baseballrules

Joe West, who is 56 and in his 30th year umpiring games for Major League Baseball, worked his 4,000th career game Thursday afternoon at Miller Park in Milwaukee. He is the 19th umpire in MLB history to umpire at least 4,000 games.

“I’ve really been blessed because I’ve worked with great people,” West said before the Milwaukee Brewers hosted the Washington Nationals. “I was lucky to come up at a time when National League umpires were outstanding and they helped you and kept trying to help you.”

West began his umpiring career in the Western Carolina League during 1974, and worked various Winter League games before umpiring his first National League game on September 14, 1976.

He officially joined the Major League staff during 1978. He has umpired three Division Series and seven League Championship Series.

“You always remember your first one,” West said of his fondest memory. “I was 23 years old and I remember Bob Watson, who’s now in the Commissioner’s office, hit a ball down the left-field line. It was very close and I called it foul and I got ready, thinking, ‘Here they are, going to come argue,’ and no one said a word. In the Major Leagues, it’s completely different [than the minors]. They let you umpire up here until they really think you missed it.”

West missed two seasons after joining other umpires in a mass resignation plan by their union that ultimately wasn’t successful. He was rehired prior to the 2002 season, and in April of this year was elected as the president of the World Umpires Association.

Aside from his years on the diamond, West also has made himself visible to fans with his outside pursuits.

He has performed with country singers such as Merle Haggard, also releasing a country music album called “Blue Cowboy.” His most recent album, “Diamond Dreams,” is a compilation of stories from his 4,000 games in Major League Baseball. He also has preformed at the Grand Ole Opry.

West also had a role in the 1988 film, “The Naked Gun.” He even received another residual check the other day — for $11.57.

“I watched Nolan Ryan’s fifth no-hitter from first base,” said West. “I was behind the plate when Pete Rose broke the [National League] record with most consecutive games with a hit. I saw Willie McCovey’s 500th home run — some of the players today don’t know who Willie McCovey is. So, you look back on things like that and it’s been a hard and a fun road.”

During the early 1900s, players such as Heinie Groh used what was called a “bottle bat.” Groh used it from 1912 to 1921. The bat had a thick barrel that was about 17 inches long. It had a thin handle, which also was about 17 inches long. It weighed about 46 ounces.

By today’s standards, the bat would be illegal in MLB. Current rules require that bats not be more than two and three-quarter inches at their thickest and not more than 42 inches in length.

The Sacrifice Fly is credited to a batter who hits a fly ball (fair or foul) that results in a runner successfully tagging from third after the catch and scoring a run. The batter is not charged with an at-bat while he is credited with an RBI.

The batter is charged with an at-bat if there isn’t a runner on third who scores after the catch, even though a runner on first or runners on first and second tag and move up one base after a catch.

From 1931 to 1953, except for 1939, a batter who hit a sacrifice fly was charged with an official at-bat. The outs were recorded as outfield putouts.

We have seen players, coaches and managers ad infinitum suspended and fined for inappropriate actions with the umpires. The fans are getting tired of umpires getting away without even a slap across the wrist.

When a guy in uniform is out of line, he needs to be ejected and or disciplined. But, so do umpires who cross the line.

What happens when an umpire’s call is proved wrong and the player/coach/manager is ejected for arguing? Is the fine cancelled? Is the ump fined for the bad call that led to the fracas? Don’t know for sure, but the answer probably is no.

It is too one sided and MLB’s Bob Watson needs to look more closely at both sides. Umps need to be called on the carpet for their bad balls and poor reactions when players question their calls. Until this is done, matters will only become worse.

Look at the terrible call made at home plate that ended the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics game the other night. That cost the Twins a notch in the W column. It wasn’t close, it wasn’t bang-bang. It was poor positioning by the ump and a terrible call. Will that umpire be asked to explain his call with MLB’s senior umpire group? Will that umpire receive some ump coaching on positioning? Likely not.

But all umpires should receive continued education, just as the players, to improve the game. If MLB doesn’t do this, calls will get louder for more replays and eventually we can see the time that each manager will get at least one replay challenge (beyond the home run call) per game.

MLB can stop the calls for replays if it just acted and made the umps part of the entire process of improving the game.

Wake up, MLB!

New Jersey’s Mike Walsh made his debut as an umpire in the Gulf Coast League. He hopes this will be the first strike toward the major leagues.

The 23-year-old Walsh, from Old Bridge, has umpired local baseball and softball leagues since 2004. He enrolled in the Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires in Florida. Wendelstedt spent 32 years umpiring games in the big leagues. His school feeds college and professional leagues. The faculty is composed of high-level professional umps, including 11 current major leaguers.

Walsh finished at the top of his 120-student class. Along with 25 other students, he was selected to attend the Professional Baseball Umpire Corp. (PBUC) camp in March. PBUC is responsible for the training, evaluation, and recommendation for promotion, retention, or release of all umpires in the minor league baseball system throughout the United States and Canada. PBUC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL).

After he excelled at the 10-day camp, Walsh and eight others were offered umpiring jobs in the Rookie League (the Florida Gulf Coast League).

This Mike Walsh got his encouragement from his father, also Mike. The senior Walsh is a well-respected local umpire who has worn ump blue for 38 years.

“My dad told me I should try it because it would be a good summer job,” the younger Walsh said. “He taught me the basics and I got better with each game, and I started picking up some things on my own.”

At the Wendelstedt school, participants thoroughly reviewed the rulebook — spending three to four hours a day in the classroom in addition to on-field instruction and game situations. At the PBUC camp, the focus was on the nuances of the two-man umpiring system employed in the lower minor leagues, college, junior college and high school.

“It’s a tough system because you can’t see everything,” he said. “You have to keep your focus, be in position and just try and do the best you can. You also have to be able to work well with your partner, and that comes down to training and communication.”

Like everyone else, umpires make mistakes, and Walsh acknowledges that it’s impossible to be perfect. The toughest calls for him include plays at first where the first baseman may have pulled his foot off the bag too soon and a swipe tag play where the fielder is pulled off the base while trying to tag a sliding runner.

“You always want to get a rules interpretation right, and if I’m not sure, I’ll always ask my partner for help,” Walsh explained. “Judgment calls are almost always bang-bang. You have a split second to make the call you have to call as you see it.”

He’ll be on his own and earning $1,900 a month plus housing and meals this season. The PBUC will rank the 16 umps in the Gulf Coast League. Those at the top of the list are likely to move up to Class A ball. If an ump does not move up after two years in rookie ball, he or she is released.

“I want to do well and keep improving,” Walsh said. “My goal, along with everyone else, is to one day make the major leagues. That’s the ultimate experience. And as an umpire, you have a great job with the best seat in the house.”

UMPS CARE Charities is the official charity of Major League Baseball umpires. See what a group of umpires did when then teamed with the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. They visited Children’s Hospital Oakland on June 23 with a full Build-A-Bear Workshop experience for the patients.

Good deed by Umpires Mike Reilly, Chuck Meriwether, Eric Cooper and Laz Diaz.

Former local athlete and now softball umpire Patty Griffin is doing a great job in Tennessee. A well-respected science teacher, she also has earned the respect of many local players and managers. Read all about her in Blount Today.

The passion for baseball is more important for Bruce Holsopple, who rarely takes personal time during the summer. He says the four greatest words in sports are ‘pitchers and catchers report’ and he is sure that the calendar has only two seasons - February through August for baseball and August through February for football.

Read all about Bruce’s great work and love of baseball in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Daily American. Unable to link it here, but it is worth the search.

As we get ready to enjoy the mid-summer classic, or pass on it completely, we should take a moment to rate MLB umpiring for the first half of the season.

Umpiring is getting worse. Calls are missed, positioning is bad and players/coaches/managers are tossed while discipline never involves umpires. Case in point is the incident involving Derek Jeter, Joe Girardi and Marty Foster about a week ago.

This needs to change. So far this season, I give MLB umpires a C grade. Significant improvements are required.

After the All-Star Game, we will periodically write about the changes that need to incur to raise the level of umpiring in MLB. Until then, enjoy the mid-summer break.

For an unknown number of years, we have seen the yellow K-zone on ESPN MLB baseball broadcasts. Thinking about it more this year than in the past (for me, the novelty finally wore off), I have come to realize that it never served a purpose. It does not show an accurate strike zone.

The view from the outfield camera never is lined up perfectly with the plate. The angle causes the K-zone to be off center a bit in width. How much it is off, we can’t tell on TV.

K-zone does not move with the batter. As pitches are thrown, batters either crouch or begin their stride as they get ready to swing. If the rulebook strike zone goes from top of knees to letters, then the K-zone is inaccurate since it is not flexible and it does not move, or float, to correspond with each batter’s movement.

The K-zone, for these reasons, is probably inaccurate on border pitches, especially on the corners, about half the time. So, what good is it?

It’s a gimmick whose time has come to be tossed on the TV graphics scrap heap. It just angers viewers who blame the umpires for bad ball/strike calls when the calls might be accurate.

Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips should join it. I know this has nothing to do with the subject of this blog, but I finally need to vent that both of them need to be removed from the booth.

Morgan’s analysis is tiresome after all these years. By now, you would think he would have learned to express himself clearly without stumbling over words and remove his personal player and team biases from his comments.

For Phillips, I never believe anything he says about trading players or analyzing their talent. A few years ago, he was emphatic on New York radio saying it was time for the Yankees to trade Jorge Posada. The next year, Posada had his best MLB season. While he was injured most of last year and age has slowed him a bit, he still is one of the elite catchers in baseball. It was a good thing the Yanks did not listen to Phillips, or that Phillips was GM of the team.