Umpiring for Dummies

[Sparky Guy]

I am amazed that 11-12 year old baseball ( 50 foot mound, 70 foot bases) gives us two umpires, yet I have been forced to do travel quality 14-18U softball solo?
Why???

Heard the best/worst line by a TD when one of his coaches asked why there are not two umpires for the brackets games. The response. "Because we are cheap."

 

[BrianMonk]

Now, since we are putting rules out there - the one I hardly ever see enforced by umpires is keeping one foot in box in-between pitches to keep game speed (save for the few exceptions). I know batter gets their 10 seconds, but it is a mystery to me why umps deny when I request this rule be enforced.

Because some of these girls are coming out of JH and HS ball where it's not required.

The clock is of essence in travel ball, not so much in H.S. We've even had umpires ban throwing the ball around after a strikeout (playing league ball under Fed rules). Nothing says they can do this but they do it anyway and no one argues. They also don't allow the infielders converging on the pitcher after a strikeout.

Twice in the last week I've seen base umpires signal obstruction on obvious interference calls. They verbally call interference and ultimately get it right but let the play finish and then remove the offending base runner and send runners back. In both instances the home plate umpires had very perplexed looks on their faces.

 

[MTR]

I am amazed that 11-12 year old baseball ( 50 foot mound, 70 foot bases) gives us two umpires, yet I have been forced to do travel quality 14-18U softball solo?
Why???

Speaking ASA

Because those running the tournament are cheap. About a decade ago, ASA started removing umpires and the required rotations and required number of outside umpires from the code and for no other reason than those bidding on the tournaments claimed they were not making enough money to make hosting the tournament worth it. After a year or two, some of the larger tournaments started complaining and some of the requirements were reinstated for certain divisions and classes, but the number of local umpires was dramatically increased so the level of umpiring suffered and has been ever since.

But to answer the original question, for over a decade I opened up the State Clinics to any coach/player who wanted to attend. There was no charge and the only request I made of them was to note their questions (instead of interrupting the clinicians) and the staff would take the time after the clinic to answer all there questions. During that period, not one person took up that offer.

For our state school, I once offered a league a highly discounted rate for their "in house" volunteers. The only charge was a uninflated registration charge for insurance purposes for the school and their league play. The league paid for five individuals. One showed. Where were the other four? At their complex raking the infields and cutting the grass (month before season started). When asked, they all said it wasn't necessary, they knew everything they needed. They were obviously not as informed as they thought.

So, in short, I believe it is a great idea, but not worth it for the few who would take advantage, and in some cases, may cause more problems than help when you end up with people misquoting the clinicians on the field during the game and not understanding why they are sitting in the parking lot waiting for their game to finish

 

[Bucketrider]

Sorry. It is what our society has become. Blame someone else for your failures. No clinic will change that.