The "age" of diva umpires

[mth123]

Diva Umpires. Diva Message Board Posters.

True Menace To Society.

Some in this thread are both.

[jojo]

Diva Umpires. Diva Message Board Posters.

True Menace To Society.

It certainly is silly watching diva message board posters contribute nothing with short, off topic, uncalled for quips of flaccid snark akin to thread farts.

But diva umpires impact the integrity of the game and potentially affect the outcome. There isn't an equivalency.

[blumj]

Diva Umpires. Diva Message Board Posters.

True Menace To Society.

What menace? Is this thread required reading for your class or something?

[Tony Cloninger]

Hence the term "Diva" in the title of this thread. Difference between willing and able. IMO, they are able, they just aren't willing and not being willing is what makes them seem like Divas.

Touche'!

[Roy Tucker]

Then why even have rules? Gosh, why not just let the players make up rules as they go?

Pitcher's poison and right field is closed. Anything foul is out. You can drop out of the game to eat lunch.

[757690]

Pitcher's poison and right field is closed. Anything foul is out. You can drop out of the game to eat lunch.

I think Broxton already uses that last one.

[George Anderson]

Hence the term "Diva" in the title of this thread. Difference between willing and able. IMO, they are able, they just aren't willing and not being willing is what makes them seem like Divas.

True Story...Saturday I had a Varsity game with a school with a pretty strong program. They were playing a team that I figured they would likely beat. In the first inning the team I knew was good was up 11-0 and they were still batting. Now to this time I had called a pretty straight strike zone. I planned on eventually opening up the zone if the shellacking continued but this early in the game I wasn't going to do it. I was out of baseballs so one of the coaches for the team that was up came out and handed me the balls. He also looked at me and said "Will you please open it up?" So I did as I was requested and pretty much anything the catcher didn't have to dive for or didn't hit the dirt was called a strike and no one but no one complained.

The point I'm making is umpires are not the only ones sometimes that want a different variation of the strike zone called, many times the coaches do also and it is at all levels. An acquaintance of mine who is a very successful D3 College coach here in Indianapolis and also on the NCAA rules committee came to one of our meetings and pleaded for us to call strikes. The college level coaches are notorious for wanting strikes called. I cannot speak for MLB players and managers obviously but I have kinda always held this opinion in that if you are a 26 year old single guy in MLB with tons of money and you are in say New York on a Saturday night and your team is up or down say 12-2 in the 7th inning aren't you going to want that umpire to open the zone up so you can get out and hit the town?? If its late September and your team is 25 games out of 1st place, do you really want the umpire calling a regulation zone dragging out the game and the miserable season?? The last thing they want to see is a by the book umpire not calling borderline pitch a strike and thus prolonging the misery. Of course some players and managers may but from my experiences these guys are human and if they can get out of game and move on to other things they will jump at the chance.

[kaldaniels]

True Story...Saturday I had a Varsity game with a school with a pretty strong program. They were playing a team that I figured they would likely beat. In the first inning the team I knew was good was up 11-0 and they were still batting. Now to this time I had called a pretty straight strike zone. I planned on eventually opening up the zone if the shellacking continued but this early in the game I wasn't going to do it. I was out of baseballs so one of the coaches for the team that was up came out and handed me the balls. He also looked at me and said "Will you please open it up?" So I did as I was requested and pretty much anything the catcher didn't have to dive for or didn't hit the dirt was called a strike and no one but no one complained.

The point I'm making is umpires are not the only ones sometimes that want a different variation of the strike zone called, many times the coaches do also and it is at all levels. An acquaintance of mine who is a very successful D3 College coach here in Indianapolis and also on the NCAA rules committee came to one of our meetings and pleaded for us to call strikes. The college level coaches are notorious for wanting strikes called. I cannot speak for MLB players and managers obviously but I have kinda always held this opinion in that if you are a 26 year old single guy in MLB with tons of money and you are in say New York on a Saturday night and your team is up or down say 12-2 in the 7th inning aren't you going to want that umpire to open the zone up so you can get out and hit the town?? If its late September and your team is 25 games out of 1st place, do you really want the umpire calling a regulation zone dragging out the game and the miserable season?? The last thing they want to see is a by the book umpire not calling borderline pitch a strike and thus prolonging the misery. Of course some players and managers may but from my experiences these guys are human and if they can get out of game and move on to other things they will jump at the chance.

But then those numbers show up on the back of baseball cards. I have a hard time getting past that.

[George Anderson]

But then those numbers show up on the back of baseball cards. I have a hard time getting past that.

Its been going on since Mr. Doubleday took the first swing.

[kaldaniels]

Its been going on since Mr. Doubleday took the first swing.

