Better Umpiring Through Rule Knowledge

Baseball Rules in Black and White was honored last night to speak at the opening ceremony of Billy Haze’s acclaimed Black and Blue Umpire Camp.  It was an incredible evening filled with introductions of extremely talented and highly respected camp instructors from the highest levels of umpiring in the game of baseball today.

I want to especially thank Mr. Billy Haze and Mr.Jeff Henrichs, for allowing me to speak to their umpire

campers at the opening night of the Sacramento Black and Blue Umpire Camp.  

Billy and Jeff's tireless giving back to the national umpire community is widely known and greatly admired.  To be a small part of everything they are doing to help improve umpires abilities is humbling and phenomenal at the same time.

Phenomenal in regards to hearing from umpires from all experience levels, their personal stories of how Baseball Rules in Black and White’s unique educational format has allowed them to finally grasp a solid understanding of specific rules of baseball is the best feeling an author/umpire could ask for.  

Phenomenal in regards to the acceptance and eagerness expressed by the decades of umpiring experience in that room for Baseball Rules in Black and White’s soon to be released, 2018 College Edition to finally be available. 

Both Billy Haze and Jeff Henrichs only want one thing for other umpires, and that one thing is for every umpire to get better.  By Baseball Rules in Black and White presenting last night has shown me one thing, any book from the Baseball Rules in Black and White series, can and does make better umpires.

Baseball Bench Clearing & Umpires

In all my years around the game of baseball I have personally been involved in three bench clearing incidents. As an umpire these three events have taught me many things.

There is no telling when a bench clearing is going to take place. Sunny, cloudy, windy, day game or night game when two teams come together united and committed in bravado and ignorance, nothing is going to prevent that event from happening. Not even an umpire.

What really concerns me the most is that in most all of these asinine events right in the middle of every one of them or at least very nearby are umpires. Why is that?

I can understand why umpires take immediate action to intervene in order to defuse a problem, but after the benches clear, what in the hell is the purpose of an umpiring crew being swallowed up by the idiocy of a brawl or a bench clearing?

Is there a written protocol or job description that says umpires must participate? If it did say we must stay at the event, where is our training to control an on field riot? In fact I have never seen written instructions on how umpires should respond to bench clearings.  

This is a clear failure of national and state baseball and umpiring organizations for not protecting and providing definitive instructions to umpires on how to proceed during bench clearings. It’s as though they want us to believe they never happen.

The individuals, groups or organizations who should speak up to address these dangerous and volatile situations, their lack of actions are just as bad as or worse than the actions of the teams who are clearing their benches.

It is time for those who claim to be the grand powers of authority over the umpiring world to grow a pair and set bench clearing policies that protect the umpires first.  If you want the perks for being oversight, then you must also take responsibility for when things go wrong.  

Since there is no standard policy set for these situations, from this day forward I personally know how I and any partners I am working with will proceed during any bench clearing events. 

Fixing a Problem!

Blurry or fuzzy rule knowledge is exactly what causes an umpire to hesitate when making a call and distorts their ability to accurately rule on that call. Many very good umpires know that an umpire must have clear, concise knowledge of the rules in order to call them quickly and apply them accurately.  

In addition to calling and applying a ruling, let’s not forget explaining your ruling. Nothing frustrates a baseball coach more than an umpire who cannot efficiently articulate a ruling clearly, especially on a ruling that is frequently called or when a run or a game is on the line. 

For this veteran umpire and author James C. Bettencourt, after a lifetime of baseball, two decades of umpiring, dozens of camps, clinics, and many mentors, my baseball rules knowledge for too many of the rules of baseball was still fuzzy and blurry. This was not acceptable to me and I have done something that has fixed that problem.

Nothing has been more powerful or faster in providing this veteran umpire with a clearer knowledge of the rules of baseball, while improving my ability to call those rules decisively and correctly on the field than the format and language in Baseball Rules in Black and White. Nothing! Sharing these great benefits with other umpires, coaches and fans is my way of giving back to the game of baseball, for everything the game of baseball has given to me.

Currently at the publisher and soon to be released, the second in the series of Baseball Rules in Black and White"The 2018 College Edition" .  The format in these series of books is designed to and does make smarter and more effective umpires. I have heard from hundreds of fellow umpires who have expressed their pleasure for what Baseball Rules in Black and White has done to improve their baseball rule knowledge and their ability to apply those rules quickly and correctly.

Billy Haze KNCO Interview

If you missed KNCO Tom Fitzsimmons' interview with Billy Haze (College World 
Series) umpire and Jim Bettencourt author of  the (2018 College Edition of 
Baseball Rules in Black and White),  listen to the show right HERE .