WEBVTT 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.300 Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an umpire podcast. 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:19.100 My name is Daryl, and I will be your host as 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:21.160 we take a look behind the mask, so to speak, 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:24.399 sharing stories, insights, and experiences from 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.879 the unique perspective of the baseball umpire. 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:29.820 In this episode, we'll talk about the first week 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:32.859 of my season and how things look going forward. 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:35.780 As always, if you have any questions, comments, 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.500 or ideas for future episodes, drop me a line 00:00:38.500 --> 00:00:42.640 at bluecrewdiaries at gmail .com. So if you're 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.109 ready, Grab your indicator and plate brush and 00:00:45.109 --> 00:00:55.310 let's hit the field. All right, everybody, welcome 00:00:55.310 --> 00:00:59.130 back to another episode here of the Blue Crew 00:00:59.130 --> 00:01:02.649 Diaries and Umpire Podcast. And as you heard 00:01:02.649 --> 00:01:06.290 in the intro, this episode will pretty much be 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:09.150 about the first week of my Little League umpiring 00:01:09.150 --> 00:01:15.540 season. Yeah, kind of where I see things going 00:01:15.540 --> 00:01:19.299 forward from here. But before we get into that, 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:23.579 a couple of just basic announcement type stuff. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.920 Little League Umpire Outreach Clinics are still 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.299 going on. If you're interested in those, you 00:01:31.299 --> 00:01:34.480 can find those listed on the umpire registry, 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:40.450 littleleagueumpire, all one word, .org. So be 00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:42.689 sure to check those out if you're interested 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:47.790 and if there happens to be one near you. I know 00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:54.730 there are some leagues out there that will actually 00:01:54.730 --> 00:02:00.430 reimburse umpires to go to one of these outreach 00:02:00.430 --> 00:02:04.489 clinics. I'm sure not all of them do that, but 00:02:04.489 --> 00:02:07.310 I believe there are some that are actually doing 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:10.449 that. Might be something worth looking into. 00:02:11.090 --> 00:02:15.090 Also on the umpire registry is the umpire rules 00:02:15.090 --> 00:02:18.889 challenge. I believe it is like 70 questions. 00:02:19.669 --> 00:02:23.030 I honestly should know. I've taken it a few times. 00:02:23.490 --> 00:02:28.449 But really gets into real specific situations 00:02:28.449 --> 00:02:32.810 that you may find yourself in and what rules 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:37.719 would apply to those situations. Definitely something 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:40.120 to check out if you are interested. Like I said, 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:44.300 I've done it a couple of times and found it really 00:02:44.300 --> 00:02:48.919 helpful. So again, those are on the Umpire Registry. 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:53.500 As far as YouTube, if you are interested in rules 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:58.759 clinics, again, California District 4 cannot 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:03.139 recommend it enough. They've got their rules 00:03:03.139 --> 00:03:06.319 clinics up for the past few years. And I believe 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:08.599 they plan on doing some fall ball clinics here 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:12.300 in the near future. So definitely get on their 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:18.120 YouTube page and check those out. All right. 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:22.240 So getting into the topic of today's episode. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:29.620 My first week of 2025 in Little League started 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:35.139 officially on Saturday, May 3rd with our. Opening 00:03:35.139 --> 00:03:40.819 day for the league that I've worked with the 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:45.580 past two seasons that I almost didn't work with 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:51.400 again this year. Let's just say there is a whole 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:54.860 new board of directors, literally a whole new 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:59.539 board. Towards the end of last year, they had 00:03:59.539 --> 00:04:04.879 a big public election for the board. And from 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.120 what I understand, there was a pretty big turnout 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:13.060 for this election. And of all of the people that 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:18.500 were on the board at that time, only two of them 00:04:18.500 --> 00:04:23.540 got elected to this new board. And like I said, 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:25.699 that was, I believe, last November, November 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:31.040 of 2024. And to my knowledge, both of those people 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:36.480 have already quit. This new board. Just due to 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:40.000 some of the goings on and dealings of this new 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:49.199 board. It almost seems to me that they are trying 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:54.480 as hard as they can to basically undo everything 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.139 that the previous board did. I don't know all 00:04:59.139 --> 00:05:03.829 the fine details of it, but... That's what it 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:07.930 seems like to me from what I have heard. So it 00:05:07.930 --> 00:05:14.649 was literally the week before opening day that 00:05:14.649 --> 00:05:19.470 I finally figured out who was going to be the 00:05:19.470 --> 00:05:23.009 umpire -in -chief for this league. And turns 00:05:23.009 --> 00:05:25.550 out it is somebody that I am very familiar with. 00:05:25.949 --> 00:05:28.730 He's been the umpire -in -chief for the last 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:32.500 two seasons that I've worked. At the end of last 00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:34.639 year, he said he was all done. He'd had enough. 