Western New York Umpires Association

We are incredibly proud to have been able to put NINE umpires with college officiating experience on subregional games yesterday. Congratulations to all three crews!

Western New York Chapter umpires Brandon Musso, Wally Bissett and Rory Parker working a sub-regional game in Section VI

Congratulations to our final and semifinal crews for Thursday through Saturday!

WNYUA crews are back in action tonight for the AAA, AA, and B subregionals.

Congratulations to the WNYUA crews who earned 3-man postseason assignments on Tuesday! We also had 5 other 2-man crews working quarterfinal games across Erie County.

WNYUA crews are back at it tomorrow for both AA semis, a B semi, and the A2 final.

(Not pictured: A1 semis crew - Pioneer vs. Amherst)

Test time!!! This was the question on the NFHS test that most people missed. Only 39.67% got it right. What say you?

With a runner advancing to third base, the second out is recorded at first base. The first baseman,
wrongly thinking the play was the third out, tosses the ball to the base umpire who catches the ball and
holds it.

A. With the runner advancing, the ball stays live and in play.

B. The ball is immediately dead.

C. The runner is awarded third base.

D. B and C.

Enforce all the rules! Not the ones you only feel like enforcing

A common misconception some umpires seem to have about the NFHS rule book is that there are penalties that say something like:

"Upon violation, the umpire should finish the game, go home, and email the assigner to complain that the rule was violated and ask the assigner to handle it."

I bring this up because that is obviously not anywhere in the rule book, yet many umpires act like it is.

There is no penalty in the rule book that instructs the umpire to email someone after the game because they chose not to handle a rule violation on the field.

Now, there are occasional league policies that require reporting later. For example, in GHSA, if a field is not properly lined after being warned, that should go in the game report. But most of the time, that is not how rule enforcement works.

The rule book states a rule and imposes a penalty for violating it. The expectation is that the umpire will apply the rule and penalty during the game.

(Okay, maybe not every rule has a clear penalty. Looking at you, player-to-player meetings. But that’s a discussion for another day.)

This time of year, as temperatures start to rise, you’ll begin to see coaches transition out of their heavier jackets during pregame and early innings. That’s when this issue starts popping up.

By rule, coaches must either wear the same uniform top as the players or a team jacket, windbreaker, quarter-zip, or similar outer layer over the uniform.

What is not allowed is a T-shirt as the outer garment, even if it’s a team-issued shirt.

The rule is clear. If a coach is not in uniform, they are restricted to the dugout.

We need to be addressing this on the field, not ignoring it and emailing someone later.

I had this come up the other day. After the top of the first, I told the head coach:

“Jeff, your base coaches are out of uniform. You’ve got a light sweatshirt on, but they’re just wearing T-shirts. That’s not a legal uniform top.”

At first, he said coaches didn’t have to wear uniforms. I explained that they do. He said he’d handle it, and the next inning, both base coaches came out with their jackets on.

Later, he joked with me that he didn’t even like the T-shirts because they weren't a good look for older men. We both had a laugh about that.

And that’s usually how these situations go.

This is not necessarily a hill to die on immediately. Make them aware they are out of uniform. Most of the time, they’ll fix it in the next half inning when they go back to the dugout, just like this team did.

But the key point is this:

You have to address it.

Do not ignore the violation and send an email later asking someone else to deal with it. If it’s happening in front of you, it’s yours to handle.

Tell them they’re out of uniform.
Give them the chance to correct it.
And if it’s something obvious like jeans or sweatpants, then yes, that’s going to require immediate attention.

But either way, the rule is enforced on the field, not in your email.