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're going to wrap up 2025 Little League season
and start getting ready for next year. 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 back to another episode
of Blue Crew Diaries and a Fire Podcast. Yes,
the Little League season for 2025 is over. What
a season it has been. So before we get started,
obviously, let's get into some announcements.
Really not a whole lot going on. There are, let's
see, coming up here in just a couple of weeks
is the Umpire Academy at the East Region Headquarters
in Bristol, Connecticut, as well as some ID camps
and some other Umpire Academies scattered throughout
the country. If you're interested in those, you
can find the sign -up links and information for
all of those on the Little League. umpire .org
website, the Little League Umpire Registry. If
you are not signed up on their registry, go ahead
and do that. It's a very good resource. Ah, what
a year. That's about all I can say. First off,
congratulations to Chinese Taipei. on their 2025
Little League Baseball Championship. Well done.
All of the teams, from what I saw, played fantastic
in the series. And, yeah, Chinese Taipei came
out on top. As far as the umpire and crews, everybody
looked good. I mean, there were, you know, a
few hiccups here or there, but everybody looked
good. And I, I mean, I got to admit, I watched
the majority of the games. So, yeah, I mean,
there were little nitpicky things that I didn't
quite like. And a lot of it was just the way
that the umpire did it. There were a few. I just
I didn't like their their physical strike mechanic.
Some of them was just weird. You know, there
was there was one umpire that instead of coming
straight up with the hammer, he just kind of
held his fist out in front of his face. Which
was kind of strange. And then there was another
one that did that exact same thing. But when
he came up. He would stand up and bring both
feet together and then do the fist in front of
his face, which I thought was kind of weird.
But, I mean, maybe that's the way that he does
things. Obviously it is. Another thing that I
didn't like seeing, and I noticed the majority
of umpires did this, so I don't know if this
was... A Little League thing, if this is the
way that they're training their umpires now.
But it was the hands -on knees set for the plate
umpire. I noticed the majority of the plate umpires,
when they got down in their stance, they were
in hands -on knees. That's great. You're in a
consistent position every single time. Until,
and this did happen to one umpire if you watched
the games, you end up taking a foul ball straight
off the hand. If his hand was tucked in behind
his knees, like I like to keep mine, that ball
would have hit the knee portion of the shin guard,
and he probably wouldn't have felt anything.
Luckily, I don't think it broke anything. But
he did take a shot straight off the hand. In
fact, I think that one actually missed the bat.
The batter swung, missed it. It missed the glove
of the catcher and took the umpire right square
in the hand. Ouch. And when I saw that happen,
the very first thing that I said out loud was.
That's why you don't stand with your hands in
front of your knees. That right there is why
you don't do it. Protect the hands. Now, if you're
one of those umpires that likes to set your hands
on your knees in the hands on knees set, don't
let what I'm saying change your mind. If you
decide to You know, continue with that. Well,
that's the way you do things. Every person is
different. But that's just not something I do.
I like to protect the hands, if at all possible.
So, yeah, that's pretty much my thoughts on Little
League World Series. Again, all the teams look
great. There was a lot of very, very good baseball.
Even on the softball side, there was a lot of
very good softball. And congratulations to Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, for their Little League softball
World Series victory. One thing that Little League
did at the end of the baseball championship game,
which apparently they've never done before, they
also brought the softball team out. They brought
softball champions and the baseball champions
out on the field, had them stand side by side
with their championship banners, and took pictures
as the two Little League World Series champions.
I thought that was very cool. Now, I don't umpire
softball. I don't normally watch softball. But
it was nice to see. them getting recognized as
well on you know the biggest stage you're you're
at lamedy stadium in williamsport you know at
for the championship game and on the baseball
side you can't get any bigger than that in little
league so it it was it was cool to see them bring
the softball team bring the girls out there and
the girls got to celebrate with the boys and
it it was good I quite enjoyed that. So getting
back to my season wrap up. So if you remember
in the last episode, I mentioned I had a couple
of games that ended up rounding out my season
that didn't. exactly go the way I wanted them
to. I ended up getting assigned to, I believe
it was 9 to 11 year old minors. Well, not even
minors, just 9 to 11. State championship games.