00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:38.579 But with all the goings on with this new board, 00:05:38.779 --> 00:05:42.579 apparently they've been so busy basically stumbling 00:05:42.579 --> 00:05:46.560 around in the dark that they haven't even thought 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.360 about an umpire -in -chief yet. So they got a 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:52.680 hold of him, said, hey, can you at least help 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:57.779 us out for a couple of weeks and get our umpire 00:05:57.779 --> 00:06:05.060 roster filled out? And, you know, and then kind 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:08.079 of teach somebody on the board how to do this. 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:12.660 And then we can take him from there. So he agreed 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:17.199 and got a hold of me and a couple of the other 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:22.560 guys from last year and the year before. And 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:29.670 I honestly thought real hard about it. Whether 00:06:29.670 --> 00:06:31.589 or not I was going to go back to this league 00:06:31.589 --> 00:06:33.850 just with all the stuff that they've been doing 00:06:33.850 --> 00:06:39.329 and whatnot. And then I got to talking with him. 00:06:40.490 --> 00:06:44.430 And it's like, you know what? It's for the kids. 00:06:46.189 --> 00:06:51.370 That's the end goal. It's for the kids. I think 00:06:51.370 --> 00:06:56.970 some members of this board have completely forgotten 00:06:56.970 --> 00:07:00.709 that. And if they haven't forgotten it, they're 00:07:00.709 --> 00:07:06.230 only thinking about their kid, which is kind 00:07:06.230 --> 00:07:10.490 of pathetic. And that's the thing, like, with 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:16.449 me and one of my, well, I call him my mentor, 00:07:16.529 --> 00:07:19.470 one of my fellow umpires for this league, Darren, 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:25.709 is him and I, we don't have any kids in this 00:07:25.709 --> 00:07:30.740 league. I mean, neither of my kids even want 00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:35.100 to play baseball or softball. I have two daughters. 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:38.800 You know, neither one of them really want to 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:43.480 play. So, I don't have a dog in the fight. Darren 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:46.579 doesn't have a dog in the fight. You know, we're 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:52.120 out there doing this for all the kids. Not just 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:56.620 our own. And I think that's... That's something 00:07:56.620 --> 00:08:01.579 that a few people really need to think about 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:09.199 and take a look at. Why are they a member of 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:13.839 this little league board? And I get it. There 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:17.399 are some, like one member of the board who has 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:21.620 already left the new board. I believe this was 00:08:21.620 --> 00:08:24.569 going to be his last year anyway. Because this 00:08:24.569 --> 00:08:27.050 is probably going to be the last year that his 00:08:27.050 --> 00:08:30.790 son plays Little League. He's going to age out 00:08:30.790 --> 00:08:36.190 of minors at the end of this season. And as far 00:08:36.190 --> 00:08:40.370 as I know, his son doesn't have any plans on 00:08:40.370 --> 00:08:42.970 playing junior ball. He's going to focus more 00:08:42.970 --> 00:08:50.529 on school ball. And good for him. I mean, he's 00:08:50.529 --> 00:08:55.090 had a pretty good run. with Little League, and 00:08:55.090 --> 00:08:58.789 if he doesn't want to continue, eh, no biggie. 00:09:01.669 --> 00:09:04.929 But yeah, anyway, I'm off on a tangent here. 00:09:05.070 --> 00:09:08.549 I apologize. Those of you who know me know that 00:09:08.549 --> 00:09:14.370 I love to talk. So, for those of you who have 00:09:14.370 --> 00:09:19.169 not completely tuned out yet, so Saturday, May 00:09:19.169 --> 00:09:24.460 3, is opening day. I find out that they are planning 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:30.879 on having five games, two majors games, and then 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:35.299 three minor games. They have three minor teams 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:38.940 this year in this particular league, four major 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:44.039 teams. So two major games will allow all four 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:49.000 major teams to play a game, which is cool. You 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:53.190 know, regular six -inning regulation game. But 00:09:53.190 --> 00:09:55.149 in the three minors games, they were going to 00:09:55.149 --> 00:09:58.529 do kind of like a round robin sort of a deal. 00:09:58.629 --> 00:10:03.509 So team one and two would play two innings or 00:10:03.509 --> 00:10:08.129 one hour, whichever came first. And then team 00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:12.029 one and three would do the same thing. And then 00:10:12.029 --> 00:10:14.669 team two and three would do the same thing. So 00:10:14.669 --> 00:10:18.590 three two inning or one hour games and all three 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:22.929 minors teams would get to play twice. which is 