Steve 's Baseball Umpire Resources

 Question of the Month!

Pro  Rules
Originally appeared June, 2009

Bases loaded, one out and a 1 and 1 count.  The runner on third gets a good jump and tries to steal home.  As he slides over the plate, the pitch hits him in the strike zone and bounces a few feet away.  The catcher recovers in time to nail the runner from second trying for third. Your ruling?

Extra Credit

Who was the only player to win the batting title in his first 2 full seasons?

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January Answer

Q: A runner is on 1st when the batter hits a line shot to right field.  Believing the ball will go for extra bases, the runner barrels around 2nd as the outfielder makes a sparkling catch.  While hurrying to return to first, the runner misses the re-touch of 2nd base.  The outfielder's throw gets past the 1st baseman and bounds into the dugout as the runner returns to 1st.
What happens with the runner?

A: he ball has left the playing field and normally would entitle the runner to 3rd base.  However, once the ball is out of play, he cannot return to properly touch the base, since he has already legally advanced past 2nd.  He should be awarded third .  An appeal would then be valid even if he touched 2nd while advancing to 3rd on the award.  The defense can appeal the missed base when the ball is put back in play.  If they do not appeal, the runner remains at 3rd.  

Extra Credit

Q: Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia has seen its last ML game. Who had the first hit when it opened on April 10, 1971?

A: Former Phillies manager Larry Bowa.

Baseball Calendar

Quotes

"When you find yourself on the edge of a cliff, it's wise to define progress as one step backwards" Chuck Hosking, mathematician & anti-nuclear weapons activist

"Umpires are not perfect. Nobody is. It's another beautifully flawed part of the game. If you don't have pitching or hitting issues to argue, you can always question an umpire's call. Quite frankly, I have nothing but admiration for umpires. I can't think of any group of people, outside of military personnel, who do their jobs in a hostile environment 'round the clock. Nobody like the umpires. Not the players. Not the fans. The only time you are even aware of an umpire is when you believe he made a bad call. And the you are mad at him." Evan Grant, baseball writer for the Dallas Morning News

"But it is not true that cameras positioned around a ballpark can answer every question, or even be more definitive than are baseball's remarkably skilled umpires, who render judgments close to a play.  And even if cameras could deliver certainty, it is foolish to think that all other values should be sacrificed to that one.." George F. Will

"You can't argue anymore. You know what's amazing is, umpires make mistakes at times, and when you question them, you end up paying the consequences." Lou Piniella, following an ejection for arguing a checked-swing call

"After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases" - Mickey Mantle  View more of  The Mick.

"The thing that surprised me most in baseball is the amount of integrity that most umpires have. It actually took me a while to believe what a good game they'd give you the next night after a blow-up."  Earl Weaver- View more of Earl's Pearls.

I swing big, with everything I've got.  I hit big or miss big.  I like to live as big as I can."  Babe Ruth

"I'm beginning to see Brooks (Robinson) in my sleep.  If I dropped a paper plate, he'd pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first."  Sparky Anderson

"All pitchers are liars or crybabies." Yogi Berra - More Yogisms

"Not true at all.  Vaseline is manufactured right here in the United States."  Don Sutton, about the rumors that he uses a foreign substance on the ball

Hall of Fame Manager Casey Stengel actually become so enraged that he laid on the ground and continued yelling at umpire Beans Reardon ? who after a few moments laid next to Stengel and yelled back. Stengel recalled the incident, "When I peeked out of one eye and saw Reardon on the ground too, I knew I was licked."  Casey Stengel  - More of Casey

Milestones in Baseball History

1865: Overhand pitching legalized
1876: National League organized
1901: American League organized
  1903: World Series began
1919: Chicago "Black Sox" scandal
1920: Live Ball era; Spitball banned
1927: Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs in a season
1932: Leagues adopt common baseballs
1935: Night baseball began
1941: Joe DiMaggio hits safely in 56 consecutive games
1947: Jackie Robinson plays for the Brooklyn Dodgers (NL)
1947: Larry Doby plays for the Cleveland Indians (AL)
1961: Roger Maris breaks Ruth's home run record
1966 - Emmett Ashford becomes the first black umpire in MLB when he reached the AL after 14 seasons in the minors
1971: Cowhide substituted for horsehide on baseball
1973: First American League Designated Hitter, Ron Bloomberg, bats
1973: Art Williams becomes the first black umpire to reach the NL staff
1976: Dan Driessen becomes the first Designated Hitter from an NL team
1995: Cal Ripken breaks Gehrig's consecutive game record
1998: Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire break Maris' home run record
2000: Leagues use common umpires
2008: Limited replay approved

HS Coach Strikes Umpire 
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What an Umpire Should Never Do
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Comments, Observations & Facts

Did you know that MLB has 30 teams, 17 umpire crews and 2,430 games.  Umpire scheduling protocol is that an umpire crew does not see the same team sooner than every 18 days and no more than 4 times in a season.

In 2008, 83 MLB umpires worked at least one game behind the plate - 66 active full-time and 17 vacation/injury fill-in umpires. Jim Hoye called the most pitches at 11,625. Jim, Chris Guccione and Rob Drake (all fill-in umpires) tied for the most plate games worked at 37.

In 2008 2,428 MLB games were played. 4,878 Home Runs were hit, for a per game average of 2.01. In the 1st year of divisional play in 1969, the per game average was 1.60.

In 1878, the first paid umpires were in the National League, where the home teams were instructed to pay the umpires $5/game

Albert Pujols has won the 2003 NL batting title over Todd Helton by the closest margin in league history, the third tightest in ML history.  The final stat was .35871 to .35849,  or a .00022 difference.  The tightest race ever was in 1945 when the Yankees' Snuffy Stirnweiss beat Tony Cuccinello of the White Sox by .00009.  In 1949, Detroit's George Kell edged Boston's Ted Williams by .00016.  Check out ML's All-Time Leaders.

Umpire signals were first used in the late 1800's to help a deaf mute player from that time understand what was going on in the game. His name was Dummy Hoy, and he was a major league outfielder from 1888 to 1902.  See Umpire Communications for additional information.

The shortest game in ML history was played on September 28, 1919 when the NY Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in a game that took 51 minutes.

The longest 9-inning game in ML history took place on August 18, 2006 between New York  (14 runs) & Boston (11 runs) and lasted 4:45.  Jim Wolf was the plate umpire and called 437 pitches.  It was the second game of a Day-Night DH.  The first game lasted 3:55, with NY winning 12-4.  Tony Randazzo was behind the plate for game one.

The second longest 9-inning game in ML history took place on October 5, 2001 between Los Angeles & San Francisco and lasted 4:27.  Jerry Layne was the plate umpire and called 361 pitches.

The longest game in ML history featured Milwaukee at Chicago in 1984, required 25 innings and took 8:06.

Previous MLB Final Standings / World Series Champs 1903-2009

Revised: Monday, February 08, 2010