They were holding the state championship 9 -11
tournament. over in the next city over from where
I live, which is only 20 minutes from where I
work and normally umpire. So, yeah, the local
umpire signer for kind of this area got a hold
of me and said, hey, I've got a couple of games
that I need a second umpire for. Can you work
them? And you know what? I've never worked a
state championship. tournament game before so
yeah why not um first game i was behind the plate
with a partner that i've never worked with before
um as as far as him he was very good i didn't
you know i didn't see any issues with some of
the stuff that you know or with anything that
he did really He's a very good umpire, very good
partner. I don't know exactly what he thought
of my work behind the plate, but yeah, I almost
didn't go back the next night because the two
games I was working were back -to -back. It was
a Tuesday night and Wednesday night. Tuesday
night, I... I honestly didn't want to go back
again Wednesday night. Let's see what happened.
A lot of stuff happened. So I was kind of kind
of rushed getting there because I got out of
work at 430. The game started at 530. I had a
20 to 25 minute drive to get there. Plus, I had
to get changed up and and into my plate gear
and all that. So we ended up. Getting on the
field about 5 .15 and the host tournament committee
kind of wanted to get going, you know, a little
early if possible. So they went right into introductions,
national anthem, all that. So I didn't really
have a good, you know, amount of time to pregame
with my partner. Luckily, that really didn't
come into play. He knew what he was doing, and
we both knew enough about local signals and mechanics
and rotations and whatnot to where we did okay
with each other. I know there... There was one
coach who was not happy with me. Now, granted,
I don't know why, but I just defaulted back to
my tight strike zone. And you know your zone
is a little too tight. Let me just give you this
little piece of wisdom here. You know your zone
is too tight. When the coach asks for time and
he comes walking over to you, this is the defensive
coach. He comes walking over to you and he says,
and he was very, very professional and polite
about it. He says, you know, I know it's difficult
to see from back over in the dugout, but some
of these pitches are looking pretty good. Like,
where is he missing? So I told him, you know,
he's a little outside, and some of the lower
pitches, he's just a little low. And then the
next inning, he ends up going out to talk to
the pitcher, or actually change the pitcher out.
Was he changing the pitcher out? It's been almost
a month. I've tried to completely blank this
out of my mind. I think he went out to talk to
the pitcher. This was the second pitcher he'd
been on that game. And as he's walking back to
the dugout, he looks over at me. He says, where's
he missing? So I told him where I thought he
was missing. So now this is the second time.
He's asked me about this. All right, I need to
open my zone up. So I open my zone up. What do
you think happens? His team is now on offense.
I have opened my zone up, and now I hear from
the third base coach's box, when I call a strike,
I hear from the third base box, Got to call it
both ways, Blue. Here we go. So now he has it
in his head that I'm not calling a fair game.
I am now calling pitches for one team one way
and for the other team the other way. Yes, okay,
that's what I was doing, but I wasn't trying
to do it. I wasn't doing it intentionally. I
was trying to open up my zone so I don't have
to listen to him all game. And this is only like
the third inning. Then I had a guy behind the
fence on the third base side blowing me up. One
of the batters came over to me from that team
and he asked. I think he was a left -handed batter.
He asked if he could stand on the third base
side of the plate during the warm -up pitches,
obviously off, out of the way, during the pitchers'
warm -ups, instead of standing over on the right
side of the plate, on the first base side. Well,
that's the first time I've ever been asked that
question. So I said, I honestly, I don't think
it matters because I didn't see anything in the
rule book that said you can't. So I say, oh,
that's okay with me if you stand on your side.
And this guy behind the, or first the kid goes
back and tells the coach, yeah, he said it doesn't
matter. And then all of a sudden the guy behind
the fence. No, he can't stand there. It's in
the Little League rulebook. Okay, who are you?
I mean, I didn't even acknowledge the guy, but
it's like, what are you talking about? Show me
in the rulebook where it is. It's not, by the
way. And then the next couple of innings, this
guy is just... Yeah, he's irritating the crap
out of me. And afterwards, in talking with my
partner, even my partner said, you know, if one
more thing came out of that guy's mouth, I was
going to go over and have a chat with him. But
yeah, he was, there was another one, they changed
pitchers. And another. Player's standing there
doing some warm -up swings, and while the new
pitcher is doing his warm -up pitches, and he's
kind of timing up the swing to the pitch, and
this guy behind the fence is, see, he can't be
timing him up. He's not supposed to be standing
there, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I found myself, if you've ever watched the Keanu
Reeves movie, The Replacements, with him, Gene
Hackman. At one point when they're having a team
meeting, Keanu Reeves talks about quicksand.
