Is it my duty as a fellow umpire?
 

I’m strictly a slow pitch softball umpire. However I am on the UIC staff for my state and always catch myself evaluating umpires whether I’m on duty or just a spectator. My son plays J.V. baseball for his high school and last evening I attended one of his games, and as mentioned I caught myself mentally evaluating the umpires and here is what I had.

Note: I’m admittedly untrained in baseball so I can only give a fans perspective.

Base Umpire:
• Runner on 1b only. Stood w/in 6 inches of the mound and about a foot behind the pitcher. Definitely in the pitchers field of vision.
• Runners on 2b. Positioned himself to where he had to duck on a pick-off attempt at 2b. IMO interfering with the throw.
From a fans perspective (the one sitting 10 feet from me in the stands) “His horrible positioning caused him to miss numerous calls”. From my perspective he really only missed one, a pulled foot that he couldn’t see.

Plate Umpire
•Very obviously new and nervous.
•Used left hand slot for every batter. Surprisingly he didn’t take any off the face mask, however his strike zone was surprising wide on righties ( :) ) and tight on lefties.
•Had a hand motion for every call, pointing to where balls missed. His signal for a pitch that missed high and outside looked identical to his strike.
•Missed the help on the above mentioned pulled foot. He was already turning to brush the plate when the call was made.

It was obvious that these guys were new and trying to learn but are need in some instruction (and confidence.)

So here’s the question. Is it my duty as a fellow umpire to try to find these guys UIC/Assignor and provide some feedback or do I just leave well enough alone?

My take? I wouldn't try to p1ss in another association's pool. Their assignor is probably pretty aware of how green their umpires are, and you'll only create friction between your association and theirs.

On the other hand, if you see an umpire doing a great job, it never hurts to pass along your compliments.

That's my take, but I'd sure want somebody to tell me if I was F'ing it up that bad. :D

As would I, but I'd rather it came from within my org than from someone on the outside.

It may depend on if you know the leaders of the other association; I would tell a friend running another association that I was watching a game, and that I had feedback on the umpires, IF HE IS INTERESTED!! If I don't know him, then I wouldn't get involved, for the reasons stated above.

The other thing I might consider is to meander by the umpires after the game, and if possible, make some small talk. "Good game, wasn't it? You know, I do some umpiring myself; would you be interested in some feedback? It may be helpful to you, or, you can decide for yourself if anything I say has merit." Then, only give as much feedback as you think he/they are willing to listen to, based on the response and reaction.

The other thing to remember is that you are a slow pitch softball umpire only, by your own admission.

I don't know how things are in your neighborhood, but in some places, baseball umpires don't think softball umpires are real umpires. (if you don't believe me, go peruse the baseball board) If this is the case in your area, just leave it alone.....

That's okay, 'cause I don't believe anyone who needs to point is much of an umpire. For that matter, let's talk about the "dead" ball hyprocy in baseball. Quite a few, including instructors at high levels, mock softball and any umpire that rules a ball dead, yet the baseball rules routinely refer to a ball being "alive". Hmmmm.......we cannot have a dead ball, but they can have one that is alive.

Funny you should mention that... Just the other day I was reading a post on some baseball discussion board and the poster talked about the ball being "alive".

I refrained from making some hysterical comments.....

Out of curiosity, I searched the baseball rulebooks I have access pdf to and surprise, surprise the word "alive" was not mentioned once.

Then you are not looking at MLB. You can find it at www.mlb.com

Or NCAA where it is used three times in the one paragraph used to define "live ball".

It's not the status of the ball, it is the use of the verbal "dead ball" that is considered improper. OBR instructs in their rules to kill the ball by yelling "Time".

And in softball, as umpires, we base our calls on the status of the ball. "Time" is not the status of the ball, but that of the game. Two different calls for two different situations.

Of course, I have to wonder why some baseball umpires have such a difficult time with softball umpires doing their job.

I'm just explaining where the line of thought comes from...I don't really care one way or another.

I understand and didn't think you were doing anything other than that.

Thank you

Insecurity ?? :eek:

OK, I'l admit it, I only actually searched the NFHS 2008 Baseball Rules pdf.

I started with MLB.com, but realized I'd have to do it rule by rule and that seemed like too much effort just to join in a pissing contest!:D

Sat AM an not much to do, I read your post and figured I'd look.
Figured 5.xx would be a good place to start and sure enough there it is (multiple times).

But gee, I noticed that many times they also refer to the ball as "DEAD";);)

And to continue.......
If baseball guys are allowed to make a huge ceremony when a "Dead ball" is announced (complete with pall bearers, etc) can we have a naming ceremony and pass out cigars when it is announced that the ball is now "alive" - and better yet, do we snip off some of the thread if the umpire is Jewish????:D:D:D