Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries and Umpire Podcast.
My name is Daryl and I will be your host as we
take a look behind the mask, so to speak, sharing
stories, insights, and experiences from the unique
perspective of the baseball umpire. In this episode,
we'll discuss a few of the 2025 Little League
rules changes in a bit more detail. If you have
any questions, comments, or ideas for future
episodes, drop me a line at bluecrewdiaries at
gmail .com. So if you're ready, grab your indicator
and plate brush, and let's hit the field. Well,
what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to episode
11 of the Blue Crew Diaries. an umpire podcast.
If I sound a little off in this episode, I am
getting over a cold, so a little stuffed up,
but we're going to do this anyway. So, first
on the agenda, there are still Little League
Umpire Outreach Clinics going on. all across
the country, go to LittleLeagueUmpire .org, the
Little League Umpire Registry. If you have not
signed up for the Umpire Registry, why not? It
doesn't cost you anything, and there is some
great stuff on there. It also allows you to sign
up for these outreach clinics. Other than that,
I'm sure you guys by now know that I'm a big...
a big advocate for the youtube rules clinic videos
from california district four it looks like they
have their their yearly series pretty much complete
including a softball rules clinic video so if
you're uh if you're not a softball umpire or
you're not a baseball umpire and you want to
do softball that's probably the video for you
or do both why not Other than that, let's get
on to the main topic. If you want to go back
to Episode 7 of the Blue Crew Diaries, we talked
a little bit about the significant updates to
the 2025 Little League Rulebook. And there were
some things in there that I wanted a little bit
more clarification on. Some stuff that... Really
kind of didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
But thankfully, my prayers have been answered.
I received an email the other day from a gentleman
by the name of Dave. Dave, thank you for reaching
out. And in that email, aside from telling me
that he enjoys the podcast. He also sent me the
link to the updated Little League Make the Right
Call casebook. So, for those of you who do not
know the Make the Right Call casebook, it is
basically a miniaturized rulebook, but it's one
of these, if you're, here's a situation. If you're
presented with this situation, here's the rule
that that situation would fall under, and here's
how you should handle that situation. Yeah, so
it really gives a little more clarity on some
of the stuff that I wanted some more clarity
on. So let's just start at the top and go down.
I'm not going to read the entire Make the Right
Call casebook. I'm just going to go with the
new updated type stuff. As far as the biggest
thing here is illegal equipment versus improper
equipment or damaged equipment. Really, the only
illegal equipment that is grounds for ejection
immediately is an improper or an illegal bat
so if you are umpiring a majors game and you
have a batter step into the box that has a bat
that says bb core or usssa or Something like
that. It does not have that USA Baseball logo.
That is grounds for immediate ejection for using
an illegal bat. Improper equipment isn't immediately
grounds for ejection. Improper equipment is to
be removed or disallowed you know, have its use
disallowed by the umpire. And if it is discovered
that it is being used after the umpire has disallowed
its use, then it could be subject to ejection.
Because the umpire has already said, you can't
use this. Go get rid of it. And we're talking
like choke -up knobs or like batting donuts,
stuff like that. Obviously, batting donuts are
allowed in junior and senior, but we're mainly
talking majors and minors right now. So if it
is discovered that, say, a choke -up knob is
being used on the bat, the umpire will advise
the player or the manager, if it was me, I would
go to the manager myself and simply just call
time, go to the manager, hey, he can't have that
on his bat. Simple, right? So if that happens,
the player will remove the choke -up knob or
should remove the choke -up knob from the bat.
Now, if they come up to bat the next time and
have that choke -up knob, on the bat again, now
we're kind of flirting with ejection. Because
I've already told you once, you cannot have this.
You can't use it per the rulebook. And now you're
trying to use it again. Yeah, I'd be flirting
with ejection on that one. Let's see. Same idea
with damaged equipment. If there's a helmet that's
damaged, it has a crack in it, or something like
that, you can't just toss the plier for using
damaged or improper equipment. Now, if you tell
them to get rid of it, and they continue trying
to use it, now we're getting into ejection land.
Let's see here. Oh, this is a biggie. Situation.
A player comes to bat wearing a wristwatch. Is
this allowed? I have been known. I shouldn't
say known on occasion, but known. quite a bit
to wear my watch when I'm umpiring out on the
field. I mainly use it to time in between innings.
Just to kind of get off track a little bit here,
I'm not thrilled with Little League's whole one
minute from the last out of the last inning to
the first pitch of the next inning. I get it.
They're trying to speed the game up. But that
does not give you a lot of time. I mean, one
minute for all the defensive players to come
off, the new defensive players to go out, the
pitcher to warm up. You know, maybe the catcher's
not ready. So now the one minute has expired.
The catcher is just now coming out. Well, according
to Little League, that pitcher doesn't get to
have any warm -up pitches because the one minute
is over. I don't agree with that. Now, the league
that I umpire for, that I'm going to be honest,
I may not umpire for this year, there's a lot
of drama in people trying to serve themselves.
behind the scenes that has absolutely nothing
to do with the kids who are playing. It's all
adults trying to get things to go their way.