But the money that depends on said statistics have not.

I don't want the Reds signing a player who has slipped by with faulty statistics because the umpire was concerned about his Saturday night plans in New York.

[mth123]

True Story...Saturday I had a Varsity game with a school with a pretty strong program. They were playing a team that I figured they would likely beat. In the first inning the team I knew was good was up 11-0 and they were still batting. Now to this time I had called a pretty straight strike zone. I planned on eventually opening up the zone if the shellacking continued but this early in the game I wasn't going to do it. I was out of baseballs so one of the coaches for the team that was up came out and handed me the balls. He also looked at me and said "Will you please open it up?" So I did as I was requested and pretty much anything the catcher didn't have to dive for or didn't hit the dirt was called a strike and no one but no one complained.

The point I'm making is umpires are not the only ones sometimes that want a different variation of the strike zone called, many times the coaches do also and it is at all levels. An acquaintance of mine who is a very successful D3 College coach here in Indianapolis and also on the NCAA rules committee came to one of our meetings and pleaded for us to call strikes. The college level coaches are notorious for wanting strikes called. I cannot speak for MLB players and managers obviously but I have kinda always held this opinion in that if you are a 26 year old single guy in MLB with tons of money and you are in say New York on a Saturday night and your team is up or down say 12-2 in the 7th inning aren't you going to want that umpire to open the zone up so you can get out and hit the town?? If its late September and your team is 25 games out of 1st place, do you really want the umpire calling a regulation zone dragging out the game and the miserable season?? The last thing they want to see is a by the book umpire not calling borderline pitch a strike and thus prolonging the misery. Of course some players and managers may but from my experiences these guys are human and if they can get out of game and move on to other things they will jump at the chance.

I get those extreme examples and don't really care about how a high school game may be impacted. In the major leagues, these are guys making huge bucks to play and playing in front of fans who are paying fairly big bucks as well. I suppose I can understand cases where the zone is opened up to speed the game, but that is different than what was presented earlier where a guy just decides that the higher strike shouldn't be called and balls off the plate should be called strikes from the get go. This isn't a case of altering the zone in a version of a mercy rule. In fact, the poster/ump was bragging about it being consistent from the get go, so I just don't see how your examples apply to an umpire just blatantly disregarding the rules because he wants to. His job is to enforce the rules, not create them.

[George Anderson]

But the money that depends on said statistics have not.

I don't want the Reds signing a player who has slipped by with faulty statistics because the umpire was concerned about his Saturday night plans in New York.

Keep in mind I am also talking about the players wanting the game over with so they can hit the town or end the miserable season. Are all players or even managers like that? Of course not but I bet you would be surprised how many are. It is why I don't think this notion of a computerized strike zone should one ever be developed would ever fly because my gut tells me the players wouldn't want it either. A lot of times they want the game over quicker than the umpire.

[mth123]

Keep in mind I am also talking about the players wanting the game over with so they can hit the town or end the miserable season. Are all players or even managers like that? Of course not but I bet you would be surprised how many are. It is why I don't think this notion of a computerized strike zone should one ever be developed would ever fly because my gut tells me the players wouldn't want it either. A lot of times they want the game over quicker than the umpire.

Friday afternoon about 2 O'clock I'm ready for the week-end to start, but my job is to work until 5 or later. The fact that I want to leave doesn't really matter. And think, nobody even paid half a week's pay to watch me do my job.

This set of circumstances may matter in a high school game, but these are major league players and if they want out early, they shoukd ask their manager to take them out and let them leave. It's not really the umps place. Big business, not a sandlot.

[George Anderson]

Friday afternoon about 2 O'clock I'm ready for the week-end to start, but my job is to work until 5 or later. The fact that I want to leave doesn't really matter. And think, nobody even paid half a week's pay to watch me do my job.

This set of circumstances may matter in a high school game, but these are major league players and if they want out early, they shoukd ask their manager to take them out and let them leave. It's not really the umps place. Big business, not a sandlot.

High school, college or MLB it doesn't matter. Humans are humans and if the game is basically over or if the season is basically over they will want to move on to something better quickly.

Your "digs" are noted btw.

[mth123]

High school, college or MLB it doesn't matter. Humans are humans and if the game is basically over or if the season is basically over they will want to move on to something better quickly.

Humans are humans, but high school and college players aren't professionals and the games in high school aren't a part of a big business where the paying customers are being impacted. If this is the way it's to be run, those custimers should get their money back. Otherwise, fans and advertisers paid big money for a baseball game. I don't think the umps have any business altering that relationship. Again, if the players don't want to play, they should quit.

I suspect its more about the umpires wanting to hit the town than any favor they are doing for the teams.