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Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire Podcast.

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My name is Daryl and I will be your host as we take a look behind the masks, so to

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speak, sharing stories, insights and experiences from the unique perspective of the baseball

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umpire.

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During this episode, we'll go through some of the new rules updates for the 2025 Little

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League season.

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As always, if you have any questions, comments or ideas for future episodes, drop me a line

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at bluecrewdiaries at gmail dot com.

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So if you're ready, grab your indicator and play brush and let's hit the field.

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What's going on everybody?

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Welcome back to another episode of the Blue Crew Diaries, an Umpire Podcast.

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Oh boy, I know it's been, I think it's been about six months now since I last talked to

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you.

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Um, not really a lot going on as far as baseball is concerned.

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My local league had a big shakeup in the board of directors back in October.

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A lot of stuff went down that's, that's for another, another episode possibly.

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Um, but yeah, let's just say the board of directors went from I think 11 or 12 members

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down to seven and of those seven, only two of these, these new seven were on the 11 person

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board.

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So that was, uh, that was a big meeting.

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I'm told I didn't attend it, but uh, yeah, apparently a lot of stuff come out and it

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just kind of, kind of blew the lid off the whole thing and everything got changed.

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So as far as 2025 goes, we'll see what happens with this new board.

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As of right now, they have not elected a new umpire in chief yet.

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So I have no idea who I'm going to be working for next season.

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The umpire in chief that I had, he got done at the end of the 2024 season before this

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whole shakeup deal with the board.

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He had pretty much had enough.

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These three years that he did, he was, he was good.

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So we'll find out, um, hopefully within the next month or so who I'm going to be working

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for.

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Um, depending on who it is, I may not be working for that particular league next year, but

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we'll see.

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So speaking of next year, uh, let's get into the main topic for this episode.

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That is the 2025 significant updates for the little league rule book.

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So for these updates, I kind of chose ones that would more affect us as umpires on a

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day to day basis out on the field.

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There are a number of other, uh, updates as far as like tournaments and stuff, but that's

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more like, um, league administrator stuff.

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Um, I am only going to be talking about the baseball stuff that re relates to us on pyres.

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I'm not going to be talking softball, but there's a bunch of changes there as well.

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So starting off with just basic stuff that applies to every volunteer in little league,

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uh, regulation one C. So there's been two changes to regulation one C. Uh, the first

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one requires all background checks be performed by JD Palatine or Palatine, however you, however

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they pronounce it.

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But all background checks have to be done by JP D only before there were, um, you know,

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the rule was that you could have background checks performed by, you know, whoever, you

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know, whatever background check agency you wanted, as long as the background check conformed

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to certain little league standards, that is no longer the case.

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And JP D has to do the background check.

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That is it.

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Um, my thoughts on that, you know, some, some people would say, oh, well they're in bed

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with JP D and you know, JP D is probably giving them a, you know, a great rate or whatever.

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I just see it as everybody gets the same exact background check.

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It's just that simple.

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You don't have one person gets a background check by JP D. Another person gets a background

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check by this company.

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Another person gets background checked by this company.

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Yeah.

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Every it's all the same.

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Now everybody gets the same, the same check.

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Um, the other change to regulation one C and this is not new for this year.

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Um, it was new for 2024, uh, but that is requiring all volunteers or anyone that fills out the

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volunteer application to complete the abuse awareness course.

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Um, the wording on that has been changed a little bit for 2025 for last season, 2024

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season.

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So you had to complete the abuse awareness course, but the abuse awareness course, you

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had to do it either through USA baseball or I think there were a couple other, a couple

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other organizations that were Little League approved, um, that, that had had Little League

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approved awareness courses.

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Now Little League has their own abuse awareness course right on the website.

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So that, uh, yeah, you, you have to take the Little League abuse awareness course.

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So moving on to actual rules, uh, playing rules again, I'm just going to get into the

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stuff that us as umpires would be dealing with every single game.

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The first change is to rule 1.1 zero AR two and that states that products such as, but

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not limited to choke knobs, choke up assists or thumb protectors are now considered alterations

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to the bat and are illegal.

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So if you have a player who has a choke up assist on, on the, the handle of the bat to

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help them get a little, a little bit higher on the bat, um, that, that is now not allowed.

