OFFICALS - UMPIRES
Without officials, softball would be played like a neighborhood pickup game and when someone didn't like a call, he or she would take his or her bat and go home. The umpires are only there as unbiased observers, to make sure the rules of the game are followed as specified in the rule book.
Without umpires, the game would be like driving through downtown at rush hour without any traffic signals, signs or speed limits. Nobody would get anywhere.
Do umpires ever make a bad call? No. Well, not intentionally, but with up to a dozen people on the field at once, bats and balls flying, coaches yelling, fans screaming, players cheering, can the ump miss something? Yes. Let's take a standard pitch to a batter with someone on base. The ump is watching for an illegal pitch or if the runner leaves early; is the pitch a ball, a strike or a foul tip; did the bat hit the catcher's glove; was it a good hit or did it hit inside the batter's box, hit the batter, hit the bat a second time; did it roll foul; did it go over first or third base fair or foul? Plus, players are asking for time; balls from adjoining fields are flying into the game; spectators are wandering onto the field; lights may be coming on or any other totally unpredictable events may be happening.
Look
at our modern state-of-the-art technology which is employed to televise sports.
Baseball or football has 12 cameras rolling, six to 10 officals watching,
thousands of fans in the stadium and millions more watching at home. The call
is made, just about everyone sees the official make the "wrong"
call. Imagine that, the guy's right there, and he misses the call! Then, as
you watch the instant replay from six different camera angles, each one clearly
confirms the official made the wrong call, until the seventh camera replay
is shown, and from the seventh camera angle we see that the call was correct.
How can we expect two or three umps, and sometimes a solitary ump, to see
every thing? Every time?
"I wish every time a coach made a comment directed toward me or questioning one of my calls, I could remind him about one of the calls he made or plays he called during the game." - George Markey, official, Buffalo area.
___________________
IN MEMORIAL
DAVID
A. PIRRELLO
Also known as-
'Peaches'
December 18, 1961 - May 22, 2004
Dave Pirrello (left) & Jamie. One of the last pictures
taken of Dave at
Mercy High School on April 30, 2004. The game was
Mercy vs Brighton High School
_____________________
___________________
IN MEMORIAL
DAVID
A. PIRRELLO
Also known as-
'Peaches'
December 18, 1961 - May 22, 2004
Dave Pirrello (left) & Jamie. One of the last pictures
taken of Dave at
Mercy High School on April 30, 2004. The game was
Mercy vs Brighton High School
_____________________
v
CAN YOU MAKE THE
CALL?
On the
photos below, you make the call -- ball or strike? All the pitches are belt-high
on the batter.
So what do you think? Which photos show pitches that should be called balls and which photos show strikes.
DAVE MOLICA's now famous 'Description of a Strike'. After reading Dave's report you to will be able to tell which of the above photos are strikes and which are balls.
Dave Molica's
now famous
"COLUMN of FLOUR STORY"
FROM DAVE:
The year was
1975, I wasn't an umpire back then but I was quite involved with fastpitch
softball. It was just before the second game of a doubleheader between Clark
Air Base (Phillippines) and the New Zealand team that was 3rd in the "Worlds"
the year before.
I walked up to the umpire who had done the plate on the previous game and said "with the various pitches that you are seeing today from some of the best pitchers around how do you maintain a consistent strike zone?" He said to me, "it's really quite simple if you think of it this way; take an area from the knees to about the bend in your elbow if you were holding a barbell (palms up) parallel to the ground. I have now established my high and low strike. Now we put imaginary sides on home plate and fill it with flour from the knees to that bend in the elbow. (This umpire told me he considers this the "hittable pitch area.")
We then have the pitcher get on the mound and throw a black colored ball to the catcher. After receiving the ball the umpire checks it out for any residue of flour-if he can see any trace of flour then it's a strike because SOME PART OF THAT BALL PASSED THROUGH THE STRIKE ZONE.
THE BALL DOES NOT HAVE TO PASS
COMPLETELY THROUGH THE STRIKE ZONE TO BE A CALLED STRIKE. IF ONE MOLECULE
OF FLOUR TOUCHES THE BALL, IT IS A STRIKE!
AS THE ILLUSTRATIONS BELOW SHOW, ANY PITCHED BALL THAT TOUCHES ANY PART OF
THE COLUMN IS A STRIKE.
A curveball, riseball, dropball or super slow change up, if the black ball
ends up with one dot of white flour on it, it's a strike!
As I stated above, the column height
is determined according to the hitter's height. The bottom is at the batter's
knees, and the top is at the bend of the batter's elbow. On a short batter
the column may be only
1 1/2 - 2 feet high, on a taller batter the column could be over 3 feet high!
( MORE TO BE UPLOADED ON THIS SHORTLY)
NOTE: We would like to congratulate Dave on the birth of his grandson! (It's now Grandpa Dave!) We ran into Dave coming out of a local sporting goods store and on his way to the hospital for his first visit, Dave took the time to show us what he picked up for his grandson. (see below)
Good luck to Dave and his entire family.
