Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an 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 how the season's
going so far and things to keep an eye on when
out on the field. 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. All right, everybody,
welcome to another episode of Blue Crew Diaries
and Empire Podcast. Oh, how's the season going
so far? Hopefully it's going good for you. I
know it's not going too bad, I guess. Um, yeah,
just good. I don't know. A lot of, a lot of strange
stuff going on. Um, this, uh, this past week,
I, the last week of May, I only worked one game.
One game. That was it. Um, there were a good
number of games going on, but, uh, yeah, I guess
we've got a few new umpires that are pretty much.
Taking up all the games. So I got relegated down
to one. Yeah, this isn't really the place for
me to air out my feelings on that. So we will
continue on with some announcements as we always
do. There are still some Little League umpire
outreach clinics going on. If you're interested
in those and want to see if there's one in your
area, LittleLeagueUmpire .org. Check out the
Umpire Registry. If you are not already a member
of the Umpire Registry, I would highly recommend
that you get on that. It is completely free.
And it does a lot for you. There's a rules challenge
on there. You know, you can view. different training
videos and whatnot. One of the biggest things
is, like for next season, when you go to do your
background check, you can do a background check
right on the umpire registry, and that will satisfy
the background check requirement for any league
that you work. So instead of having to fill out
the volunteer application for League A, undergo
a background check, fill out the volunteer application
for League B, go through the background check,
leak C, however many different leaks that you
work, you can fill out the application and undergo
the background check right on the Little League
umpire registry. I believe it costs like $5,
pretty nominal fee, and that will satisfy all
of your background check requirements for the
entire season. And also on there, you can make
your information available to, pardon me, to
leagues in whatever area you choose. So if they
are looking for umpires, they can get on and
see, hey, this umpire, you know, they've undergone
the background check and everything. Here's their
contact information and they can reach out to
you. and see if you want to work some games for
them. So really, really helpful, a really good
thing to be on. Again, that is LittleLeagueUmpire
.org. The other thing, as is typical on my shows
now, one thing is I know I talk a lot about California
District 4. That is currently the district that
I... kind of look to for, you know, like rules
clinic videos and, you know, different documentation.
I know there are a lot of other, a lot of other
districts that do a lot for their umpires. Main
District 4, for example, down towards the southern
part of the state. On their Facebook page, they
pretty much every day, at least every weekday
during the season, they will put up some sort
of, let's just call it a blog post, whether it's
talking about a particular rule or how something
is supposed to work, things like that. They put
up on the other day about appeals and how to
properly do an appeal on the field. And it's
very helpful not only to umpires, but to managers
and coaches as well, and as well as parents.
So they can, you know, help maybe teach their
kids some of this stuff that the players don't
necessarily know. So, yeah, I know I keep going
back to California District 4, but they're kind
of the, I would say, kind of the gold standard
in my view of umpire training. If there are others
out there that you think are better than California
District 4, shoot me an email, bluecrewdiaries
at gmail .com. Let me know about them, and I'll
check them out. But speaking of California District
4, they are starting to put up their rules clinics
regarding tournament rules, as we are. Here in
the United States, starting to get into tournament
time. Very, very helpful videos when it comes
to tournament stuff. I believe two clinic videos
are already up. Yes, tournament umpire training
session one and two are up. I believe they have
a grand total of three or something like that.
They also have a full video for... They call
it tournament director orientation. So if you
are not necessarily an umpire, but you are a
tournament director, there you go. Lots of good,
good videos on that YouTube channel. And to get
there, simply youtube .com slash the at C -A
-D -4. So that's at. CharlieAlphaDelta4, for
those of you who like the Phonetic Alphabet,
or if you prefer the police version, it is at
CharlesAdamDavid4. Don't even get me started
on Phonetic Alphabet. It just makes my brain
hurt, some of the phonetics that people come
up with. Getting into today's main topic before
I get off on my soapbox again. I've worked, I
wouldn't say a lot of games this season. My game
count is actually a little down from the last
couple of years because we have newer umpires
coming in. One thing about that is technically
in the league that I work, We have three different
assigners for umpires. Three. One of them is
a member of the board of directors. And he kind
of, he doesn't really assign games. He more deals
with the two other assigners. And they kind of
report to him and he does whatever he does. So
he's technically kind of the umpire in chief.
Even though he's, to my knowledge, not an umpire.
Real nice guy. I love working with him. But he's
not an umpire. He just has the title. And then
we've got basically two assigners. One assigner.