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It is considered an alteration to the bat and it cannot be used.

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That, that is an illegal bat.

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Um, and we'll get more into equipment stuff a little bit later on here.

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So the next change is to rule 1.1 one eight three.

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And this rule change now permits neoprene sleeves being worn without being covered by

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an undershirt before.

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If a player wanted to wear a neoprene sleeve on their arm, they had to have it covered.

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That is now not the case.

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However, the neoprene sleeve can be worn as long as it is a solid color and that color

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is not white or gray.

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That's it.

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One of the two biggest ones, uh, or three biggest rules changes, uh, that we're going

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to talk about today is rule 1.1 one I.

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So rule 1.1 one I has been changed to remove the prohibition on player jewelry.

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So if you remember, um, you could, or a player could only wear jewelry if it was religious

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or some sort of medical alert type jewelry.

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And then they changed, uh, last year to allow hair beads because part of hair control.

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All the other prohibitions have now gone away.

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I have, I have good and bad feelings about this.

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The good feeling I have about it is it's less policing for us as umpires.

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Now if there is, say a pitcher is wearing a necklace and it's, it's, you know, this

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long chain and it's hanging down, it could possibly be an issue as far as getting in

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the way or something like that.

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I don't see any harm or foul in going out there and asking the pitcher just to tuck

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it in their Jersey.

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You can still wear it.

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Just just try to tuck it in your Jersey so it doesn't get in the way.

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Um, I, I don't see a problem with that.

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I've, I've seen a few umpires on some of the Facebook groups and whatnot that have said

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they are going to do that.

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Um, and I don't see any issue with that.

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So less policing for us as umpires.

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You may have the, the, uh, very rare event where a piece of jewelry actually causes a

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player injury.

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Whether it's the player that's wearing the jewelry or another player that somehow gets

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tangled up in a necklace or something like that could happen.

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Well, we'll see.

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I would think that the odds of that happening are very remote, but we'll, we'll see.

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We'll see if, if Little League wants to get any data on that.

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Getting into more equipment, rule 1.16.

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This has been changed so that uh, helmet stickers and decals are allowed as long as it's not

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excessive.

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Here's, here's my problem.

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I would like to see some clarification come out from Little League on this because my

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idea of excessive may be different from your idea of excessive, which is different from

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this other umpire's idea of excessive, which may be different than Little League's idea

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of excessive.

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So if I remember correctly last year, they couldn't take up like more than 25% of the

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helmet or something like that.

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I mean, I do like that they are now willing to allow the players to express themselves

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and who they are and whatnot by decorating their helmets.

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But I would kind of like some clarification on what, what does Little League mean by excessive?

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The only other thing that I, I have a slight issue with with that one is any stickers or

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decals could hide any cracks or other deficiencies in the helmet.

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I'm not really a fan of that.

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Now granted in the two seasons that I've umpired, I've only had to throw one helmet out of a

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game for being cracked and the crack was about three quarters of an inch long right on the

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left ear flap, right where the left ear flap meets, meets the skull cap of the helmet.

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And that, that coach, I brought the helmet to him.

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I showed him the crack.

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I said this helmet can't be used.

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He looked at it and said, wow, nice catch.

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I got another helmet in my truck.

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All right, good enough.

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I ran out to the parking lot, grabbed the other helmet.

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First thing he did was bring it to me.

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Hey, here's the other helmet.

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If you want to take a look at it, I looked at it.

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Everything was good.

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I handed it back to him, said that helmet is good to go.

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That was it.

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There was, there was no issue, no argument, no anything.

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But yeah, but here, here again, here in a minute we'll get into, get into some more

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equipment stuff.

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The next change is to rule two regarding the at bat notes one and two.

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These clarify continuous batting order stating that players in order to meet mandatory play

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in continuous batting order, the players do not need to meet the running portion of mandatory

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play.

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So as long as they get in at bat, basically they're good.

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If they get on base, they can be pulled out for a pinch runner, something like that.

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They do not have to meet the running requirement for mandatory play.

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I'm going to skip the biggest one for the moment and you'll see why here in a minute.

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The next to last one I want to talk about, it's last on my list because I'm skipping

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the other one.

