Yeah, but you shouldn't have to drive 4 hours to go and get it if there's an easier alternative. Not to mention the added value of being able to crop, edit, etc.

They are working on a DVD for late 2010 or 11 as I recall.

Cecil,

The one step as I recall refers to getting set with the heel toe stance. On rh batter you put your right foot behind the catcher and then your left foot naturally swings around to where your toes should line up with the arch of the catcher's feet. It is important that the catcher is in the his/her final position. Once you do this, you should not reset your feet. GPA should be there and correct distance from catcher. That is what I think the poster means by one step. It is the initial get set.

Now once you have done this, go set. Your knee should be a fist or fist with the thumb out from the catcher's back. Also if your back is straight in a natural way, they do not mean straight up and down, then your shoulders should align vertically with your knees. If your head is where it is suppose to be, you will have an unobstructed view of the outside corner. Actually you have a really open view of every thing and if you track from release point to catcher's mitt, man what a view! If head is at right height, you will get the outside pitch at the knee right every time or 99% of the time.

Preaching to the choir, but, track the ball with your nose. Make it your eyes. The eyes follow the nose. You will see the ball cross the plate and go into the catcher's mitt. And on pitches that the catcher catches right at the ground, your head will move like Tracey's did in the WCWS. As a side note and may be a repeat, she got a call from someone asking whether she still wanted to do the big tourneys or just college ball cause she used the NCAA strike mechanic in her first game. She responded to the effect of I will fix it.


Side bar before next point.

Julie recommends the following for batters that crowd the plate and make it difficult if not block ump from seeing the pitch leave pitcher's hand. Stay where you are as if not blocked. You will be able to see where the catcher catches the ball up or down on the inside pitch. Call it a strike and by her reasoning the batter will back off. That is what she does on those insidious plate huggers.:D

No calling on outside. I think that is a typo. Think writer meant, could be wrong, 1b. Don't go foul territory unless absolutely, or 1 in a million situation where you have to. This is the best way, especially for 39,000 umpires, speaking ASA.

Hope that helps.

Ron

There you go again with the four syllable words. Didn't you get the memo????;)

Most of the time the rest of Texas won't allow memos to make it out here to our little outpost of paradise.

Memos? Who needs memos? We don't need no stinkin' memos!!!

I missed his post but you said it really well. Thanks! Thats exactly what I was talking about and what was told to me by other attendees about positioning.

Ive been working on that stuff.

I agree and must admit that I am in a prime situation as it pertains to location. Then again, I also have to deal with some umpires who refuse to travel 40 minutes to work a tournament or attend a clinic or school.

However, that is why there are Deputy UICs and local/district/association UICs. The way it is supposed to work is that the state/metro UIC is trained to train other umpires. This is supposed to be the purpose of the Nat. UIC Clinic. In turn, the UIC is to train and provide as much information in a convenient format to the Deputy UICs,et al, to bring that to the local UICs and umpires. In an ideal world, this should mean everyone should be doing making the same calls and rulings from the same position. Then again, in an ideal world......nevermind.;)

The problem arises when there is a breakdown in the chain and someone either doesn't do their job or decides that because they disagree or think they know better, this or that is passed along the the local umpire who believes they are getting the same as everyone else.

Granted, I disagree with quite a few things ASA teaches and will voice my concerns. (okay, I know I heard at least a dozen people just say, "no ****!) However, I never hold back anything ASA instructs from any umpire. When an umpire from my area goes away, they have been instructed on everything ASA wants from them.

The primary job of a UIC is not to get umpires prestigious National tournaments, NIF, Elite or whatever. It is to train them well enough to earn those assignments and awards.

And I consider myself very fortunate to be able to make a local call to our state UIC, not a long distance one. NC ASA is fortunate to have a state UIC who will make the drive himself to hold multiple clinics across the state, directly involving himself with the training of our umpires. The nearest clinic for any NC umpire is about an hour, maybe an hour and a half away. Maybe that's just "part of the job," but it's apparent that there are other organizations where this could be improved. Personally, I think Phil does a tremendous job, which is probably why he was publicly praised at the 2009 UIC Clinic.

ASA has been making some amazing strides into the 21st Century. They're very active on Facebook and Twitter (multiple messages per day on each site). They created a training DVD that is the envy of other organizations, and I've heard that there is another in the works. They certainly still have a ways to go, and I think they could make better use of technology: DVDs, programs on the internet, etc. I'm not sitting by the sidelines, as I've even offered to assist them in this process. This will make it easier to get the message out to the masses and get everyone on board. However, in all, I'm very pleased with the progress ASA has made, even within the last year alone.

OK, heard all that before, just not the cryptic identifier or the elaborate geometry.

If you mean not coming down the line from A on a ball hit deep close to 1st, I see, but disagree.

yes

I was thinking ball hit to F9. I believe you can go foul side on the play you describe above. I heard my UIC say that was permitted by ASA on a play like that.