Umpire School Forum

Line Up Cards

gaylonkent — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:39:50 GMT

Hunter, do any plate umpire in the big leagues give their lineup to another umpire to keep???

thank you,

gaylon

Olympic Umpires?

JLJordan — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:05:26 GMT

Anyone know who umpires the games for the Olympics, do any umpires from the United States or Umpire School do it? Maybe some from the Evans Academy?

Forum: Major League Discussion

Uniform Question

gaylonkent — Thur, 31 Jul 2008 14:27:50 GMT

Hunter, who makes the MLB plate coats and your pants???

i have a Fechheimer navy plate coat, and would like to get a black one...

also, there are a ton of different dark gray colors out there...in fact, if you throw in the old heather gray, it is entirely possible to have a three man crew with different shades of pants...

so i was curious...are they available for us average joes to buy???

thank you
gaylon

Forum: Major League Discussion

Coach Entices?

DG — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:05:40 GMT

OBR 4.06a-3

Situation: R1 and R3. With F1 set, 3b coach hollers GOGOGO. R1 takes off for 2b and R3 takes off for home, but it's a fake. RH pitcher starts for home and stops. He doesn't know F1 has taken off for 2b but sees R3 start for home and hears the coach.

Where do you draw the line on what coach is allowed to say or not, to entice a balk vs. coach his team? Clearly words like "Time" and "Balk" are not allowed.

Forum: Rules Discussion

2008 students in the minors?

gregcjacobs — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:02:18 GMT

100% of our 2008 class were placed out of PBUC; 4 more were called from the reserve list. Is there a list anywhere of where everyone is working? I tried the minor league baseball website and the websites of the leagues themselves, but I can't find up-to-date umpire rosters.

I'd also be interested in knowing who from our class is working in independent leagues, and where.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

greg

Forum: Minor League Discussion

Blue for Kids

JLJordan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:28:02 GMT

Saw the articles with Hunter and Brian Kennedy on mlb.com under the umpires page, great stuff. I'd recommend that if people can donate a little bit, do it, because even though the mlb umpires are giving the bears, they represent all of us. Keep up the good work guys.

Forum: Major League Discussion

New Crews?

grady89 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:11:58 GMT

I am watching a Jays game here and I see Eddy Montague, Ed Rapuano, Jerry Layne and Jim Wolf on a crew together. How come things are getting changed up half way through the season out of curiousity?

Forum: Major League Discussion

Appeal Fourth Out

FredBeitler — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:16:46 GMT

Hello Everyone,

From section 7.10 of the MLB rules, it states that:

Appeal plays may require an umpire to recognize an apparent fourth out. If the third out is made during a play in which an appeal play is sustained on another runner, the appeal play decision takes precedence in determining the out. If there is more than one appeal during a play that ends a half-inning, the defense may elect to take the out that gives it the advantage. For the purpose of this rule, the defensive team has left the field when the pitcher and all infielders have left fair territory on their way to the bench or clubhouse.

My question is, for the purpose of this rule, are catchers considered infielders?

Regards,

Fred Beitler

Forum: Rules Discussion

Ball On Top Of Wall

gaylonkent — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:14:38 GMT

Hunter, I have a question about that hit where the ball ended up on top of the wall in the Red Sox/Yankees game Friday:

Shouldn't it have been ruled a home run if the ball was in flight or a double if the ball was not in flight?

Now, i still remember Paul Nauert talking at school about ruling in the spirit of the rules as opposed to the letter of the rule...The rule book seems clear, though:

FAIR TERRITORY is that part of the playing field within, and including the first base and third base lines, from home base to the bottom of the playing field fence and perpendicularly upwards. All foul lines are in fair territory

of course, i have the benefit of stop action replay on mlb.com...it's easy to make a call with stop action instant replay...the umpire may not have seen the ball...he may well have had the ball going straight to the ground...

who knows???...i'm bored at work and with time to kill...

Gaylon

Forum: Rules Discussion

Rules for minor league umpires

BradDunn — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:25:06 GMT

Can a minor league umpire, during the season, umpire a high school summer league game?

Forum: Minor League Discussion

Comp Time

gaylonkent — Thur, 26 Jun 2008 16:41:43 GMT

Hunter, do the umpires working the All Star get comp days for having their break disrupted???...or do they resume their regular schedule after the break???

thank you
gaylon

Forum: Major League Discussion

Ambidextrous Pitcher Situtation

Heyblue — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:25:18 GMT

I read article and reviewed the video on Umpirenews.com about the pitcher for the Staten island Yankees who was ambidextrous and it was between batter and pitcher changing positions numerous times.

I know that in OBR there is nothing covering this situation. I even looked in the WRMM and could not find anything addressing this situation in the pitcher section starting on P-118-130 also nothing in the batter section starting on P-36

But I did find something in the PBUC Manual on P-76 (6.15) and my question is why did they let the batter and pitcher change numerous times? I understand the ruling as it is written in the PBUC. I would like some feed back to explain this from both the Minor and Major League Levels and any instructions that are provided to umpires.

John

Forum: Minor League Discussion

Interference by Batter-Runner after Ball Four

Phenolobus — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:58:46 GMT

Hi, I am an umpire from Austria, maybe you can help me:

R1, Count 3-2, R1 breaks with pitch, which is ball four, batter-runner starts towards 1B and throws the bat back which interferes with throw of catcher to 2B who maybe did not realize ball four (catcher makes attemt to throw but breaks it in the moment the flying bat passes him in the height of his head)

My call in this situation: BR out for interference (although there is no obvious play possible at 2B), R1 to R2 (because of BB)

Forum: Rules Discussion

This Really Happened...

gaylonkent — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:55:12 GMT

An umpire out here actually allowed a DH to bat for the RF in an American Legion game, which utilizes the AL rule and only allows a DH for the P...

it wasnt discovered until the game was well along, and between batting out of order and people entering the game who werent eligible, the league ordered the game replayed...

gaylon

Forum: Rules Discussion

Right to appeal a second time.

TRS — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:02:35 GMT

Rule difference between NFHS and OBR

NFHS Case book Rule 2.29.6 Situation B:
Example is: ball thrown out of play on the appeal attempt.
The rule states that an appeal is not a play and the defense has the right to appeal a second time on the same runner infraction.

OBR 7.10 (d) The last couple of paragraphs explain a situation where an "err" is made during the appeal. Same thing, ball thrown out of play on the appeal.
Rule states that when an "err" is made on the appeal, a second appeal shall NOT be granted by the umpire.

This does not seem like the type of rule that ought to be different between High School/Pros. Does anyone have any thoughts on why this would be ruled differently between the two levels?

Forum: Rules Discussion