00:10:22.929 --> 00:10:28.149 cool um you know and and i know a lot of you 00:10:28.149 --> 00:10:30.389 are probably like well those can't be official 00:10:30.389 --> 00:10:33.190 games there's only two innings and stuff one 00:10:33.190 --> 00:10:36.710 thing that you you need to think about is you 00:10:36.710 --> 00:10:39.610 know they're they're not trying to do you know 00:10:39.610 --> 00:10:43.149 none of these kids on the minors teams are going 00:10:43.149 --> 00:10:47.750 to bump up this year into the majors or you know 00:10:47.750 --> 00:10:50.620 most of them probably even They may not even 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:54.139 field an all -star team this year out of the 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:58.039 minors, or what we would call a minor all -star 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:02.519 team, like a 10U team. You know, a lot of these 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:06.059 players that are in minors this year, I would 00:11:06.059 --> 00:11:10.840 say about 90 % of them are coming up into minors 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:16.539 from Machine Pitch Farm League last year. So 00:11:16.539 --> 00:11:19.450 you've got kids on the mound. that have never 00:11:19.450 --> 00:11:22.350 pitched before. You've got kids behind the plate 00:11:22.350 --> 00:11:25.169 that have never caught before because in Farm 00:11:25.169 --> 00:11:29.350 League, they don't use a catcher. And I know 00:11:29.350 --> 00:11:32.009 because I moderated the Farm League Championship 00:11:32.009 --> 00:11:34.269 tournament last year, if you want to call it 00:11:34.269 --> 00:11:40.509 that, and it's machine pitch. And the batters 00:11:40.509 --> 00:11:44.490 get an unlimited number of balls. Three strikes, 00:11:44.629 --> 00:11:47.519 you're out, but there's no walks. There's no 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:53.600 four -ball walks, and if the pitch gets past 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:57.480 the batter, which most of them did, it just bounces 00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:02.039 and rolls to the backstop, and the coach has 00:12:02.039 --> 00:12:03.799 a bucket of baseballs right there next to the 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:09.200 pitching machine, and you just go for it and 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:11.960 have a good time. So that's what most of these 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:14.860 kids are used to. They're not used to this new, 00:12:15.019 --> 00:12:17.340 you know, this is almost like a step up into 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:22.820 the big leagues for them. Actual, like, baseball. 00:12:24.659 --> 00:12:28.759 So, that was how things were supposed to run. 00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:32.600 But Friday afternoon, or Friday evening, actually, 00:12:32.700 --> 00:12:36.940 I still had not heard from my UIC yet, as far 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:41.179 as what games I would be working. So, I reached 00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:43.299 out to them. I said, what? What's the plan for 00:12:43.299 --> 00:12:49.899 tomorrow? And he sent me a text back, says, I'm 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:52.279 all set for tomorrow. I'm looking at some Miners 00:12:52.279 --> 00:13:01.779 games next week for you. Okay. Nameless to say, 00:13:01.860 --> 00:13:09.019 I was a little ticked off by that. Last year, 00:13:09.179 --> 00:13:12.350 I worked two games opening day. They only had 00:13:12.350 --> 00:13:15.730 three, and I worked two of them. I worked the 00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:18.590 middle game, which was the minors, and then I 00:13:18.590 --> 00:13:21.070 worked the second majors game towards the end 00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:26.210 of the day. And, you know, I've literally, this 00:13:26.210 --> 00:13:31.169 league is the only baseball that I umpire. This 00:13:31.169 --> 00:13:37.289 is it. I've umpired almost two full seasons for 00:13:37.289 --> 00:13:43.769 this league under this same UIC. And opening 00:13:43.769 --> 00:13:47.129 day of this year, I'm getting completely shafted. 00:13:48.590 --> 00:13:56.009 Huh. Okay. Okay. And it seems like he wants to 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:01.990 try to bring some new umpires in. Okay. I can 00:14:01.990 --> 00:14:07.889 see that. We can always use more people. But 00:14:07.889 --> 00:14:12.340 that just kind of... Kind of irritated me a little 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:15.720 bit. And then he sends me a text back a couple 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:17.480 of minutes later and he says, I might need help 00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:26.460 tomorrow if so -and -so doesn't show. But I won't 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:30.700 know if so -and -so is going to show until like 00:14:30.700 --> 00:14:37.700 30 minutes before first pitch tomorrow. So I 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:41.240 text him back. I said, look. I was planning on 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:46.539 being there anyway. So. I'll be at the field. 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:56.080 Just as a spectator. But. If you need me. I'll 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.679 have all my gear in the truck. Just let me know. 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:04.519 Hey. I need you for whatever game. I'll go to 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:09.340 the truck. Suit up. And you know. And we're. 00:15:09.769 --> 00:15:15.409 We'll roll. I kid you not, not five minutes later, 00:15:15.509 --> 00:15:21.970 he sends me a text and says, I knew it. So and 00:15:21.970 --> 00:15:26.909 so just bailed. Can you help? Yeah, absolutely. 00:15:27.629 --> 00:15:31.929 What games am I working? Well, so and so was 00:15:31.929 --> 00:15:40.210 planning on working all of them. Yeah. The first 00:15:40.210 --> 00:15:44.470 thing that popped into my head was, do what? 00:15:47.070 --> 00:15:52.629 Now, mind you, this is before I knew. All I knew 00:15:52.629 --> 00:15:54.149 at this point was there were going to be five 00:15:54.149 --> 00:15:57.490 games. I didn't realize that the three minors 00:15:57.490 --> 00:15:59.350 games were only going to be two innings. I found 00:15:59.350 --> 00:16:01.850 that out the next day when I got to the field. 00:16:04.149 --> 00:16:08.029 So I had no idea that those were only going to 00:16:08.029 --> 00:16:10.000 be. doing in games I thought they were going 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.080 to be full games and he's working all five games 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:21.360 oh boy but I said yeah I'm I'm in so got to the 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:27.440 field and I I found out the night before that 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:32.600 I was going to be working with Darren Darren 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:38.559 is you know like I said he's my mentor You know, 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.840 real nice guy, good umpire, very knowledgeable. 00:16:43.139 --> 00:16:46.639 And, you know, I told him straight to his face, 00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:51.899 if I could work every game with you, I would 00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:55.820 absolutely do it in a heartbeat. And he said 00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:59.100 the same about me. So, you know, and there were 00:16:59.100 --> 00:17:01.480 a couple of times over the last two seasons that, 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:04.980 you know, there were times I wanted to quit because 00:17:04.980 --> 00:17:08.589 I didn't really think I could do it. And he's 00:17:08.589 --> 00:17:13.809 the one that, you know, oh, well, you know, I 00:17:13.809 --> 00:17:16.450 got a game to work. Yeah, I want Daryl to work 00:17:16.450 --> 00:17:23.930 the bases for me. Okay. You know, especially 00:17:23.930 --> 00:17:25.950 that first season, there was a time I flat out, 00:17:25.970 --> 00:17:31.230 I was so close to quitting. I even told my UIC, 00:17:31.430 --> 00:17:35.569 I don't think I can do this. Give me some time 00:17:35.569 --> 00:17:38.849 to. To process this. And see if I can actually 00:17:38.849 --> 00:17:43.049 do this. And a couple days later. He sends me 00:17:43.049 --> 00:17:47.390 a text and said. Hey I know. You're kind of down. 00:17:47.430 --> 00:17:51.210 You're thinking about it. But. I have an opening 00:17:51.210 --> 00:17:53.789 for a bass umpire tonight. Working with Darren. 00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:59.490 And he specifically asked for you. So you know 00:17:59.490 --> 00:18:06.670 what. Okay. I'll do it. Obviously. He sees. Something. 00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:11.190 You know, if he's willing to specifically ask 00:18:11.190 --> 00:18:16.430 that I work with him. So, anyway. Got to the 00:18:16.430 --> 00:18:22.009 field. Met up with Darren. And, yeah. I ended 00:18:22.009 --> 00:18:25.410 up working the plate for the first game. With 00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:29.490 Darren on the bases. And then we switched uniforms. 00:18:29.910 --> 00:18:32.769 Switched gear. And I worked the bases for the 00:18:32.769 --> 00:18:35.940 second majors game. And then switched back. And 00:18:35.940 --> 00:18:38.180 worked the plate for what ended up being two 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:39.960 minors games. The third one ended up getting 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:45.119 canceled due to a pretty good rain squall we 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:50.359 had come through. Yeah, we were darn close to 00:18:50.359 --> 00:18:52.660 losing the field. So it's like, you know what? 00:18:53.500 --> 00:18:55.859 The two managers got together. One of them wanted 00:18:55.859 --> 00:18:58.759 to play. The other one was like real hesitant 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:02.420 about it. So they just decided, no, you know, 00:19:02.420 --> 00:19:06.109 both. teams had already played one game that 00:19:06.109 --> 00:19:10.269 day with the format that they had set up so it's 00:19:10.269 --> 00:19:13.910 not like nobody get a chance to play so everything 00:19:13.910 --> 00:19:19.569 was good we just called that one um yeah one 00:19:19.569 --> 00:19:25.509 a couple of things with with that day um even 00:19:25.509 --> 00:19:30.029 though we're not required by rule anymore to 00:19:30.029 --> 00:19:35.279 look at Batting helmets, bats, catcher's gear, 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:38.960 all that kind of stuff. We went ahead and did 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:43.400 it anyway. And the reason that we did it was, 00:19:43.579 --> 00:19:50.420 first off, none of the coaches knew anything 00:19:50.420 --> 00:19:57.380 about the new bat rules with regards to the consequences. 00:19:58.670 --> 00:20:01.630 Of a batter stepping into the box. With an illegal 00:20:01.630 --> 00:20:05.990 bat. And the injections that take place with 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:09.869 that. Nobody knew. This was actually one of the 00:20:09.869 --> 00:20:13.509 things. And I'm sure some of you. Are going to 00:20:13.509 --> 00:20:18.089 start screaming at me. For doing this. I actually 00:20:18.089 --> 00:20:23.049 went over that specific rule. At the plate meeting. 00:20:25.069 --> 00:20:27.549 For all of the games I worked that first day. 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:30.799 Even when I was the base umpire in the second 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.119 majors game, Darren and the coaches went over 00:20:34.119 --> 00:20:36.519 everything that they had, normal plate meeting 00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:40.220 stuff, and then Darren asked me to explain to 00:20:40.220 --> 00:20:44.680 these two managers this new rule, just so everybody's 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:48.220 on the same page. And every single manager that 00:20:48.220 --> 00:20:50.980 I told that new rule to and explained it to, 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:56.359 when I mentioned your player is ejected and you 00:20:56.359 --> 00:21:00.380 were ejected, Every single person's eyes got 00:21:00.380 --> 00:21:03.579 as big as the baseballs we were playing with 00:21:03.579 --> 00:21:10.019 that day. They were like, whoa. Okay, we'll keep 00:21:10.019 --> 00:21:15.700 an eye on this. Because none of them knew. And 00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:19.420 even Darren didn't know. Until him and I were 00:21:19.420 --> 00:21:22.640 doing our pregame, and I was talking him through 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:25.720 some of the new rules, like jewelry is allowed. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:28.900 You know, you can put stickers on batting helmets, 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:31.960 you know, and all that stuff. And then I explain 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:34.859 the new bat rules and you can't have thumb guards 00:21:34.859 --> 00:21:38.059 or choke up knobs or anything like that. And 00:21:38.059 --> 00:21:42.859 if they get caught during the at bat, then they're 00:21:42.859 --> 00:21:45.460 gone. The manager is gone. An adult base coach 00:21:45.460 --> 00:21:50.660 position is lost and all this stuff. You know, 00:21:50.660 --> 00:21:53.039 I tried not to make the plate meeting into a 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:58.349 rules clinic. which I know a lot of umpires swear 00:21:58.349 --> 00:22:04.569 don't do. That's not what the police meeting 00:22:04.569 --> 00:22:12.750 is for. But this was something that I felt needed 00:22:12.750 --> 00:22:17.309 to get out there just due to the consequences 00:22:17.309 --> 00:22:23.349 of it. And that is the biggest thing. If an illegal 00:22:23.349 --> 00:22:26.869 bat comes out, player steps in the box with it, 00:22:26.950 --> 00:22:30.829 we realize it's illegal, and I invoke these penalties, 00:22:30.930 --> 00:22:37.490 and the manager of the team has absolutely no 00:22:37.490 --> 00:22:44.009 clue what rule I am talking about, how does that 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:48.930 make me look? To be perfectly honest, it makes 00:22:48.930 --> 00:22:52.019 me look like an asshole. Oh, really? You're throwing 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:58.019 me out? For what? What rule are you talking about? 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.480 Oh, well, it's a new rule this year. Well, yeah, 00:23:01.539 --> 00:23:07.519 one that you just made up, Blue. I can just see 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:20.349 that whole thing going sideways in a hurry. you 00:23:20.349 --> 00:23:23.609 know summarize that rule everybody understood 00:23:23.609 --> 00:23:30.650 it everybody was kind of like blindsided by it 00:23:30.650 --> 00:23:37.289 um but that was if there was only one thing they 00:23:37.289 --> 00:23:38.930 walked away from that plate meeting remembering 00:23:38.930 --> 00:23:44.369 it's that so that's a good thing in my opinion 00:23:44.369 --> 00:23:50.700 um so yeah we worked uh Ended up working the 00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:57.579 four games. First game, had the first home run 00:23:57.579 --> 00:24:02.660 I'd ever called. Bottom of the first, kids are 00:24:02.660 --> 00:24:05.519 slamming the doors again. Bottom of the first, 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:09.779 second batter, second pitch, cranked it out over 00:24:09.779 --> 00:24:15.980 the right field fence. Had the first intentional 00:24:15.980 --> 00:24:23.279 walk. You know, every game you go out, you're 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:25.279 going to see something new. You're going to learn 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:28.319 something new. And those were a couple of new 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.259 things for me. Another one during the second 00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:34.519 majors game where I was on the bases, we had 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:38.559 a batter that decided to bunt with two strikes. 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:45.759 And where do you think that bunt went? Yeah, 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:52.200 it ended up foul. Batter's out. And the batter 00:24:52.200 --> 00:25:02.559 had no idea why he was out. Oh, boy. Yeah. So, 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.220 personally, I think that was something that, 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:09.819 you know, coaches could have got with parents 00:25:09.819 --> 00:25:12.759 and players and whatnot during the offseason. 00:25:14.140 --> 00:25:18.299 And, you know, maybe. Held some clinics or whatever 00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:21.819 and went over some of that stuff. Because this 00:25:21.819 --> 00:25:26.660 kid truly had no clue. And the coach just walked 00:25:26.660 --> 00:25:30.980 over and went, yeah, you're out, buddy. You know, 00:25:31.019 --> 00:25:34.420 if you bunt with two strikes and it goes foul, 00:25:34.660 --> 00:25:38.619 it's an automatic out. That's been a baseball 00:25:38.619 --> 00:25:42.720 rule since, like, there was a baseball rule book. 00:25:46.360 --> 00:25:50.539 Yeah, had a good number of things that I'd never 00:25:50.539 --> 00:25:54.619 seen before, stuff I had to call. Overall, another 00:25:54.619 --> 00:25:58.119 good day, another good learning experience. The 00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:00.779 two minors games that we ended up being able 00:26:00.779 --> 00:26:07.039 to play, yikes. Absolute walk fest. But again, 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:09.859 you got catchers that have never caught before, 00:26:10.019 --> 00:26:16.819 pitchers that have never pitched before. Didn't 00:26:16.819 --> 00:26:19.019 even reach the plate before they hit the ground. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:22.519 And that's just something that's going to take 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:30.960 time. Yeah. So worked a few more games throughout 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:34.160 the week. Worked some majors games, worked some 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:39.759 minors games. Actually went over the field that 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:45.160 we normally have the minors games at. We have 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:50.579 gotten so much rain up here in Maine. Yes, I 00:26:50.579 --> 00:26:54.319 know that rhymed. We've gotten so much rain up 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:57.460 here in the last couple of months, honestly, 00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:01.140 that I was talking to one of the managers and 00:27:01.140 --> 00:27:03.960 he went by that field the other day and he says, 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:12.279 there's like still six inches of mud in the infield. 00:27:13.940 --> 00:27:20.799 It's not playable at all. We're going to need 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:28.359 like a solid week of no rain and sunshine before 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:33.579 we can even do anything with it. So they're scrambling 00:27:33.579 --> 00:27:37.779 for fields. I ended up going over and playing 00:27:37.779 --> 00:27:45.789 at a school over in the neighboring town. Which 00:27:45.789 --> 00:27:54.190 was awkward a little bit for me. Because I actually 00:27:54.190 --> 00:28:01.890 attended this school in 8th grade. And I had 00:28:01.890 --> 00:28:11.410 done softball in gym class on that field. So 00:28:11.410 --> 00:28:13.809 it was kind of strange walking onto that field. 00:28:14.779 --> 00:28:19.359 as the plate umpire and looking around, and then 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:22.880 I started thinking about it. Here it is, 2025. 00:28:24.740 --> 00:28:28.460 I went to eighth grade at that school from 1999 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:39.799 to the year 2000. It's been 25 years since I 00:28:39.799 --> 00:28:44.799 set foot on this particular field. That was crazy. 00:28:48.579 --> 00:28:56.019 That was real, real strange. But had a good game. 00:28:56.059 --> 00:29:01.740 Had an out -of -town team come in and play one 00:29:01.740 --> 00:29:05.000 of our minors teams. You know, good game by both 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:10.380 teams. Fairly, fairly equally matched. But, yeah, 00:29:11.019 --> 00:29:15.420 got that one done. And then the other night, 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:19.180 I'm recording this on Mother's Day, actually. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:26.119 Friday night, I worked with an umpire that I've 00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:32.099 never worked with before. And he's a real nice 00:29:32.099 --> 00:29:40.579 umpire. But when you think of, like, picture... 00:29:42.380 --> 00:29:48.559 A Little League umpire. You know, or just a rec 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:51.920 ball umpire. Picture what it looks like in your, 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.019 what this person looks like in your head. That 00:29:56.019 --> 00:30:02.220 was this guy. He had the charcoal gray pants. 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:08.799 He had sneakers. Not even plate shoes. Sneakers. 00:30:10.190 --> 00:30:15.289 With the Velcro metatarsal guard on his shin 00:30:15.289 --> 00:30:18.390 guards. That went over the top of his sneakers. 00:30:19.410 --> 00:30:29.430 He had the single black ball bag. He had the 00:30:29.430 --> 00:30:34.269 quarter zip pullover. That was like the almost 00:30:34.269 --> 00:30:38.250 navy blue. With the red, white, and blue bands 00:30:38.250 --> 00:30:42.960 around. The cuffs of the sleeves. And around 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:48.880 the waistband. The big. Like. For those of you 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:51.940 that. Go back this far. The big Steve Urkel. 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:57.640 Glasses. The big. Thick black rim glasses. His 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:03.920 mask. Had the excess. Strap. Just. Flailed out 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:05.900 there. It looked like Albert Einstein's hair. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:12.630 Just. The typical. Typical, like, rec ball umpire. 00:31:14.809 --> 00:31:17.569 That's about the only way I can describe him. 00:31:18.630 --> 00:31:22.069 Again, real nice guy. I liked working with him. 00:31:22.109 --> 00:31:24.930 You know what? I'd work with him again. I would 00:31:24.930 --> 00:31:30.490 have no issue with that. But that's... As soon 00:31:30.490 --> 00:31:32.609 as he came walking up, I'm just looking at him 00:31:32.609 --> 00:31:43.039 going, Oh, dude. Boy, do you look the part. Oh, 00:31:43.339 --> 00:31:48.779 man. You know, and like with me, I've got all 00:31:48.779 --> 00:31:53.119 the tails for the straps on my mask. I've got 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:59.519 the Hump Life harness for my Force 3 mask. But 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:02.019 I've got all the extra tails. I've got them electrical 00:32:02.019 --> 00:32:05.640 taped to the harness. so they're not flying out 00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:10.460 everywhere gives me a nice clean look i've got 00:32:10.460 --> 00:32:13.940 you know obviously the the pants when i'm working 00:32:13.940 --> 00:32:19.559 the plate i have two ball bags one to keep baseballs 00:32:19.559 --> 00:32:22.779 in the other to either keep used baseballs in 00:32:22.779 --> 00:32:29.700 or to keep a bottle of water or two in that way 00:32:29.700 --> 00:32:32.039 i don't have to go running back you know over 00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:34.859 to the fence every time i need a drink You know, 00:32:34.859 --> 00:32:39.019 if there's a, you know, time is called or we're 00:32:39.019 --> 00:32:41.400 between innings or something like that, I can 00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:43.220 just reach in my ball bag, grab a bottle of water. 00:32:44.339 --> 00:32:50.380 Good enough. You know, and then if I have to 00:32:50.380 --> 00:32:57.099 wear a, you know, a pullover or something, you 00:32:57.099 --> 00:33:00.819 know, I run the black. I've got the black pullover. 00:33:00.819 --> 00:33:04.210 I've got the black jacket. That's large enough 00:33:04.210 --> 00:33:06.069 to accommodate the chest protector. Not a plate 00:33:06.069 --> 00:33:10.470 coat, but an actual full zip jacket that have 00:33:10.470 --> 00:33:15.670 just the white stripes on the sleeves. My black 00:33:15.670 --> 00:33:19.430 umpire shirts have the Little League patch on 00:33:19.430 --> 00:33:23.250 them. That was another thing that I thought maybe 00:33:23.250 --> 00:33:25.829 it was just this particular league. They didn't 00:33:25.829 --> 00:33:30.869 have time or didn't realize it was a rule or 00:33:30.869 --> 00:33:34.069 something like that. None of the players' uniforms 00:33:34.069 --> 00:33:36.069 have the Little League patch on the left sleeve. 