Honestly, I've never even met. That should tell
you how crazy this whole season is. I haven't
even met the guy yet. At least not that I know
of. And he is the one that is bringing in these
out -of -town umpires. And it seems whenever
he brings in an umpire from out of town, it's
usually for a majors game. And he always gives
them the plate. So basically, he looks at the
schedule. This is the vibe that I get. I don't
know officially what's actually going on here,
but this is just the vibe that I get from this
whole thing. He looks at the schedule. He assigns
his people. He's got like two or three or even
more different umpires that he kind of assigns
for. And he'll put those people into the games
that they can work and basically almost fill
out the entire schedule with these guys. And
then hand it over to my assigner, who is the
same assigner that I've been working for for
the last now three years. And this other assigner
will hand it off to him and say, fill in the
rest. Well, three quarters of the games are already
filled by these other umpires who the last two
years have not worked in this league. But yet,
suddenly, they are now getting preferential treatment
over myself and my friend Darren, who, I mean,
Darren. He's kind of like my mentor. He's been
working with this league forever, both as an
umpire and then as a coach even before that.
And myself, this is my third season. The only
umpiring I do is for this single league. It's
the only games I've ever worked is for this league.
And yet now these out -of -town umpires. are
getting preferential treatment in getting all
the plate jobs and the majors games and everything
over myself and Darren, who are pretty much,
you could say, loyal to the league. I don't think
that's right. I honestly don't. And the league,
let's call him UIC. the one that kind of oversees
all of this, he doesn't even really think it's
right. He thinks that local league umpires should
be getting the plate games and the majors games,
you know, in the local league, you know. But
yet he still hasn't kicked this other guy to
the curb yet and said, no, I want our guys. in
these, you know, in these games. I, yeah, I don't
know. I honestly don't know. I mean, I've said
it in previous episodes, you know, coming into
this 2025 season, I honestly didn't know if I
was going to work for this league. And now I'm,
honestly, I'm already thinking about Whether
or not I'm going to work for this league next
year. Because I am highly considering going somewhere
else. I know there are other leagues right here
in the local area that need umpires. So, if I've
been loyal to this one league for three years
now, and other people that have never worked
this league before are getting the good jobs,
why do I need to be here? That's just my thought.
And I'm not saying that these other umpires that
I've worked with are bad umpires. They're not.
They're decent. Let's put it that way. They're
decent umpires. I have noticed every umpire does
things different. I think I mentioned in a previous
podcast, I was working with an umpire, one of
these out -of -towners named Dean, and he showed
up and looked like just the traditional backyard
umpire with the blue pullover with the red and
white stripes on it and the single ball bag and
sneakers and whatnot. You know, the adjustment
straps on his mask are flailing out like, you
know, like Albert Einstein's hair. Real nice
guy, but he's got his own way of working. You
know, he does the, as Darren would call it, he
does the gun for a strike. He points out to the
side. For strike two, he just points two fingers
out to the side and says, two. Okay, Dean, two
what? Two balls, two strikes, two outs. Obviously,
within the context, if you're paying attention,
you know it's two strikes. But it's like, two
what? Another umpire that I worked with a couple
of weeks ago, real nice guy. I'd say he's been
umpiring for like five or so years. He worked
down in Florida, came back up to Maine and whatnot.
And he's, in my opinion, he's the backwards umpire.
He carries his indicator in his right hand. And
when he gives the count, he's, him and Dean are
both one of those, you know, hold two fists up,
count is full. They're those kind of guys. I
have my own thoughts on them. But this other
umpire, when he gives the count, I shouldn't
say logically, but almost every other umpire,
it's balls on the left hand, strikes on the right
hand. Right? Yep, he's backwards. He goes, balls
on the right hand, strikes on the left. Which
confuses the hell out of me when I'm working
the bases and I look up and he's got... You know,
three fingers on the right hand up and one finger
on the left hand up. I'm looking at it going,
he's got three strikes and one ball? What? Oh,
wait, duh, he's backwards. Okay, he means three
balls, one strike. He just needs to switch his
hands around. But, yeah, everybody has their
own different thing. Watch out for that. I was,
I did work a majors game at a new to me field
the other day. We'll get into that. And I had
another new umpire from this other assigner.
Real nice kid. He seems like he really wants
to learn. He just has no idea what he's doing.
