Now I know what "Its nothing until you call it" means

Thanks, I needed a laugh this morning !

Nice.....I had the "opportunity" to umpire 4 innings of a 16U game in a tourney we hosted last summer.  We had a major storm the night before and the guy in charge of rescheduling the games and umpires (ME!!!) screwed up.  Luckily the other ump was a friend who "thought I could handle it".  We explained to both coaches what the situation was...and luckily neither team was in contention to win anything and they both agreed to let me do the bases.  Those 4 innings gave me a new appreciation for umpires.  At least 3 or 4 times I got caught watching the game...instead of worrying about my umpire duties.  I think I blew one call at 1B when I assumed the SS would go to second with a grounder...by the time I realized he was going to first I turned too late to tell if the runner was out or not....luckily nobody complained much so it was all good....lol.   I won't be doing that again anytime soon.

I kept getting sucked into doing games during my kids LL years, so I took a couple clinics to help me make sure that I wouldn't make a total fool of myself. Well, that didn't quite work, but I did learn a few things. Among the most important was to count "one-thousand-one" in my head before calling anything at any time. That helps you wait for the play to be over, and to review quickly if you really saw what you thought you saw. (or thought you would see, in this case)

LOL!

We had an umpire this year in a couple of regional playoff games who repeatedly made calls as they were happening. He was often calling a pitch a strike before it hit the catcher's mitt. And on the bases, he had his mind made up already as the play was happening... definitely a bad habit to get into!

I think it should be a mandatory requirement for ALL parents in youth baseball (12 and under) to have to Umpire one game before they are allowed to sit in the stands as fans....it's a very humbling experience your first time out there.....but at least you went out there!  Great story

Great story. I'm thinking, "Yeah, this happens." Then your son's response is a comedic knockout punch. I can picture the expression on his face.

Priceless. 

Over the years, I've posted here that umpiring "isnt as easy as it seems".....

I used to organize co-ed softball tournaments as fundraisers for my baseball team.  Made pretty good money so it was definitely worth it but we saved money by not hiring real umpires.  I would get about 3 or 4 guys to volunteer to ump and they had no clue about anything and when the team I was playing on wasn't playing or got beat out I would umpire myself (once again totally clueless on rules).  In the 5 or 6 times I put these on all the teams realized it was a fundraiser and just trying to have a good time.  Only thing they got out of it was t-shirts if they won.  But there was this one time where this one team apparently didn't get the memo.

They griped over every single thing that went on.  Then in the championship game I'm umpiring the field and this second baseman is hot (please don't forget this is co-ed softball so nothing weird going on).  I'm flirting with her and trying to get her number when a ball is put in play and the throw is made to first.  I'm standing there watching like I"m a fan who has the best seats on the field and people look at me for the call.  It finally clicks that I have to make a call and I ring him up.  Sadly, the team at bat was THIS team who complained on everything and they lost their minds.  I've been dogcussed in my life but this was a new one and the cute second baseman even said "I think you're going to get your @$$ kicked".  Long story short I called off the game, gave them their money back and told them in not so very nice language to leave.

Funny thing is they were right.  I asked the guy doing the plate and he said the runner was about 3 steps past first.  I blew the call because I was trying to hook up with the second baseman.

At one time or another have played, coached and called games.  The two hardest things to do in the sport ....and nothing else is close....hitting it and calling it.

My story is beer league softball.  Bases Loaded...infield pop about 10 feet on the grass...made the Infield Fly call....of course the SS muffs it and everyone takes off like a jail break...long story short after about 8 throws the defense tagged the runner from 3rd at home and trapped the runner from 1B rounding 2nd for another out.  So it is triple play, R3 at home, R1 in rundown and B/R on pop up.  Team loses its mind because it doesn't know the rules and thinks it is only 2 outs.  Finally the one guy who does know the rules on the team was able to calm them all down and tell them I got it right. 

I am glad he did because it was about 15 seconds for about 4 of them to go and that would have created a forfeit.  The paperwork would have been awful.

It would also help if umpires had to coach at least one game / put up with the parents for more than 90 minutes, etc.

It's hard work making anything seem easy enough so that anyone could do it.

Mine was stepping into a 10U LL softball game because the regular umps were running late.

There was a simple 6-3 play and from behind the plate, I followed the runner up the line about five steps and made the call. Next batter hits a 4-3, I again follow it up the line, ball is thrown away, runner ends up at third. Coach yells to catcher, "Why weren't you backing up?" Catcher says, "I thought the umpire was doing it."

Priceless....