Can confirm. Baseball and hoops.
That's incredible.
Docs are a weird breed. I’m married to one and related to a number, and they and their colleagues are just wired differently. That intensity doesn’t necessarily translate to violence the way that it does in the average bear. But who knows.
You are, although my encounters with him were over ten years ago in another district. Same irrational dude.
Another thing I have seen diffuse an argument very quickly is "I didn't see it so there is no way I can make that call." Only works on things away from the play like obstruction, missed bases, etc., but it's hard to keep arguing against that response.
Bah, it's umpire's discretion anyway. If you didn't call it, the players should have adjusted accordingly. That's why it's supposed to be signaled.
Not sure honestly. I don't think so, but I definitely didn't know when I was 13. You're right though, they've since done away with it at that age. When my son started umpiring last year at 13 I drilled him on the infield fly rule and knowing when to apply it and when not to - only to find out they don't use it anymore at this level.
We had an adult ump call IFF on a foul ball the other day. This relatively simple rule seems to baffle many. The ball was caught so it didn't matter, but still.
Isn't the correct call in such a situation for the ump to specifically call infield fly "if fair"?
this is awesome. You should have added “what the fuck are YOU going to do about it Coach? Get the fuck back to your dugout or go home!”
I appreciate this perspective, but it’s always rubbed me the wrong way that it sort of starts from the premise that these kids aren’t very good athletes. I know the fact of the matter is, that they aren’t in reality. But for one, we have lived in a society that for the past 30 years has catered to the top 1% of society in our tax policy, because, to the point @DennyDoyle'sBoil is making, people believe there’s some chance, however, minute,, that they will end up there someday, either through hard work chance, or the lottery. The same is true here.
Hopefully the parents understand that the message is for them. The 2 years I coached U13 and 14 soccer, I asked the parents at the beginning that if *they* had a problem with what I was was doing, they should tell me, not their kid.
Letting a kid dream big is, or can be, great. But how far do you let it go, I think, is a big deal here. And yeah, the key players here, no pun intended, are the parents.
Feels like something the ump should have easily been able to roll back when confronted with the actual rule in the book. Specifically the "if the hit becomes a foul ball, it is treated the same as any foul ball" part of the rule. Did no one have a rule book or was the ump being hard-headed?
The vast number of umpires won't change calls even if they got them very wrong. Reversal would only encourage future arguments. I've umpired, and totally screwed up some calls. Felt bad about it, but knew that the call had to stand just for that reason.
We take our knowledge of baseball for granted. The IFF is one of the tougher rules to judge on if you're not paying attention to the game situation. The better umps will know who is on base, where, and how many outs before the next pitch is thrown. Just be glad no one batted out of order. That could have taken weeks to figure out.
Seems like merely a demonstration to raise awareness on the umpiring situation. I'm assuming that you didn't mean the IFF rule.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/umpires-rally-taunton-massachusetts-ugly-incident-at-little-league-game/44524318
Remember a jerk little league coach having a hissy fit because the other team batted out of turn and I made the correct enforcement of the rule (more or less miraculously). He demanded the game be a forfeit. And he wouldn't take my direction to protest the game at that point, continue the game with my ruling standing; then take it up with the league. Closest I came to throwing a coach out.
I probably umpired 100-ish games in my umpiring career and I can honestly say that:
You would be a dream to umpire for. The league I umpired for in Providence was run like a military operation. There was zero tolerance for nonsense from parents and coaches, and what you do was the standard. In the leagues my son played in down here in NJ, coaches were often as bad as the parents.
That just sounds like a dumb translation of the actual rule. If the ball can't be caught with normal effort it isn't an IFF.
The tricky thing with Little Leaguers is what is "normal effort"? My experience with that age cohort is that there's no such thing as a normal routine play. Every ball in play is an adventure. The IFF rule assumes that any ball in play near a fielder is going to be caught cleanly 99% of the time, which is a big ask for 10 and 11 year olds. I can understand what the vague statement is intended to do: an umpire using discretion to call IFF if the ball is going to the hotshot kid at SS but not the uncoordinated kid playing 2B. Doesn't really seem fair to umpires who might not really know which is the hotshot kid and which kid is afraid of a pop fly. Probably better to do away with the rule entirely for kids, or at least in anything prior to maybe 12-year-old all star level.
Why would the umpire make the judgement based on some perceived skill level of an individual player? If, in the judgement of the umpire, an average 10 year old can make the catch with reasonable effort then call IFF. It doesn't matter if the actual actions on the field involve a player cowering in fear or making the catch behind their back with their eyes closed. If the ball is in the air sufficiently long enough and in close enough proximity to a player, regardless of skill, then call IFF.
I guess you could not call it and rely on the "this team can't catch a pop-up they sure as hell ain't turning an easy DP (as referenced in the rule)" interpretation.
I think the rule accomplishes a couple of things for those younger age groups.
It is not the intent of the rule, no. It is, however, a consequence of it.
But catching the ball during that havoc is exactly a skill that they need to learn. I mean, there are routine fly balls in little league baseball, but they don't really start until 11-12-ish, and as kids go up through baseball the havoc is still there, it just takes other forms (4 kids in totally different positions screaming "Throw the ball here!!!!!" as parents yell different directions from the stands as just one example." "Letting the defensive player off the hook" is absolutely not the goal of the rule. I am not trying to be a dick to the kid who has a hard time fielding a pop up, but learning that skill is important at that level.
That is what I am recommending. I think LL baseball would benefit from it. As I mentioned before, every time I called the IFF as an umpire, every parent on the other team was immediately convinced that they deserved a make up call, and to what benefit? In my opinion, none. Kids under the age of 12 live to catch the ball and make an out, they aren't going to Ozzie Smith this bitch.
