Which is why the ball can land in what I refer to as the "bermuda triangle," behind the pitcher's plate (for the PC police, I did not call it the rubber), going toward 2B and SS. When they are playing THOSE configurations, I only call an IFF if there is a phone booth on the field because Superman is the only guy who is gonna catch it.

'Course, half of these wannabes think they ARE Superman.

I use two criteria--and both must be met for an IF.

1) Is the fielder "camped out" under the abll AND

2) Is the fielder facing the dish? (possible exception for F2 here).

Ace in CT

I can relate to that. I've worked our men's open league here in Omaha, and there are times I have to be about 5 feet deep into outfield grass because the 1B and 2B play that deep.

So then this begs the question... Why not adjust? Split the difference and either draw a line between F3 and F4 or between F4 and F6 and stay behind that line? Just make sure you stay on the 1B side of the field.

Does no one else do this?

Strange.. to me it seems you would just position yourself in front of them.

Thats what they do in this foreign game known as baseball.

Why go hang out in the outfield? Thats not your priority.

I asked about doing this once, and our local UIC said no, as well as did our local association president. They had asked the player reps (this league has its own board) if the players were ok with this adjustment. They all said no, because they feared not only for their own safety, but the umpires' as well.

No, not at all. This year, the manual got all fouled up with all the re-writes, and the diagrams were omitted. However, last year's manual does address this very concept. Look on page 217 of the 2008 Umpire Manual, and find the "Note." It refers to a bases loaded situation, but I see no reason why this adaptation can't be applied with a sole runner on 1B, a sole runner on 2B, or runners on 1B and 2B.

This position was actually discussed at one of our state clinics (I believe it was last year) as an accepted method of getting closer to the bases, but remaining far enough back to keep from getting drilled with a line drive. I THINK it may have been mentioned at the NUS this year as well.

Ronald, do you remember them saying that, or am I getting my clinics mixed together?

Bull****! They couldn't care less about our safety.

Speaking ASA, for the purpose of interference rules, the umpire who is behind a direct line of the two nearest fielders on each side of the umpire is behind the infielder.

BTW, in the games I was doing, all the infielders were deep. If I moved up the middle behind a line running from F4 and F6, I was still a good 30-35' behind 2B.

The real ***** is that none of these moronic players just kept hitting the ball as hard as possible which gave the infielders time to field the ball and throw them out. If any of them hit a routing ground ball, they would never put him out unless it was right back to the pitcher.

I've actually had a 2B say "blue, you're a little bit close for your own safety" when I lined up on the 2B shoulder side of the 1B and almost in a direct line to where 2B was standing. I told him I'll be fine. He shrugged his shoulders. Nothing happened, but I was quizzed by our association president a couple days later because 2B or his team rep called in the next day to state their "concern" for my positioning.

I don't think they were as concerned with your safety as they were with your positioning as an umpire who is going to make a call.

Whenever I split the difference, I decide where I'm going to go based off of a number of things. Is it a righthanded or lefthanded batter? Do I see him aiming for 3B line, 1B line, or up the middle? Where are the fielders?

With no runners on (or a lone runner on 3B), I usually split the difference between F3 and F4 with a righthanded batter. Very rarely will I do this with a leftie. If I've got a leftie, I usually split the difference between F4 and F6.

It all depends on their positioning and where this split will put me as a result. If it gets me too far out of position, I'll just suck it up and park my butt behind F4, ready to haul butt when the ball's hit.

Obviously, the midwest player is a different animal than those in the Midatlantic area.:D

"Church league... softball... fistfight..." :D

Yeah, but they prayed first. :rolleyes:

Oh, well... I stand corrected! They must all be saints...

And I'm sure most of them have set foot in the church at least once, right? :rolleyes: