baseballrules

The home run video replay already has been used three times in New York ballparks this season – twice during the opening series at Yankee Stadium and once yesterday at CitiField. So far, the reply works. The umpires, in each instance, gathered, discussed and then decided to look at replay angles.

All the calls on the field remained the same after they looked at the replays. One went for the Yankees, one went against them and one was in favor of the Mets. In all instances, the umpires got the calls correct. The video confirmed what they saw and what they discussed.

MLB umpire Kerwin Danley was released from the hospital last week, one day after he was hit in the head by a broken bat. Doctors at MLB’s medical center in Arizona will examine him before he returns to the field. The result was a “powerful headache,” according to crew chief Dana DeMuth. Other umpires have had to leave games this season, or were badly shaken but stayed on the field, after they were hit by foul balls. If you are a home plate ump, that can’t be helped, but baseball needs to continue to look into the shattering bats and try to find a solution that reduces the chances of injury to players, umps and fans.

In the South Atlantic League (A Level) umpire Koyu Inoue was knocked out by a foul ball about a week ago during the Greensboro Grasshoppers/Asheville Tourists game. This league has an interesting solution — adhering to South Atlantic League rules, each team was allowed to designate a player to serve as an umpire for the remainder of the game.
After the game, Inoue reported that he was okay.

This first posting is a bit late since major league baseball already is completing its first month of the season, but many other lower level professional leagues are just coming out of extended spring training. This past weekend, at least in my area, little leagues were having their opening day parades. So, maybe we are just on time to shout PLAY Ball!

So many people write about baseball, especially about their favorite MLB teams. This blog will not focus on any teams or players. Instead it will cover baseball from the actions and views of the umpires along with the rules of the game. Yes, we all criticize the umps, but we will talk about the good decisions, too.

We will refence MLB umpires often, since that level of play receives the most attention. But, we also will find information about the other levels of professional baseball along with college, high school and little league news, when appropriate. Softball umps and rules also will have their discussion opportunities here.

Some other areas we hope to explore: profiles about famous and infamous MLB umpires from other eras, taking a look at the umpires in the Baseball Hall of Fame, looking for books about umpires and umpiring, finding movies that provide significant attention to umpires and exploring the rule book.

I invite your input on stories and encourage you to share all you know about umpires and the rules. Feel free to praise and to be critical. But, above all, be fair. Input from umpires is very welcome here and will be very helpful in educating all of us about the flow and rules of this great game.

I leave you today with one thought: When we play a pick-up game for fun, we can always holler for a “do over.” For organized games at any level, we can never put the final scores in the scorebooks without an umpire.