So luckily we both got there about an hour before
the game. So I was able to go over stuff with
him. And, you know, he did fine. But he's got
a lot of work ahead of him. Let's just put it
that way. So I titled this episode Head on a
Swivel. And this is just some bullet points of
some stuff that I've seen over the last month
or so that we've been... playing up here in Maine,
and just things that you need to think about
when you're on the field. The first thing is
always be looking at the field and keep your
head on a swivel. So I'll kind of try to break
this down into two parts. Always be looking at
the field. Always. Always, always, always, always.
If you are one of those umpires that always has
to look down at your indicator, you need to learn
to work the indicator so you don't have to look
down. Okay? If my indicator has one ball and
two strikes, pitch comes in, Swing, strike three,
batter's out. I don't even have to look at my
indicator to reset it. I know it's simply one
click on the strike wheel, three clicks on the
ball wheel, and one click down on the out wheel.
That's it. I don't even have to look at the indicator
to reset ball strikes and add an out. I don't
need to. Most all indicators that I've ever seen,
when you move the wheel to a different number,
it lets out an audible click. And sometimes you
can even feel it in your finger on the dial.
So be listening for that. That way you don't
have to look down at your indicator. If you do
have to look at your indicator, bring the indicator
up in front of your face. So you can keep your
eyes out on the field. And I'll tell you why
this matters. Two weeks ago, I was working a
game on the bases. It was a majors game. We had
runners on first and third. One out. I'm over
in the C position. And the batter strikes out
looking. Umpire calls strike three. Pretty aggressive
strike three call, by the way. I kind of like
it. So he punches the kid out. The catcher throws
the ball back to the pitcher. The pitcher isn't
even on the dirt of the mound. He's on the grass.
Now, remember, there are runners on first and
third. Well, as soon as the ball got to the batter,
they both popped off their bases. The kid on
first jumped a little early. Not terrible, but
he did leave early. But they decided not to go
anywhere. He decided to stay at first. Well,
the pitcher gets the ball, turns and looks at
first base and sees that this runner is just
kind of nonchalant, just slowly walking back
to the base. First baseman's standing right there
at the base. Pitcher. Grabs the ball. Fires to
first. And gets the out. Now I'm over in the
C position. Between second and third base. I'm
over 60 feet away from this. I saw the pitcher
turn. I saw him throw the ball to first. And
I see the tag. I immediately start walking towards
first base. I point. towards first base with
my left hand, bring up the hammer in the right
hand, and verbalize out at first. The plate umpire
had no idea that anything happened. It happened
so quick that he punched the batter out, looked
down at his indicator, And when he looked back
up, I'm standing there pointing at first base
with my right fist in the air. And he's like,
what just happened? Of course, that was out number
three. So all the players started heading back
to the dugout. And I walked over to my between
innings position. And the plate umpire comes
walking over to me. He says, what happened? What
did I miss? The pitcher decided to back pick
the runner at first and got him. Oh. Well, I
was wondering what happened because everybody's
like running back to the dugout. I look down
to reset my indicator, and I look up, and you're
signaling it out at first. I say, what did I
miss? Always be looking at the field. Always.
And always keep your head on a swivel. And basically,
that means always be looking for things. I had
my very first obstruction call on a third baseman
in that same game. Runner from second, or actually
the runner was on first. There was a line drive
to right, fairly deep right. I believe there
was also a runner on second because I was in
C. Or it might have been a runner on third. I
honestly don't remember. But I do remember the
ball goes out, so I go in. So I cross the base
path to the working area. And it was a runner
on second. So he goes by. As I'm working my way
in, I just happen to look over. To third base
to make sure he gets the touch at third. And
as I quickly glance over there. I notice the
third baseman is standing. A good 10 feet from
the base. But right in. The lane. Or right in
the runners path. To that base. The runner had
to check up. And. almost literally pushed the
third baseman out of the way to get around him
so he could get to third. If I hadn't just glanced
over to check on that touch at third base, I
never would have seen that. I immediately called
obstruction on the third baseman. It didn't matter
anyway because the runner tagged third and kept
going. Ended up walking into home. I mean he
was safe by a mile and a half. Because they didn't
even throw the ball to home. They just got it
back into the infield. So obviously the obstruction
was waived off. But. I still had it. Because
I kept my head on a swivel. Let's see. What else
do I have here? Oh yes. I believe it was actually
that same game. There was a lot of base work
in this game. I was in A. We had no runners on.
It was a pot fly to short right field. And I
mean short right to the point where the first
baseman, second baseman, and the right fielder
all came in for this ball. Or I should say the
first baseman. backed up for it, and the second
baseman and the right fielder came in. And I'm
watching this happen, and all three players are
indicating, I got it, I got it. And I'm like,
this is not going to be good. I talked to the
plate umpire later, and he said he was watching
it and thought, this is not going to be good.