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Rule 3.17.

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I don't know how I feel about this guys.

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This one allows a team to use one way communication to the catcher while the team is on defense.

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So basically they are allowing Little League now to use, I know one of the systems out

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there is called PitchCom, but it's not catcher to pitcher, it's manager to catcher.

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So the manager can select which pitch to give to, to sign to the pitcher.

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I don't like it.

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Let's just put it that way.

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This is Little League for crying out loud.

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Little League.

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I mean seriously, why do we need PitchCom in Little League?

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Not only that, but now it's going to be an added expense to the teams because you know

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for a fact every team is going to have to have this.

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In fact I was talking about this the other day with one of my coworkers at my day job

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and he said, I believe his nephew was in T-Ball.

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Maybe moving up to Farm League this year, I'm not sure.

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But he said, well you know how many teams around here are going to have that?

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I looked right at him and I said, well all it's going to take is one.

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One team is going to, you know one of the coaches or the managers is going to go and

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buy this equipment on their own dime and then every team in the league is going to have

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it.

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They're going to have to have it.

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Well this team has it.

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We need it too.

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So I mean you may have a bunch of managers and coaches that will chip in themselves to

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buy it, but I see it being more of an added expense on the players and the parents.

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You know to be able to afford this kind of technology, I'm not sure what PitchCom goes

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for price wise.

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Let's see PitchCom right there.

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Just Googling it real quick here.

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But yeah I, and the other thing that I don't like is you're taking more of the game out

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of the catcher's hands.

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You know I kind of like the catcher deciding, hey what pitch are we going to throw next?

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You're taking that away from them.

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I don't get it.

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So yeah roughly around like four to six hundred bucks is roughly what PitchCom is going for

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ish depending on which version you get.

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But you know just let the catcher, you're taking more of the catcher's duties away.

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They don't have to think, you know okay in this situation well we just threw this pitch

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and we couldn't get him to swing so what if we throw this pitch maybe he will swing at

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it or the same pitch just bring it up a little or down a little or inside outside whatever.

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You're taking all that thought process away from the catcher and now the manager is just

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hitting a couple buttons.

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The catcher says oh okay this is what they want and they sign that to the pitcher.

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I don't know and again this is Little League.

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I mean I get the fact that okay yes Major League Baseball is using it.

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You know I think you've got some high school and college teams using it so it's good to

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get you know get everybody used to using it.

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I just don't like it.

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I really don't.

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So with that said let's move on to the last update that I have to talk about and this

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is the big big change in my opinion to rule 3.01.

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The change to rule point 3.01 removes umpire responsibility to check equipment pre-game

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placing that responsibility on the team manager.

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So no more going over to each dugout and looking at everybody's equipment.

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You don't have to look at bats anymore.

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You don't have to check helmets anymore.

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You don't have to check the catcher's gear anymore.

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Now if illegal equipment is found I'll get this out of the way first before I go on my

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rant.

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If illegal equipment is found both the manager and the player using the illegal equipment

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they are both ejected.

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Not only are they ejected from that game they are also suspended from the next physically

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played game by that team.

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They cannot be in the stands.

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They can't be in the dugout.

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They cannot be on game property during that suspension game.

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Okay so the good part of this is it removes the umpire's liability if an injury happens

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due to faulty equipment.

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So if a batter gets hit in the head by a pitch and gets a concussion and it's determined

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that the concussion was more than likely caused by a big old crack in the player's helmet

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that is no longer my fault as the umpire.

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I now have no liability for that.

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I mean it's good because now the family can't sue me for medical bills saying oh well you

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looked at his helmet and you said it was fine and it turns out it had a big crack in it

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and now he's got a concussion all these hospital bills and this and the other thing.

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So here's your lawsuit Mr. umpire or Miss umpire.

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It removes that so we're no longer liable.

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It's now the coach's job.

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However I don't like it.

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I don't like it one bit.

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Because it gives me less to do so it gives me more time to walk the field you know whatnot

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and just get ready for the game.

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Like I said in a previous episode I like to get there at least a half an hour early and

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sometimes I really don't get a chance to walk the field because I've got so much other stuff

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going on.

