigned to the plate.What made this interesting was that five of my fellow umpires were standing around.When I asked what was up they said none of them had any where they had to be so they asked if I minded a six man crew.I said that sounds like fun so to the coaches amazment six umpires walked on to the field.It was great with nothing but strikes and balls pretty much to worry about.The only real comments I heard negative was when a errant throw hit the third base umpire and when into dead ball.Of course the coach of the defense yells see you got to many umpires.All in all we had agreat time though.

[Gulf Coast Blue]

Been in many 3 ump games........would not even begin to know the mechanics of a 6U system.

Joel

[IRISHMAFIA]

Joel,

It is great! You cover your base most of the time. If you use 2B as a rabbit for balls to centerfield, you then rotate into a 3-man game.

The only thing that looks goofy is when there is a ground ball to the outfield and all 3 BUs come inside the diamond. It can get a little crowded in there d:-)

[llblue]

There's nothing all the difficult about 6-man mechanics.

RFU and LFU call all the calls on the lines, U2, comes out and takes the V. PU takes all ground balls to the outfield.

BU will pivot inside only when there is a play at his base. U2 if outside will stay outside until the play is over and not make any calls. U3 shall come up and cover any plays at 2nd, PU will cover 3rd.

Ideally, if done right, there should be no confusion and it should look fairly clean.

Umpire covering the line should emulate his line's call. i.e., U1 calls foul or fair, RFU shall emulate but without voice (if foul)

Between innings, RFU and LFU may converge with U2 behind the fielders warming up. It they chose not to do that, they should be in front of the fence in DBT or in fair 35 feet or more from the fences.

It is permitted for U1 to go out and be with RFU and LFU and 2U will converse in the V. PU and U3 may do so.

OF need not echo Infield fly warning however they should call it on their lines in echo with the remainder of the crew.

It's too bad that 6-man crews only get used in LL anyway at the state, regional and WS levels. I called a semi-final in the regionals as U2 and it was strange to go out and have people on the lines.

I don't agree though that it's easier on the PU. He still needs to be moving on all plays to the infield, watching the ground balls, pulled feet and other normal responsibilities.

It requires the entire crew to be alert and move properly. The key really is though for U2 not to come close to coming back in if he goes out. Get in the worst position possible and let U3 make that call.

It is permissible just like in 4man for U3 to go to C if warranted without LFU coming in. The OF umpires will never come in.

It's a little nerve wracking to go from solo or 3 man mechanics to 6 but for tournaments at any level, it's the way to go if you get the coverage.

First time we did in the states last year we had a team from Northern Maine and one from the southern area, the team from the south was used to having 4, maybe 6 in districts but it blew the northerners away. Manager said he'd never seen so much blue in one place.

[IRISHMAFIA]

I've worked a 6-ump game at the National level (ASA Men's Industrial, 96) and during a Pete Rose-Michael Bolton exhibition game.

It was a blast! In all the game, we were all familiar with 3 & 4 umpire mechanics, so we just played off of them.

[Gulf Coast Blue]

We had competitions on the 3 man systems at our National School (between the different groups we were broken into)..........

Man......when everyone is on the same page......it can be really pretty too.

Joel