And I don't agree with some of the stuff that's
going on, so I may not umpire for that league
this year. But one of the things that they could
do a lot better at is trying to speed up those
inning changes. Um, cause I mean, I've, I've
sat there and sometimes they're like five, six,
seven minutes between innings. So, and, and I
know, you know, it's, it's more my call. I could,
you know, kind of stand up for myself and say,
okay guys, let's go. Um, but I don't, I don't
know why. Anyway, getting back on topic. So a
player comes, steps in the box, has a wristwatch
on. Is this legal? According to the 2025 rules,
yes. Players may wear jewelry provided it does
not pose harm or injury. I could see a wristwatch
being a problem. especially if a pitch is just
a little bit inside and glances off the player's
wrist or something like that. That could hurt.
However, they can wear a watch. It just cannot
have two -way communication capability. So if
you have an Apple smartwatch, you can't use it.
Okay. The watch that I wear out on the field
is just a regular old Casio. I mean, it's got
the digital display, but it still has the old
school hands that a lot of players this day and
age have no idea how to read because they don't
teach that in school anymore, apparently. Just
like... A lot of schools aren't teaching cursive
writing. Why? I have no idea. So, yes, a watch
is allowed. Let's see. I'm just going down through
here, picking some stuff out. Okay. Rule 1 .16.
Situation A. The Newtown Little League Tigers
come to the game with seven highly polished chrome
-colored batting helmets. Is this allowed? Pardon
me. That is not allowed. It is illegal. Batting
helmets must have a non -glare surface and not
be mirror -like in appearance. However, this
is not grounds for ejection under Rule 3 .01a.
It is not grounds for ejection. They just can't
use the helmets. Same thing with Situation B.
During pregame equipment inspection, the NOXE
stamp on several of the home team's helmets cannot
be located. Again, remove the helmets from play.
That's it. This is not grounds for ejection.
Oh, what else do we have here? Let's continue
batting order. A lot of this is stuff that, you
know, administrative stuff that, yes, the, you
know, the Empire should know, but it's not, you
know, not a huge deal. Let's see here. All right.
So, rule 3 .01. Damaged or improper equipment
is used during the game. The use of damaged or
improper equipment, now that's damaged or improper
equipment, is not grounds for ejection. The only
one, like I said, that is grounds for immediate
ejection is an illegal bat. The use of an illegal
bat... that being one that does not meet the
specifications of Rule 1 .10, or has pine tar,
is the only example of illegal equipment and
will always, always result in an ejection as
provided by Rule 6 .06d. Damaged, improper, and
illegal equipment including an illegal bat, must
be removed from the game at the point of discovery
and subject to ejection from any point thereafter
under Rules 3 .01a, 6 .06d, and or 9 .01b. So...
If you have an illegal bat, it is an immediate
ejection. Immediate. If you have a player that
steps into the box with a, let's just say a helmet,
that you notice has a large crack in it, that
is not grounds for ejection. Because it's damaged
equipment. It is not illegal equipment. Very
simple. You tell them, hey, time, you got to
go get another helmet. Can't use that one. Simple.
All right. So, really, that's the big one that
I was kind of hung up on. I think I've kind of
talked enough about that. Yeah. So that is where
we are at for that one. Dave, again, thank you
very much for reaching out and sending me the
link to this Make the Right Call casebook. And
the link to it will be in the description here
on the podcast. And also in the description down
below on YouTube for those of you who are listening
to this episode there. So with that comes this
week's trivia question. So last week, the question
was, does Little League have a must slide rule?
And the answer to that is technically no. There
is no must slide rule. However, per the rulebook,
the runner under Rule 7 .08, Subsection 3, the
runner must either slide or attempt to get around
a fielder. Who has the ball and is waiting to
make a tag. So if the runner does not slide.
Or attempt to avoid contact. The runner is out.
Also if you're working majors and below. The
runner is out if they slide head first. While
advancing. To the next. base. If they leave the
base they're at to advance and then they turn
around and retreat back to that base and go in
head first, that is perfectly fine. But if they
go into the base head first while trying to retreat,
that is illegal and cannot be done. And I have
seen that. I saw that the very, very first game
I went over and watched. I wasn't even officially
an umpire yet. I just went over and watched one
of the games. It was one of the first games of
the season. And runner coming home, came in,
slid headfirst. Now, the problem was the runner
was safe at home. And I'm standing kind of behind
the fence, kind of behind home plate. And the
umpire, he's already got his mask off. He's in
a good position. He sees that the runner slides
in and the runner is safe. But he went in headfirst.
And I literally heard the umpire say, oh, man.
Like, headfirst slide, runner's out. Yeah. And
even the umpire wasn't. wasn't thrilled about
having to call this runner out because they made
a simple mistake and simply forgot. Oh well,
it is what it is. So no, Little League does not
have a must slide rule. The runner simply has
to slide or attempt to avoid contact. Which brings
us to this week's question. Or this month's question,
I should say. This is, again, going back to Episode
7. What is the penalty if an illegal bat is discovered
being used during a game? This has changed this
year. What is the penalty if an illegal bat is
discovered being used during a game? Think you
know the answer? You can always go back to Episode
7. The answer's right in there. So that is going
to do it for this month's episode. I love doing
these. They're so much fun. Yeah, so again, Dave,
thank you very much for reaching out. I greatly
appreciate it. I hope everybody is enjoying these
podcasts. I know they're not the greatest thing
in the world. Just kind of a talking head. But
I do try to make them as good as I can. So if
you're enjoying them, let me know. If there are
things that I can do to improve, let me know.
And if you send me an email saying, well, the
biggest thing you can improve on is stop talking.
Because you talk way too much. Yeah, that's not
going to change. Sorry, guys. So having said
that, as always, thank you all for listening.
And I will see you on the diamond.