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So this this takes out at least 10 minutes depending on how thorough you you were with

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your examinations.

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But this frees up five to ten minutes a time.

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Now that's not to say that you now can get to the field five or ten minutes later than

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you normally would.

255
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,480
No no no.

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At least a half hour early.

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Sometimes when you want to be there some umpires are there an hour early.

258
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I usually arrange anywhere between half hour to 45 minutes before the game.

259
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And that's simply because the games usually start at 530.

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I get out of work at 430.

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Takes me some time to you know I change into my my gear my uniform right at my job.

262
00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:19,040
Change there jump in the truck.

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00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:23,960
That's five minutes down to the field or two minutes to the field depending on which of

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the two fields I'm working.

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Either the YMCA field or the Knights of Columbus field.

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You know so so there's that.

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00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:47,040
The reason I don't like this is because what if there are safety deficiencies in the gear

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like the helmet or the catcher's helmet has a couple of screws loose for the for the face

269
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guard or for the yeah you know I'm talking about.

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You know the actual bar mask portion of the helmet.

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00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,400
Yeah you put it on the managers.

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But I can't tell you in the last two years how many managers I've had to go to during

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my pregame equipment inspection and tell them hey that catcher's helmet needs a dangling

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throat guard.

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And the manager is looking at me like I'm speaking Japanese to him.

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No offense to the Japanese.

277
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But they had no idea that that the catcher's mask had to have a dangling throat guard.

278
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No idea.

279
00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:54,160
Oh well gee I don't even think we have one.

280
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I actually had to loan my spare dangling throat guard to I believe was one of the brewer teams

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one day because they didn't have one.

282
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They flat out didn't have one.

283
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That's why I keep a spare one in my gear bag.

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I told the coach hey you got to have a dangling throat guard on your catcher's mask and I

285
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got kind of that deer in the headlights look.

286
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And oh well gee I well let me look.

287
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,640
So they look around the dugout look through all the equipment everything then comes back

288
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and says yeah we don't have one.

289
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Like what are we going to do?

290
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I gotcha.

291
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I went to my gear bag at the tower grabbed my spare and gave it to him said here throw

292
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,800
this on there.

293
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And he made a point after the game to seek me out and give it back to me and thank me

294
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for allowing them to use it.

295
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:04,640
To be perfectly honest I had forgotten at that point that I even let them use it.

296
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I mean if he had just left and taken it with him honestly I wouldn't have cared.

297
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I really wouldn't have.

298
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You know what now he's got it for the rest of his games.

299
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Doesn't matter to me I'll go buy another one.

300
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:20,880
Not a big deal.

301
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:28,720
But yeah I don't like this change.

302
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,800
I mean I do like that it frees up some umpire time.

303
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It takes liability off of the umpire if an injury happens or something like that.

304
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But oh boy.

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Here's a question for you out there listening and I want you to answer this honestly.

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If you want send me an email with your answer.

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Blu Crew Diaries at gmail.com.

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If you're listening to this podcast episode on YouTube leave a comment down in the comment

309
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:08,920
section below the video.

310
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:17,200
What are your thoughts on your standing behind the catcher at the plate.

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00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:28,240
A batter comes up with a let's just say you're working majors so only USA baseball bats can

312
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:36,940
be used and a player walks up with a BP core bat or a player walks up with a BPF bat.

313
00:28:36,940 --> 00:28:39,280
You're standing there behind the catcher.

314
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:50,200
How likely are you as the umpire to notice that there is no USA baseball sticker on that

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00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:54,200
bat.

316
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,480
How likely are you to notice that?

317
00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:03,720
Me personally I think it would be fairly difficult to see that.

318
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Especially if the bat is turned the right way so the logo is facing away from you and

319
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:08,800
towards the pitcher.

320
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,720
How likely are you to notice that?

321
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:18,520
How likely are you to notice a big old crack in the helmet especially when the helmet is

322
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:23,600
now covered in stickers?

323
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:24,840
That's my problem.

324
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:35,560
So you may see that this bat is illegal but whereas before like this the beginning of

325
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:42,360
this season the first game I threw out like three or four bats that weren't legal.

326
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:48,120
Very first game of the season or the first two games I worked I threw out a couple of

327
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,080
bats.

