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| insti-gator
July 9, 2013
12:23:33 PM
Entry #: 4072102
| To follow is a cut an paste from a post I actually made in 2010...lol...I know...DORK but since we are on umpires I like this thread and will share.
Any baseball guy will like this thread:
Comments I have heard like the following from umpires the past couple seasons could sum up a lot in terms of why there are hardly any good umpires at all.
"It was a discretionary call." What in the hell does that mean any way?!?!?!?
"Even though he may have been trying to deceive the runner I did not view it as a balk." The purpose of the balk rule is to prevent pitchers from deceiving the runner!!!!
"Hold on...stay right here." (3-0 count) A fine example of many that most umpires think everyone is there to see and hear them which as ball players we absolutely know is not ever the case.
"Why do I need to be foul line extended on that play." Because that is what your umpire hand book says you are suppose to do.
"That is the bottom of my strike zone." A ball is a ball and a strike is a strike, it is not your strike zone it is the one that is printed in your umpire hand book!!!!!
"That is the top of my strike zone." Again it is not your strike zone...a ball is a ball and a strike is a strike!
"That is not strike today." Will it be one tomorrow or the next day?
"From my angle he was safe."...fine and good if you are in the correct position but if you are in the wrong position then what you are basically saying is I had a bad look therefore I could not tell if he was out so I called him safe."
Bottom line is too many damn umpires go for the cool points but hey that is what they are taught in their clinics and through their red manual hand books. They are taught to run and move around like an umpire in order to look good but the problem is no one cares.
Umpires in general spend too much time trying to do every thing by their little hand book instead of getting the calls right.
Simply stated you can't take a guy who was never a good athlete to begin with and one who probably never even stepped on a baseball field to play it and then expect them to run around and do every thing by the book all the while getting calls right....it just can't happen.
With that being said one does not have to have played the game to be a good umpire. However, in order to be a good umpire here is what I would tell any umpire and these are the things that 90% of the guys we see lack.
1) Be approachable and don't think it is all about you.
2) Call a consistent strike zone and keep it there for an entire game
3) Don't call balls and strikes too early such as but not limited to just as the ball is hitting the mitt.
4) Hustle and act like you want to be there and if you don't want to be there try to pretend you do.
5) Don't self interprut things
6) You can fool the fans but not the players meaning don't come up with some BS excuse for some mistake you made as you will garner more respect if you just softly say you blew the call.
7) Be in atleast close to a correct angle to make a call.
8) It is not at all about cool points so stop trying to be so damn cool....all we do is laugh at you and think you are a donkey.
9) Don't have ears in the dugouts and know the difference between when someone is getting on you or talking at you and not to you....if you don't know what that means then you will probably never be a good umpire
10) You are the only cat on the field who gets paid to be there but don't act like it!
I will close with the following comment by the dish in the Pub Lakers game...he said the pitch was a strike because "it was at his elbows."
WHAT? REALLY? Are elbows mentioned in the manual. Perhaps guys should just hit improperly and start with their hands down at their waste. All the while if a guy is going to have a nice stance with hands higher they just increased the height of their strike zone.
Comical!
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