And basically what he's talking about is you're
playing and you think things are going great,
and then one thing goes wrong. And then another,
and then another. And the more you try to fight
back, the deeper you sink. It's like being in
quicksand. That's where I found myself in that
game. I thought things were going well, and then
I find out, no, they're not going well. Coaches
are not happy. So I try to change things, try
to make things better, and I just keep sinking,
no matter what I do. So needless to say, by the
end of that game, I just wanted to get out of
there. I just walked to the truck with my partner.
And I didn't even stick around for like the handshakes
and stuff like that. Third out in the last inning,
I'm out of here. So I stood there, waited for
my partner to come in. We left, walked out to
our vehicles. Had a five -minute debrief. And
then I just jumped in the truck and headed home.
So that brings me to Wednesday's game. I was
pretty certain I was going to be on the bases.
And then about 11 in the morning, I receive a
text. From my partner, again, someone I've never
worked with. And he said, hey, family emergency,
I can't work the game tonight. Is, you know,
is there anybody else that can? Crap. I really
don't want to work the plate again. So all afternoon
I'm sitting there. Keep looking at my phone,
hoping somebody is going to pipe up and say,
hey, I got it. Crickets. It's 4 .30 comes, I
get out of work. All right. Get my plate uniform
on, my shin guards, plate shoes. I'll put the
chest protector and the shirt on when I get to
the field. Drive all the way to the field. dreading
working the plate this game. And just kind of
hoping for a miracle, to be honest. Well, I got
one. I pull in the parking lot, and who is standing
at the base of the tower, dressed in his plate
gear, receiving the game balls from the tournament?
My buddy, Darren Abbott. The instant I saw him,
it's, I can't even describe it. And he had no
idea who he was working with until he saw my
truck. And then he's like, oh, thank God. you
know i got i got somebody i know and um i'm almost
jumping up and down in the truck while i'm driving
through the parking lot like you gotta be kidding
me out of all the people that could have stepped
up to the plate it's darren like thank you So
he comes walking over. I jumped out of the truck.
I almost gave him a hug because I was so happy
that he was there. And he was going to work the
plate. So I very quickly switched into my base
uniform. I get out there, do introductions. And
again, not my best time. First inning. Runner
on first. I'm over in B. I'll say it was ground
ball to shortstop. I start to slide over towards
second. Shortstop fields it. Throws to second.
Gets the runner. I call him safe. Why the hell?
Did I just call him safe? Well, I called him
safe because there was no tag. But it's a force
play, you idiot. There doesn't need to be a tag.
The ball got into the second baseman's glove
with the second baseman's foot on second base
before the runner's foot got there. Runner's
out. Period. Why the hell did I call him safe?
I still don't know. Okay, this is the second
time I've screwed that up. So that was strike
one. Finally, we get to the end of the game,
and the home team, if I remember correctly, they
were mounting a comeback. They were down. I think
they were down by six runs or something like
that. They were mounting a comeback. They got
to within, I think, three. Ground ball to the
infield. Now, I'm over in C because there was
a runner on second. Ground ball to the infield
with two outs. They decide to go to first with
it. I'm trying not to impede the runner going
to third because he's running. And now I'm trying
to get across to get as close to first as I can
through the infield. Balls gets thrown to first.
I had the runner out. By the tiniest of margins,
I had him out. I'm fairly certain if you took
a poll, of each and every spectator and coach
there, the way that everybody reacted, if you
polled everyone, they'd have said the runner
was safe by three steps. Because everybody, like,
freaked the hell out. I call him out. The first
base coach, of course, he gave the safe sign.
They always do. Well, I'm not going to pay attention
to what you think it is. I'm going to, you know,
call it the way I see it. So I call him out.
And the first base coach just kind of throws
his hands out. And starts to walk back over to
his dugout. He was over in the third base dugout.
As he crosses the foul line, he looks right at
me. Holds two fingers up and says, that's two,
Blue. That's two. And for those of you umpires
that don't speak coach, that means that's the
second call that you've kicked today. Great.