328
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:56,640
Then the minors game that I worked a couple days later I threw out a bat there.

329
00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:06,200
How you know back back before this rule change sorry I just hit the mic a little bit.

330
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:13,680
Back before this rule change you would see that hey this is a BB Corp bat.

331
00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:18,640
Hey manager can I talk to you for a second please?

332
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,480
This is a majors division game.

333
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,060
Only USA bats can be used.

334
00:30:23,060 --> 00:30:25,520
This is a BB Corp bat.

335
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:26,560
This is an illegal bat.

336
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,840
This cannot be used in the game.

337
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:31,520
Okay not a problem.

338
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:35,320
The bat disappears out of the dugout.

339
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,760
Moving on.

340
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:43,160
Now with this rule change you don't have that.

341
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,160
Batter steps into the box.

342
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:56,120
If you somehow notice after the first pitch hey that looks like all right time.

343
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,520
Player can I see that bat please?

344
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,520
Oh look a BB Corp bat.

345
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,480
Okay you're gone.

346
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,440
Manager in the coaches box you're gone.

347
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:17,640
And you just ejected two players for something that should have been caught or would have

348
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:29,680
been caught in the dugout before the game before this rule change.

349
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,240
How do you feel about that?

350
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:39,880
I have never in my two seasons of umpiring Little League Baseball I have never ejected

351
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:41,400
anyone.

352
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:52,040
Now yes I should have ejected a coach like three freaking times already.

353
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,400
But I'm too nice of a guy for that.

354
00:31:54,400 --> 00:32:06,360
So for me to eject a player and a manager for something as I don't want to say something

355
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:16,600
as stupid but something as as little as a bat that doesn't meet the proper specifications.

356
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:23,460
That would just that would just kill me as a person.

357
00:32:23,460 --> 00:32:27,960
Like this this bat never should have been out on the field and yet here it is and oh

358
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:33,560
man now I got to throw two people out of the game.

359
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:43,360
And suspend them from their next game because somebody didn't understand the rule.

360
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:49,020
And that's something you got to watch out for with the BPF bat is a lot of BPF bats

361
00:32:49,020 --> 00:32:55,960
say U S S A on them for things like United States Softball Association or something like

362
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:57,500
that.

363
00:32:57,500 --> 00:33:01,280
And you'll get parents that say oh well it says USA right there in the bat.

364
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:02,280
No no no no.

365
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:06,160
That has to be the USA baseball logo.

366
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:14,680
And you can't have a USA baseball approved bat that's also a baby Corbat or also a BPF

367
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:15,680
bat.

368
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:17,360
They don't really exist.

369
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:18,920
So anyway I'm rambling on.

370
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:20,720
I'll shut up now.

371
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:21,960
Yeah.

372
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:25,840
Let me know your thoughts on these rule changes.

373
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:35,760
As far as any of them really but especially the getting rid of the equipment pregame check

374
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,900
by the umpire and also removing the prohibition on jewelry.

375
00:33:40,900 --> 00:33:41,900
Let me know.

376
00:33:41,900 --> 00:33:42,900
Let me know what you think about that.

377
00:33:42,900 --> 00:33:49,080
Let me know what you think about allowing pitch calm.

378
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:56,480
The first game that I work that I see they have they have pitch calm.

379
00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:04,000
I'm probably going to be standing behind the plate crying.

380
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,040
Let's just be honest like come on.

381
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,000
This is little league.

382
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,840
Oh you're using pitch calm.

383
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,680
Oh boy.

384
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,760
So yeah enough of my rant.

385
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,300
Getting off my soapbox.

386
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:19,300
Let me know what you think.

387
00:34:19,300 --> 00:34:23,400
BlueCrewDiaries at gmail.com or the comment section of the YouTube video if you're watching

388
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,840
us on YouTube.

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00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:33,760
As always be sure to hit that the follow button or the subscribe button on your podcast player

390
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:35,520
so you do not miss an episode.

391
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,200
I will be trying to get more episodes out.

392
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:44,280
Try to maybe get back on the monthly cycle like I was doing.

393
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:46,440
That is about it from here.

394
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:52,680
So as always thank you all very much for listening and I will see you on the diamond.