Help from my fellow umpires

[flash277]

My best advice: Don’t do it?

18u, solo, behind the mound ... minimum $100.

You said it, what a crock, I didn't know until it was assigned. Our org. is short on umpires, so I don't want to stick it to the assigner, I'll let you know how it goes.

And as far as pay, it's kind of ridiculous, $55 if you have a partner, $60 if you go solo. And two of the teams are ones that my DD played for, both coaches still there, one nice, one not so nice.

 

[flash277]

that's not the rule you need to find. that one is for hitting an umpire after it passes an infielder other than the pitcher. you need the one where it hits the umpire BEFORE a fielder can play the ball.

I looked through the USSSA book and I can't find a rule for the situation where the ball hits the umpire before passing a fielder. 7E that you posted clearly mentions passing an infielder but doesn't say what to do if it dose not pass an infielder. Dilemma!

I just asked the UIC, he says if I get hit, it's a live ball.......So I have that to look forward to.

 

[jackfrost]

RULE 10. DEAD BALL - SUSPENSION OF PLAY
Sec 1. The ball becomes dead immediately when:
F. A fair ball, which is on or over fair ground.
1. Touches a runner or an Umpire before touching any fielder and
before passing any fielder other than the pitcher

OK, I found the event. Ball hits you (umpire) before getting to the fielders, but I can't figure out what the award is. You suspend play but where do you put the BR and runners? I don't do USSSA so I don't know where else to turn. Put your dancing shoes on and be nimble as heck out there.

 

[flash277]

RULE 10. DEAD BALL - SUSPENSION OF PLAY
Sec 1. The ball becomes dead immediately when:
F. A fair ball, which is on or over fair ground.
1. Touches a runner or an Umpire before touching any fielder and
before passing any fielder other than the pitcher

OK, I found the event. Ball hits you (umpire) before getting to the fielders, but I can't figure out what the award is. You suspend play but where do you put the BR and runners? I don't do USSSA so I don't know where else to turn. Put your dancing shoes on and be nimble as heck out there.

Thanks, just sent this to UIC, we all know 18U coaches (should) know the rules, I don't want to rule live ball if this real says dead, just getting a clarification from him. I guess it would be dead ball, batter gets first, like if a runner interferes?

 

[flash277]

Ah, he now says dead, ball, runner gets 1st. Nice to know the UIC is up on rules

 

[gdc03120]

My best advice: Don’t do it?

18u, solo, behind the mound ... minimum $100.

Absolutely agree. Especially at the 18U level where coaches can be bonkers over the tiniest discrepancy. I would hold a VERY honest coaches pre-game meeting and be very up-front with your matters ("With me being behind the pitcher, you're not going to get every single ball/strike call you want. I will do my best, but there won't be any arguing of balls/strikes today. Am I clear about that?") Then go on with your regular coaches meeting.

Personally, I wouldn't do it from behind the mound - that's garbage, especially for 18U. I'd be trying to milk that for whatever I could get out of it. I know, in my organization, a solo umpire at any level is "fee + one-half".

 

[Gtrips07]

You said it, what a crock, I didn't know until it was assigned. Our org. is short on umpires, so I don't want to stick it to the assigner, I'll let you know how it goes.

And as far as pay, it's kind of ridiculous, $55 if you have a partner, $60 if you go solo. And two of the teams are ones that my DD played for, both coaches still there, one nice, one not so nice.

I say the assigner is sticking it to you. Does he or she work games too?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[mmeece]

You said it, what a crock, I didn't know until it was assigned. Our org. is short on umpires, so I don't want to stick it to the assigner, I'll let you know how it goes.

And as far as pay, it's kind of ridiculous, $55 if you have a partner, $60 if you go solo. And two of the teams are ones that my DD played for, both coaches still there, one nice, one not so nice.

I wouldn't accept that and neither should the assigner. At a minimum it needs to be $90 or it just incentivizes the organization to do this routinely. If they have agreed to an umpire pay scale it shouldn't change much just because you end up by yourself. I've been in this situation as a coach and both coaches ended up agreeing (begging?) that the umpire should be behind the plate and we would just agree that he'd do the best he could on the bases. Everyone ended up happier than the games we've had behind the pitcher.

 

[CoachJD]

Our rec teams have had a couple umpires behind the pitcher recently and I've been shocked at how well they did. They're two umpires I'm familiar with, and I don't think either had any significant drop off in balls/strikes. Actually think the one umpire may have been better from back there.

The toughest calls have to be balls down the line. There were a couple close ones, one that went our way and one that didn't. I did not have the best view on either, but my first thought was "there's no way they could be 100% on that." Certainly not going to argue it in that situation.

I felt a lot better about their calls at the bases, especially on steals of second. Had one play that I'm positive would've gone the other way if she was behind the plate.

It's not an ideal situation, but as a coach I can absolutely live with it this year.

 

[umpwally]

When working from behind the circle with a field that’s well lined now or working on a field without fair/foul lines clearly marked in normal 2 umpire games, (like the good ole days..lol), I will remind the coaches at the plate meeting that any ball hit down the line will, at best, it be a subjective call . I’ve never had coach that didn’t understand