Does the batters box really mean anything?

[Comp]

I can assure you we dont get anything ever remotely close to that around here.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Comp

Regular season game is $55 per ump, per game.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I can assure you we dont get anything ever remotely close to that around here.

For the game or the bribe?









Yes, I know this is a grossly untrue and unfair comment, but I couldn't resist. What I should have said is that umpires are underpaid and I respect any umpire who handles themselves in a professional manner and does their job well, regardless of what they are paid. I hope my apology is accepted and I don't get tossed.

 

[redhotcoach]

Ok just left a D1 game. One slapper's first step every pitch was right in front of home plate. Almost every other slapper was way out front of the box when they hit.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Ok just left a D1 game. One slapper's first step every pitch was right in front of home plate. Almost every other slapper was way out front of the box when they hit.

This is why very few TB tournaments or HS games draw a box each game. Or if they do it's gone after 1-2 innings making it almost impossible to call/enforce and/or prove.

 

[honus14]

Our local high school has a new field with AstroTurf (or SomethingTurf, I don't know the actual brand) and no dirt at all, so the batters' boxes and foul lines and such are a permanent part of the field. Of course, it's a multi-use field, so they are the BASEBALL batters' and catcher's boxes.

 

[tghorley]

First of all I did one season for a league in my mid 20's as an umpire. I'll never ever do that crap again. My hats off to you guys who stick it out.

Second, as a guess. Most umpires don't want to keep nit picking the game. ( wrong or right ) That's their money. If they make an a$$ of themselves you can probably request them not to call your games. File enough complaints that directors don't want the headache.

Example***

Last year during HS district playoffs. We had a plate umpire with a strike zone the size of a quarter. He was making us throw straight down the middle. ( was not doing that for opposing team who was from his county ) We lost that game. Coach made a call to TSSAA to request he not umpire the championship game the next night. We won that one. Umpire lost $200 for missing that game. ( that's what they get paid in playoffs )

Funny how pay was brought up. I was at a big tournament this weekend. At some point during the tournament I happen to walk by the "umpires area" and stopped a "safe" distance away, but close enough to where I could hear them. They were not talking about the rules, their kids, the weather, or anything else but how much money they were making from this tournament and how much they made last week and the coming weeks.

And from my perspective, that is all that they were interested, on and off the field.

 

[starsnuffer]

I don't understand how a slappers foot is outside of the box when they make contact with the ball if they're actually slapping. Some people don't understand slapping, and don't understand that that right foot is in motion, in the air, when the bat hits the ball, and then that right foot comes down outside of the box, which is perfectly legal.

Slappers are supposed to step with their cross step to put their front toe just next to the inside front corner of home plate. This leaves the heel on the chalk of the batters box, which again, is perfectly legal. This is to insure that they cannot be "pitched inside", or rather, that if the pitcher does try to pitch inside, they get on first anyway.

Now, many slappers DO step on home plate, which is in violation of the rules. . . . and many poorly coached "slappers" actually do a side step, replant their right leg, and then swing. . . . this isn't a slap, it's a step and a hit, and this usually will cause the batter to be outside the box when they hit the ball.

I didn't see the game in question, and I'm not arguing that it didn't happen as described, but honestly there are a lot more people who don't understand slapping (many of them get jobs as ESPN announcers the same time they get hired for mis-calling pitches) then there are umpires who are purposely trying to do a crappy job.

-W

 

[MTR]

but honestly there are a lot more people who don't understand slapping (many of them get jobs as ESPN announcers the same time they get hired for mis-calling pitches)

Probably the same people who think the batter can drag bunt from the right side.

 

[tcannizzo]

I don't understand how a slappers foot is outside of the box when they make contact with the ball if they're actually slapping. Some people don't understand slapping, and don't understand that that right foot is in motion, in the air, when the bat hits the ball, and then that right foot comes down outside of the box, which is perfectly legal.

Slappers are supposed to step with their cross step to put their front toe just next to the inside front corner of home plate. This leaves the heel on the chalk of the batters box, which again, is perfectly legal. This is to insure that they cannot be "pitched inside", or rather, that if the pitcher does try to pitch inside, they get on first anyway.

Now, many slappers DO step on home plate, which is in violation of the rules. . . . and many poorly coached "slappers" actually do a side step, replant their right leg, and then swing. . . . this isn't a slap, it's a step and a hit, and this usually will cause the batter to be outside the box when they hit the ball.

I didn't see the game in question, and I'm not arguing that it didn't happen as described, but honestly there are a lot more people who don't understand slapping (many of them get jobs as ESPN announcers the same time they get hired for mis-calling pitches) then there are umpires who are purposely trying to do a crappy job.

-W

Really, the only time this is really visible in real time is on a change up.

Otherwise, it may have happened but there are no eyes on the field that can see that the foot is:
a.) on the ground - or home plate
b.) outside the batter's box
c.) at the time the bat made contact with the ball

We don't have video replay, which is possibly the one and only case I could support it in softball.