Mechanics discussion

[tcannizzo]

The idea about dumbing down the mechanics catering to unathletic umpires is a question worth bringing into this discussion.

In a perfect world, (which my mentors constantly remind me that it is not), all umpires would be physically and mentally able to perform their duties with the current mechanics. Unfortunatley, this is not the case in our area as we have a severe shortage of umpires of any calibre, that we have to pretty much take anyone who is willing to get on the field.

There are a number of umpires in my association who legitimatley qualify as physically handicapped. They are "good umpires", but the first few times I worked with them, it was very, very frustrating. I labeled them as plain lazy, and even put a Partner Block on the Arbiter on one of them.

One guy took so much time getting across the field after a play at 3B required him to get back to A, that I actually let the pitcher start the pitch when he was still passing through B. Honestly, I held the pitcher up as long as I could. The runner was out at 3B; defense got set, pitcher had ball ready to pitch, batter is in box, and BU was moving at a speed greatly less than 1 mph. BTW this was in the 1st inning of the 1st game of the day! He never left A to make the calls at 1B.

I even asked him if he was OK, and he said he was fine. After realizng that it was physical, not mental, my attitude switched from anger to sympathy.

I am not in in favor of dumbing down the mechanics to cater to the lowest common denominator. That being said, this (and other sitches) took away from the game. Until such time as we can have a sufficiently large talent pool to support a competitive umpring environment, with a weeding out process for the lower rated umpires, we might actually be forced to consider alternative mechanics.