Working Alone.. one of those plays

[celebur]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Well... many self-respecting umpires wouldn't be caught dead working a league where they are set up to fail. So not only do you get just 1, you get 1 that can't or won't find work elsewhere. Not to say this means that all of your umpires are bad ... just means you're going to attract bad ones (or there will be no one there to make the bad ones better, at the very least).

A league that devalues the role of umpire this much is simply going to get what it pays for, I guess.

I would add that working a lot of solo games also leads to slower development of umpires. Being the lone wolf means you don't benefit from post-game discussions with your partner(s), and you don't make the connections you need within your association to learn what you should be learning.

Unless such an umpire is dedicated enough to work around this, or unless the evaluators within the association are keen enough to get out there and help such umpires along, doing a lot of solo games tends to develop umpires that are content to coast along where they're at.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by celebur

I would add that working a lot of solo games also leads to slower development of umpires. Being the lone wolf means you don't benefit from post-game discussions with your partner(s), and you don't make the connections you need within your association to learn what you should be learning.

Unless such an umpire is dedicated enough to work around this, or unless the evaluators within the association are keen enough to get out there and help such umpires along, doing a lot of solo games tends to develop umpires that are content to coast along where they're at.

amen

[KJUmp]

One benefit to working alone...you never have to worry about what type of partner you'll be working with.

[Stu Clary]

So I'm working a JV game a few years ago. Varsity always has two umpires, JV typically gets one, the exception being cross-town rivalry games. Anyway, R1 at second base, outs don't matter. Ground ball to F6. I clear the catcher, see F6 field the ball...then did the idiotic. Did I "Let the ball take me to the play"? No. Of course not. The Amazing Idiot Umpire looks to 1B. Sure. I mean, that's what the shortstops going to do, right? Throw to first?

I see F3 ready for a throw....and then relax. No throw. Panic! Where's the ball??? I look at 2B. R1 is on her belly, right hand on the bag. F4 has the ball in her glove, resting on the back of R1's wrist. They're both looking at me, waiting for a call.

I did the first thing that came to mind. Overhand sell out.

OC (in 3B coaches box) went bananas. I ended up dumping her - she didn't give me a choice - but I let her get her money's worth first.

[Stu Clary]

Oh...I just re-read this. I guess I should add that I learned a valuable lesson that day.

[charliej47]

Back when I was young and thought that I could be anywhere at anytime, I did a LOT of Slow-pitch ball.

I can remember almost always getting to the pitching circle in time to make any calls and to always (almost), follow the ball.

As I got older and started doing fast-pitch, I would only do the 12U and under by myself.