Parkland Minor Baseball Association
Umpires are a vital part of baseball. Coaches and parents in PMBA who disrespect umpires will be punished. If you witness an umpire being treated poorly please contact Mark Griffitts, our Umpire in Chief.
Umpires who eject players or coaches must fill out an Umpire Ejection Form so that the proper follow-through can happen. (Click Below) Contact Mark Griffitts if you need assistance with the form.
Communication Between Umpires Working an Assignment
With Parkland Minor Baseball Association taking a major step in creating a website to open the way for communication between the Minor Baseball Communities within the Parkland; I want to take this opportunity to follow this important step with contributing my prospective with regards to the importance of the umpires working together and communicating with each other before, during, and after the game.
For a number of years during our Baseball Canada Umpire Certification Clinics; I have stressed over and over the importance of all umpires working together to communicate with each other.
While supervising, mentoring, or just working with a fellow umpire in a two-man system, I found that if we did not make the right call, or implement the proper ruling; it was because we did not communicate with each other.
Before the start of the game, one should meet with your fellow umpire to discuss positioning. You should look over the ball field so you both know if there are any openings in the fence area or if there is no home run markers or chalked fair/foul lines. At that time you should discuss how you will address these situations.
During the game watch the ball, but also, watch each other, and communicate with each other when covering bases, to see who is going to cover a fair/foul ball when the base umpire is working the middle and a fly ball is hit to the third base line.
If you are caught out-of- position and need help; do not be afraid to call “time” and meet with your partner to discuss the play. For new umpires who are learning the rules, do not be afraid to call time and meet with your more experienced partner to make sure you have the penalty right.
The base umpire needs to watch to see if a third strike was caught or not, and be ready to communicate this to your plate umpire. After the game, meet and discuss the game, summarize the game, like what did we miss, what should we improve on. By communicating with each other, we can also learn from each other.
Be discreet when meeting with each other on field and off field, to discuss a play or ruling. But do not be afraid to communicate loudly to each other when covering a runner going to third base, or tag up at third; for example “I got the tag up at third”.