I'm expecting a huge collision. Ball's going
to be on the ground. This isn't good. This is
going to be bad here in about two seconds. The
ball comes down. I see the first baseman's glove
go up. And all three of them, they all ended
up in the exact same area at the exact same time.
But they all stopped short. of an actual physical
collision. They all just kind of came together
and stopped. I see the first baseman's glove
come up. I see the catch. And then all three
players drop to the ground. Now, what do you
think a rookie umpire might do in this situation?
Well, I saw the ball in the glove, so I immediately
call it out, right? Wrong. I waited. Everybody
went to the ground. I took a couple of steps
back to where I could see the glove. I saw that
the ball was still in the glove. Secure possession.
And then the first baseman sits up. reaches into
the glove, takes the ball out. So I've got secure
possession. I've got voluntary release. That's
an out. Okay, that is a catch. I signaled it,
said that's a catch. And we played on from there.
But had I jumped the gun, so to speak, and immediately
called that out, As soon as I saw the ball hit
the glove, what do you think would have happened?
The ball would have come out of the glove involuntarily,
and now I'm standing here looking like an idiot
because the ball's on the ground, and I just
called the out. Oh, no. This is not good. Luckily,
I waited. Turns out I didn't need to, but just...
Little things to think about. Make sure that
there is secure possession and then voluntary
release before you start making your call. Another
one is always wait to make a call on a ball that
could be foul. The reason I say this. The majors
game I had this past week. The one game I had
that week. I was working the plate. And we had
a ground ball. Came off the bat. And hit the
first base line. But it was on the foul side
of the line about two ball widths. But as it
was going down the line. It curved back in. Fair
crossed the line into fair territory where the
first baseman grabbed it. Took two steps, stepped
on first base. That's an out. Now, as soon as
that ball came off the bat and went into foul
territory, if I had just called it foul right
there and killed the play, I just killed what?
Ended up being a fair ball. I know there are
some bonfires out there that will do that. They'll
see a ball. Oh, it's in foul territory. Yep,
foul ball. Or as it should be, foul. And then
the ball crosses back into fair territory. And
it's like, oh, look what you did. Now, obviously,
if it stayed foul until it was past first base
and then came back fair, then it's a foul ball.
But this one came back fair about 10 feet from
first base before it got there. So, yeah, don't
be too quick on your calls. That very same game,
there was a... Play at first on a runner coming
back, retreating back to the base. And my base
umpire, who, like I said, did a good job, but
needs work. Ball comes in. He sees the tag go
down. He immediately starts to throw up the hammer,
gets his arm about halfway up, and then sees
that the ball is on the ground, not in the glove.
So now he's mid -call, and he suddenly has to
change from an out to a safe mechanic. So that
was something that him and I talked about at
the end of that inning. I said, you got the call
right, but just take a second or two. You don't
need to rush, especially in that situation. You
want to make sure you get the call right the
first time. Just take a couple of seconds. Okay.
Secure possession. There was the tag. Do we have
voluntary release? No, because the ball's on
the ground. Okay, safe. Always, always just try
to slow down. I know I'm guilty of it myself,
of you see a play and you immediately just want
to hammer that runner out. or you immediately
want to give the big flary safe mechanic that
looks like you're trying to fly away, don't.
Give it a second and just process everything
before you make that call. Two weeks ago, I was
caught in a rundown situation. Between first
and second. And this. The runner. He's going
back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Now I'm looking for interference. I'm looking
for obstruction. I'm looking for the tag. Well
the shortstop comes in. Gets the ball. And then
trips over his own two feet. As he's trying to
tag the runner. And falls down. Okay, that was
nobody's fault. That was his own. He fell. But
the glove was really close to tagging the runner.
I did not make any call because I did not see
a tag from the vantage point that I was standing
at, which was literally... almost on top of the
play, there was visible daylight between the
glove and the jersey at the closest point where
there could have been contact. I could still
see a sliver of daylight there with my own eyes.
Runner gets into second. I rule him safe. Next
thing I know, I hear time being called. I figured
it was one of the coaches. No, it was Dean, the
plate umpire. And I turn around and I see him
jogging out towards me. So I go walking in and
we get together and he looks at me and he says,
did he not tag him? And I'm thinking to myself,
Dean, if he had tagged him, I'd have called the
runner out. I didn't. So therefore, he didn't
tag him, did he? But just that question, did
he not tag him? No. No, there was no tag. There
was daylight between the glove and the jersey.
