Best piece of umpiring advice ever given

[ASA/NYSSOBLUE]

Originally Posted by greymule

When I began doing this as a college kid in 1957, calling intramural ball, I thought you had to be quick and decisive.

I did too, but we didn't simply make up such mechanics. Before some point in mid/late-1960s, MLB umpires called strikes before they hit the mitt, and made out calls practically instantaneously. Films from those days show umpire mechanics quite different from today's. They made many calls at 1B, for example, from just on the foul side of the running lane, a foot or two past the bag.

After many years and zillions of games, I still have to remind myself to wait.

The whole business of actually S-L-O-W-I-N-G D-O-W-N your calls can be directly traced to Doug Harvey sometime in the mid 60's - a fact most of the idiots on the baseball HOF Vets Committee do NOT understand...I seriously think a letter writing campaign by ALL sports officials is necessary...

[greymule]

On what would have been the last out of the 1963 World Series, with the Yankees trailing the Dodgers 2-1 in the 9th, Tom Gorman, with one of those immediate calls, banged Bobby Richardson out on a force at 2B, even though Richardson's slide had beaten Maury Wills's in-the-dirt throw and Dick Tracewski had never come up with the ball in the first place.

After Gorman saw the ball rolling away from 2B, he reversed his call to safe.

Though the highlight narrator ignored the issue, it's interesting to see Richardson clearly hold his palms out toward Gorman as if to say, "What in the world are you calling?"