Quick Poll - Knees

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by FUBLUE

Point? The buttonhook is obsolete. It hasn't been taught right in years in many locations.

I do not believe that. A "buttonhook" is a path, not a turn or position. Umpires who stray away from the buttonhook WILL get lazy as it pertains to watching the runner touch 1B especially if the ball is to center-left field.
Yes, I know everyone on here will tell me they don't, but there are a lot more umpires out there than on this board and they DO no watch 1B when they do not buttonhook.

[FUBLUE]

Mike,

I concur with you...it's a path. Unfortunately at the last 2 ASA national schools I attended, it was taught as a spot/move. It's not. It IS a path. The whole idea being to turn towards first base instead of breaking to second and not looking at first base. And it is intended to keep you at the right distance inside the baseline and away from the baseline to see the play if it happens at first base.

Just like the hammer or inside-outside theory, it is taught as an attempt to get people looking where they should be looking.

But the person who was instructing it (poorly, I may add) in 2000, and 2005, decided to teach it as a move, a spin, a pivot, whatever you want to call it. All he cared about was the plant and turn, not seeing the play.

Of course this person decided to tell me I couldn't call outs left-handed. Yeah, I didn't like him.