00:33:37.690 --> 00:33:41.869 None of them. But this game that I worked on 00:33:41.869 --> 00:33:48.049 Friday, we had a team come in from a town like 00:33:48.049 --> 00:33:53.509 30 or so minutes away, and none of their uniforms 00:33:53.509 --> 00:33:57.029 had a Little League patch on them either. Could 00:33:57.029 --> 00:33:59.509 have swore that was actually a Little League 00:33:59.509 --> 00:34:05.660 rule, and I... Looked it up, and it is. Some 00:34:05.660 --> 00:34:08.559 people think, oh, well, that's just for tournament 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:13.420 time. You've got to have the patch. No, it actually 00:34:13.420 --> 00:34:16.679 says right in the rulebook, regular season and 00:34:16.679 --> 00:34:22.840 tournament. But anyway, that's why I'm not a 00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:29.360 member of the board of this league. So that pretty 00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:34.969 much sums up my first week. Still got some bruises 00:34:34.969 --> 00:34:39.329 on the left leg. I have gotten hit in that leg 00:34:39.329 --> 00:34:42.190 a grand total of four times so far this week 00:34:42.190 --> 00:34:47.010 working the plate. Two of the hits, oddly enough, 00:34:47.190 --> 00:34:52.150 both on different days, but both in the exact 00:34:52.150 --> 00:35:00.489 same spot. And the first hit. I took in that 00:35:00.489 --> 00:35:04.449 spot Saturday. Was just starting to feel better 00:35:04.449 --> 00:35:08.690 too. And then I took another shot. Right in the 00:35:08.690 --> 00:35:10.769 same spot. It's like you've got to be kidding 00:35:10.769 --> 00:35:15.929 me. So yes. I am looking into some thigh protection. 00:35:16.670 --> 00:35:18.590 I don't know if I'm going to go with the Force 00:35:18.590 --> 00:35:22.989 3. The Force 3 tights with the Kevlar plates. 00:35:24.829 --> 00:35:28.900 I love how everything. is, oh, well, you know, 00:35:28.940 --> 00:35:31.920 it's the greatest thing out there. It's got Kevlar 00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:36.380 in it. Well, that's great. I'm dodging baseballs, 00:35:36.380 --> 00:35:40.199 not bullets. You know, I really don't think I 00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:44.719 need Kevlar in my chest protector. I don't think 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:50.280 I need Kevlar little plates for thigh protection. 00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:55.260 I think just like a plastic plate would be perfectly 00:35:55.260 --> 00:36:00.639 fine. I don't understand the big push on Kevlar 00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:04.460 all of a sudden. But you see that even outside 00:36:04.460 --> 00:36:06.880 the baseball world. Oh, this has got Kevlar in 00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:08.780 it. This has got Kevlar in it. This has got Kevlar 00:36:08.780 --> 00:36:16.659 in it. Whoop -de -doo. I mean, maybe Kevlar does 00:36:16.659 --> 00:36:21.699 things for materials, you know, other than just 00:36:21.699 --> 00:36:25.539 make it bullet resistant. I don't know. But it 00:36:25.539 --> 00:36:28.409 seems like... Everything these days, that's one 00:36:28.409 --> 00:36:33.429 of their selling points is it has Kevlar. So 00:36:33.429 --> 00:36:37.070 now that the first week is over, where do we 00:36:37.070 --> 00:36:42.250 go from here? That's a damn good question, to 00:36:42.250 --> 00:36:47.309 be perfectly honest. There is still mass confusion 00:36:47.309 --> 00:36:54.170 as far as the schedule and what... Because the 00:36:54.170 --> 00:36:56.269 schedule, the game schedule is always changing 00:36:56.269 --> 00:37:00.150 because we keep getting rain and having to postpone 00:37:00.150 --> 00:37:04.110 games or move games to a different field or stuff 00:37:04.110 --> 00:37:05.929 like that. And then, of course, you've got to 00:37:05.929 --> 00:37:09.949 start moving umpires around. So it seems like 00:37:09.949 --> 00:37:15.130 every single day this past week, I have gotten 00:37:15.130 --> 00:37:18.909 a revised schedule as far as who's working what 00:37:18.909 --> 00:37:28.059 games. One of the problems is the gentleman that 00:37:28.059 --> 00:37:33.480 I worked with on Friday. He is from another town 00:37:33.480 --> 00:37:38.260 and he has another person that assigns him games. 00:37:39.159 --> 00:37:46.820 So now my UIC has to get a hold of the other 00:37:46.820 --> 00:37:52.739 UIC for this other town. coordinate to see if 00:37:52.739 --> 00:37:56.559 this umpire is available to work this game and 00:37:56.559 --> 00:38:07.000 it's and then you throw you know other events 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:12.099 into the mix like i can't work a game uh tomorrow 00:38:12.099 --> 00:38:15.300 on monday because it's my youngest daughter's 00:38:15.300 --> 00:38:25.039 birthday so sorry guys And then the other UIC 00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:27.320 from the neighboring town, the one I was just 00:38:27.320 --> 00:38:31.000 talking about, apparently he's kind of down and 00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:36.460 out for the foreseeable future because of a family 00:38:36.460 --> 00:38:41.559 emergency. So now it's difficult to get a hold 00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:45.579 of this other umpire to see if he can come and 00:38:45.579 --> 00:38:57.760 work games with us. And it's just crazy right 00:38:57.760 --> 00:39:01.760 now. It really is. Like I said, things are changing 00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:08.500 every day. And it's just nuts. So we'll see. 00:39:08.780 --> 00:39:16.179 We'll see what happens. Hopefully I will. Have 00:39:16.179 --> 00:39:19.280 some answers by the next episode of the podcast. 