So I start to walk off the field. I notice Darren
is standing over by the plate. He likes to stand
there while the team shake hands. And, you know,
every once in a while you'll get a player that
comes over and gives you a fist bump or whatever,
the coaches and whatnot. So I go over, I stand
with him. And as we start walking off the field,
I hear one of the fans from the losing team.
Just randomly yell out. What exactly did he say?
Hey, Blue, I got a pair of glasses if you need
to borrow them. Of course, that got a reply from
one of the tournament directors in the tower.
He just kind of looks down at me and goes, well,
that's the first one, isn't it? I just kind of
chuckle. I went, yeah, I've. I haven't heard
that one before. So we go over to the snack shack.
Darren's going to get a hot dog and a drink.
We're standing there, and the lady at the snack
shack, very nice lady, told us we both did a
great job. I think she was just being nice. And
she asked me if I wanted anything. I said, no,
I'm all set. She says, well, are you sure? It's
free for the umpires. Nope, I'm good. I already
got my own water and whatnot. I'm all set, but
thank you. As we're having this conversation,
that same guy walks by. And he kind of turns
to throw something in the trash can that was
right next to me. And as he walks by, he says,
I think he needs a pair of glasses. And then
scurries off. And I just stood there for a second.
And I'm like, you know, I'm thinking to myself,
well, it's awful big of you to run your mouth
and then run away. So I can't say anything back.
And I just looked at the lady in the snack shack
and she looked at me and she says, I'm sorry,
people don't know how to behave themselves. And
I just stood there and I said, you know, there
are some days I just, I don't know why I do this.
I just, I don't know why I still do it. And I
started walking to the truck. Of course, Darren,
being Darren, he says, hey, he says, still got
two balls in my ball bag if you want to throw
one at somebody. I said, well, I'd kind of like
to have a bat right now, but. So, had a debrief
with Darren at the truck. Jumped in the truck,
got out of there. And that was my season. I've
gotten a couple of text messages since. You know,
group text. Hey, we've got, you know, here's
a list of fall ball games. Not all just Little
League, but other leagues around the area. Let
me know if you're interested. You know what?
I think I'm good. I think I'm good for the season.
It seems to me that the further along the season
went, I don't know if I continually got worse
the longer the season went, or just people thought
I was getting worse. People thought less of me
as an umpire the longer the season went on. So
I think I'm all set doing fall ball and stuff
like that. Which brings me to next year. I don't
know. I honestly don't know whether I am... going
to umpire next year it's it's going to be something
that i am really really going to have to think
about um but speaking of getting ready for next
year uh one thing that i have been doing is studying
the rule book more and more um studying the rule
book like i said i watched almost every little
league world series game and i didn't just watch
the game i watched the umpires and i was kind
of confused a couple of times and it's amazing
when you start watching umpires how you can learn
new stuff and it and it makes you look things
up Because there were a couple of times, there's
a runner on third. A pass ball goes into the
hole where the camera is. The backstop camera.
And the ball goes into the camera hole out of
play. And the run trots home. OK, so he stole
home. Oh, wait, no, he didn't. Because I look
and the third and first base umpires are running
down the line with their hands up calling time.
So if they call time because the ball is out
of play, why does this runner on third get to
score? This doesn't make any sense. So I looked
it up in the rule book. And yeah, there's a rule
right there. Oh, there's the rule. Okay, I get
it now. But again, a rule I didn't know. And
to be perfectly honest with you, I don't get
into the rulebook nearly as much as I should.
And that is definitely something that I am going
to be working on this summer. Or this fall, I
should say. It's September now. And I do apologize
for this episode being a few days late. You know,
school starting up and other stuff going on.
Of course, my poor youngest one ends up getting
sick like the day before the first day of school.
So, yeah, deal with that. And then my stepdaughter
starting middle school this year. Yikes. Uh,
yeah, a lot going on. So, um, yeah, I will leave
it at that. Um, definitely try to get my, my
nose in the rule book some more. And, uh, yeah,
I would suggest that you try to do the same.
Um, now would probably be a good time if you
have any, um, you know, broken equipment or things
that you want to upgrade for next year, now would
probably be a good time to buy that stuff up
because I think there are some people that are
having sales right now. Something to think about.
So, yeah, that is going to be it from here. As
always, thank you very much for listening. And
I will see you, hopefully, on The Diamond. See
ya.