Oh, okay. Well, it looked like he did. But yeah,
it looked like he tagged him to you. This rundown
is taking place between first and second base,
and you're still standing behind the damn plate.
Of course it looked to you like there was a tag.
I was a hell of a lot closer than you were, and
there wasn't one. And why are you coming out
here and questioning me? The defensive coach
I can see coming out and saying, hey, it looked
like there was a tag. You know, was there one?
Or what did you see that made you, you know,
give the safe call when he got to second? I would
expect that. I'm not expecting my partner to
come out. Oh, well, it looked like there was
a tag there. Really, dude? Like, come on. And
that's the problem with these other umpires.
Dean, for instance, at the plate meeting, a question
came up about an uncaught third strike. Or as
everybody and their grandmother calls it, dropped
third. God, how I hate that term. Uncaught third
strike. When does the runner forfeit their opportunity
to run to first base? Well, it's when they physically
enter the dugout. Or other dead ball area. They
can walk right to the dugout door. And then turn
around and run to first base. They just can't
walk into the dugout. And then Dean, the plate
umpire. Says, literally one of the coaches gave
that explanation. And Dean says. Well, that's
not how it normally works, but if that's the
way you guys want to do it, that's fine with
me. Okay. So after the plate meeting, the managers
walked away, and I'm standing there with Dean
watching the warm -up pitches, and I said, oh,
by the way, with that question on the uncaught
third strike, in Little League, it's when they...
You know, enter the dugout or dead ball area.
They give up their opportunity to run to first.
Oh, well, I guess I haven't seen that. Well,
you would have if you looked in the damn Little
League rulebook. I mean, maybe in NFHS and all
the other leagues that you umpire for, they have
different rules regarding that, but this is the
rule in Little League. So maybe you need to kind
of freshen up on your little league rules there,
buddy. I don't know. I don't know. So now that
I've rambled on and on and on, I do want to share
one funny story that came out of the game this
past Thursday. And this is one of the funniest
things I've ever heard on a baseball field. since
i've been umpiring batter comes up takes a ball
a little high and outside the next pitch apparently
i don't know if he decided to do this himself
or he got the sign from the coach but he decides
to to try to lay down a bunt no big deal it was
a very nice very nice bunt But the catcher ended
up getting to it, threw him out at first. Good
play all around by both the catcher and the batter.
But the funny part of this was I'm standing behind
the plate, and the catcher was a kid named Griffin.
Good catcher, good batter. He's got a pretty
good bat this year. He's already hit one home
run. And not a little league home run either.
I mean, straight from the bat over the fence.
And he's had a couple other hits that I've seen
this season that have almost gone over the fence.
Only fell like five feet short, if that. But
he's also a very good catcher. I feel pretty
safe behind him. So Griffin's there in the catcher's
box and he's down. He's got his mitt up. He's
ready to go. The batter is ready to go. The pitcher
starts his windup, and I see the batter start
squaring the bat. And just as he squares the
bat, I hear the batter say, sorry, Griffin, and
then drops the bunt down. Funniest thing I have
ever heard on a baseball field. Sorry, Griffin.
Tap. I've never heard of a batter apologizing
to the catcher for making the catcher go get
this bunt. Funniest thing ever. I was laughing
after the play. It ended up being the third out
of the inning. I was laughing. Like, seriously?
I don't know. Maybe it's one of those you had
to be there. But it was just funny. So that brings
us to our question of the month. And this question
of the month should be fairly easy if you know
your baseball rules. And the question is as follows.
When does the infield fly rule... Go into effect.
When. Does the infield fly rule. Go into effect.
Think about that. And maybe we'll talk about
that. In the next episode. But if you don't know
the answer. Good time to get into the rule book.
And look it up. So with that. We come to. The
end of another episode. This one ran a little
bit longer than I was intending thanks to my
constant jabbering. But if you stuck in there
for the entire time, I do appreciate you very
much. Thank you for listening. Always be sure
to subscribe. You can listen to these episodes
wherever you get podcasts. I just hit the microphone.
I apologize. These episodes are also up on YouTube.
Eventually on the YouTube channel, I will start
possibly doing videos. I'm starting to lose my
voice. You know, maybe some gear reviews, you
know, breakdowns of different, you know, Little
League videos and such. If there's anything you
want to see on the YouTube channel or topic here
on the podcast, again, you know, send me an email,
bluecrewdiaries at gmail .com. And, yeah, we
will go from there. So, as always, thank you
all very much for listening. And I will see you
on the dime.