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:25.780 Because that will be about a month away. So we 00:39:25.780 --> 00:39:28.440 should be almost close to wrapping up the season 00:39:28.440 --> 00:39:32.199 at that point. I apologize for getting this one 00:39:32.199 --> 00:39:35.179 out a little bit late. I was trying to kind of 00:39:35.179 --> 00:39:37.920 aim for the beginning of the month. Beginning 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:42.760 of May for this episode. But obviously the season 00:39:42.760 --> 00:39:46.469 is upon us. And you start working games. And 00:39:46.469 --> 00:39:49.550 by the time you get home, you know, it's 8 at 00:39:49.550 --> 00:39:52.610 night by the time I get home. And, you know, 00:39:52.610 --> 00:39:56.070 really, I just want to eat dinner, wash up, and 00:39:56.070 --> 00:39:59.809 go to bed. I really don't feel like doing an 00:39:59.809 --> 00:40:04.849 episode of this podcast at that point. Which 00:40:04.849 --> 00:40:08.050 is why, like I said, I'm doing this one on Mother's 00:40:08.050 --> 00:40:10.969 Day. Don't tell my fiance. She'll probably kill 00:40:10.969 --> 00:40:18.760 me. Anyway. Yeah, so that is it. So that brings 00:40:18.760 --> 00:40:25.039 us to our question of the month. I haven't heard 00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:26.860 any feedback on the question of the month, so 00:40:26.860 --> 00:40:30.980 hopefully you were enjoying these. You know, 00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:34.940 I'm kind of a big proponent of continuing education. 00:40:36.019 --> 00:40:40.900 And, you know, I think this is something good 00:40:40.900 --> 00:40:44.110 just to really get your brains thinking. Maybe 00:40:44.110 --> 00:40:47.969 some unusual situations that you don't see very 00:40:47.969 --> 00:40:51.090 often, or maybe you've never seen. Just to get 00:40:51.090 --> 00:40:54.550 you thinking about it, and if you have to dive 00:40:54.550 --> 00:40:56.369 into the rulebook to figure out the answer, go 00:40:56.369 --> 00:41:01.710 ahead. There actually was one that I posed the 00:41:01.710 --> 00:41:05.210 question the other day to the Umpires of Little 00:41:05.210 --> 00:41:09.610 League Facebook group. If you are on Facebook 00:41:09.610 --> 00:41:12.250 and you are a Little League umpire, I would highly, 00:41:12.329 --> 00:41:16.130 highly, highly suggest joining that page and 00:41:16.130 --> 00:41:20.449 that group. A lot of very, very knowledgeable 00:41:20.449 --> 00:41:24.610 Little League umpires on there. People ask great 00:41:24.610 --> 00:41:30.070 questions. But this particular one, and this 00:41:30.070 --> 00:41:31.849 is not the question of the month. I'll get to 00:41:31.849 --> 00:41:33.789 that here in a second. But I want to pose this 00:41:33.789 --> 00:41:37.550 question to you also. You know what? I will make 00:41:37.550 --> 00:41:39.849 this a question of the month. Why not? I'll save 00:41:39.849 --> 00:41:43.730 the question I have planned for next month. So, 00:41:43.789 --> 00:41:50.690 let's just say the top of the third ends with 00:41:50.690 --> 00:41:54.949 the third out. Strikeout. It really doesn't matter. 00:41:56.289 --> 00:42:01.829 So, the third out is made. The defense runs into 00:42:01.829 --> 00:42:05.710 the dugout. The visiting team runs out of the 00:42:05.710 --> 00:42:09.639 dugout onto the field to take defense. And it 00:42:09.639 --> 00:42:12.380 is at this point that the visiting team decides 00:42:12.380 --> 00:42:16.360 to change pitchers. Going to go with a different 00:42:16.360 --> 00:42:23.340 pitcher. So obviously that player gets one minute 00:42:23.340 --> 00:42:32.260 and up to eight warm -up pitches. Right? That's 00:42:32.260 --> 00:42:37.139 pretty standard. But now let's say during that 00:42:37.139 --> 00:42:43.400 one minute, Time frame. The pitcher has never 00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:48.320 pitched before. So one of the coaches notices 00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:50.539 that, you know, he's having some trouble with 00:42:50.539 --> 00:42:53.539 his delivery. So that coach goes out to the mound 00:42:53.539 --> 00:42:59.860 during this one minute and gives this pitcher 00:42:59.860 --> 00:43:04.599 a little bit of instruction at the mound on how 00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:12.949 to deliver the ball. Would this count as a charged 00:43:12.949 --> 00:43:18.809 defensive visit? I will let you chew on that 00:43:18.809 --> 00:43:23.909 one for the month. Like I said, I posted this 00:43:23.909 --> 00:43:29.510 same scenario in question to the group over on 00:43:29.510 --> 00:43:32.110 the Umpires of Little League Facebook group. 00:43:33.510 --> 00:43:42.739 And it's been almost 48 hours now. And they still 00:43:42.739 --> 00:43:45.199 can't even come to a consensus on whether this 00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:48.440 would be a charged visit or not. A lot of them 00:43:48.440 --> 00:43:52.000 are saying it is a charged visit because technically 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:55.760 the inning starts when the first warm -up pitch 00:43:55.760 --> 00:44:00.179 is thrown. Others are saying it wouldn't be a 00:44:00.179 --> 00:44:04.340 charged visit because that's the time that the 00:44:04.340 --> 00:44:07.599 pitcher should be doing warm -ups. and it's not 00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:11.119 technically part of the inning, but I'm also 00:44:11.119 --> 00:44:15.639 still not going to allow it. And, you know, there 00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:19.599 are some people that have, you know, brought 00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:23.719 up, well, this rule says this, and then they 00:44:23.719 --> 00:44:26.940 post a screenshot of the rule, and the screenshot 00:44:26.940 --> 00:44:31.420 of the rule does not show what they just claim 00:44:31.420 --> 00:44:37.820 it shows. So... Yeah, there's still really no 00:44:37.820 --> 00:44:43.119 consensus on that. And this group, if somebody 00:44:43.119 --> 00:44:46.159 asks a question, once the question has been answered, 00:44:46.340 --> 00:44:52.719 comments get turned off. Well, like I said, it's 00:44:52.719 --> 00:44:57.900 been almost 48 hours, and the comments still 00:44:57.900 --> 00:45:01.280 have not been turned off on this one. It's still 00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:07.889 a running... A running question, basically. So, 00:45:08.090 --> 00:45:15.750 yeah. That is about all I have got for this episode. 00:45:16.250 --> 00:45:19.969 So, thank you all very much for listening. Again, 00:45:20.090 --> 00:45:24.230 any ideas for future episodes, questions, comments, 00:45:24.570 --> 00:45:28.690 anything of the sort, bluecrewdiaries at gmail 00:45:28.690 --> 00:45:33.059 .com. Send me an email. Thank you again for listening, 00:45:33.179 --> 00:45:35.940 and I will see you on the diamond.