mechanics again

[EsqUmp]

Originally Posted by Manny A

Wow, that's a little extreme, don'tcha think? I mean, we're talking about a subtle raising of the hands to signal a foul ball. It's no different than a subtle hammer on an obvious swing and miss, obvious fly ball catch, or an obvious putout of a runner.

Yes, if the foul signal is accompanied by a loud "FOUL!" call, I agree that's unnecessary. But a discreet signal is far from being over-officious, IMO.

And in case you missed my point, I DON'T want umpires to signal obvious fly balls. That's what lead to this discussion. Rather than pointing fair/foul on balls near the line that are touched by the defender and possibly dropped (a mechanic that is extremely useful and my save your ass some day) most associations want umpires to give worthless signals on obvious fly balls. That is amateurish. I feel stupid when in an NCAA game where I do what I am told I stick my arm up to signal a fly ball caught by the 2nd baseman. Do I really need to signal an out on a line shot back to the pitcher where she immediately fires to 1st for the double play on R1? Really? Who the hell is watching? Who cares? Who needs that communicated?

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by EsqUmp

And in case you missed my point, I DON'T want umpires to signal obvious fly balls. That's what lead to this discussion. Rather than pointing fair/foul on balls near the line that are touched by the defender and possibly dropped (a mechanic that is extremely useful and my save your ass some day) most associations want umpires to give worthless signals on obvious fly balls. That is amateurish. I feel stupid when in an NCAA game where I do what I am told I stick my arm up to signal a fly ball caught by the 2nd baseman. Do I really need to signal an out on a line shot back to the pitcher where she immediately fires to 1st for the double play on R1? Really? Who the hell is watching? Who cares? Who needs that communicated?

You keep bringing up NCAA and pro baseball. Do what you want at that level. I merely pointed out that in ASA, as instructed at the 18 GOLD Championship last year, we were told by NUS that we signal all foul balls. Unnecessary, perhaps. OOJ? Far from it.