P2R

P2R is clearly a useful mnemonic device for beginning umpires:

Pause — to evaluate the batted ball.

Read — what the defense will do.

React — by moving to the base.

The crucial element is "read." You must not anticipate what the defense will do until you have proof. That's particularly true of Youth ball.

Play 13:

After you've been in the business for a time, you'll see that P2R is a catch-phrase for what any umpire must do. During your first game, you realized that umpiring is nothing more than:

• watching where the ball is hit;
• learning where the defense will throw it; and
• getting to that base to make a call. Pause, read, react.

P2R. Q.E.D.

Well, not quite. A friend read this manuscript and wrote:

I'm surprised you seem to think so little of this as an important teaching tool. I've watched umpires who do not use the technique. Bat hit ball, ump moved instantaneously, often in the wrong direction.

I don't mean to denigrate the technique. The actions P2R represent are certainly designed to get you to the church on time.

One final point: Don't use P2R in Pos. A. Rather, it should be 2R: Read the direction of the ball and react to the quality of the throw. "Pause" is that moment when you decide where the defense will play. In Pos. A you know that's at first.

Pivot

When the professional candidate umpire finally learns how to pivot well, his heart leaps up. It is often his raison d'Ltre, his reason for being. Nothing, says the Short A umpire, is so becoming to him as the image he creates when he carries a batter-runner to third, pivoting from first into B, sliding into C, steaming into the cutout at third — all without breathing heavily or breaking stride. Or a leg.

I know several umpires who fell head over butt, sprained ankles, tore ligaments, wrecked knees: All of the instances occurred on ill-maintained fields at amateur games while the umpire was pivoting from Pos. A to B.

To start with, what is the purpose of the pivot?

Well, other than to "show off" the umpire's technique and athletic ability, it allows him to watch the runner touch first while preparing to take him to second. In my association — and in the classes I teach — I solve that very simply: The plate umpire is responsible for touches at first on extra-base hits except when the ball is hit to left field and is not an obvious base hit.

I mean, on a double to right-center, what else does the umpire have to do while he's preparing to cover third? Oh, you say the plate umpire doesn't do that where you call? Well, that's all the more reason he has time to watch the touch at first.

Let's assume, though, your association is "politically correct" and mandates the base umpire watch the batter-runner touch first. Let's assume further you would rather not tear up a knee. You could use what's sarcastically known as the AAA pivot; that is, on the probable extra-base hit, bust directly into the infield, headed toward the mound. At the moment you expect the batter-runner to be nearing first, look over your right shoulder.

It's called the AAA pivot because umpires who have reached that august level no longer need the classic pivot to separate them from the hoi polloi. You'll fulfill your obligations — prepare for a call at first or second — and all without endangering your fragile body. As the runner commits to second, you're well ahead of him: A routine right-turn brings you to the base in time for an easy "out." Or safe, if you insist.

Just remember the first rule of officiating is: Do what you're told by your assignor. If he says pivot, get a good excess insurance policy, and — pivot.

To do that you must know how. Here's the technique, as described by Mark Ambrosius in Baseball Umpires' Guidebook, © 1993 by Referee, Inc.:

[The pivot is] the three-step movement used by BU as he moves into the infield from Position A. When a batted ball is hit to the outfield, BU will pivot to observe the batter-runner's touch of first base, anticipating the batter-runner's advance toward second. A proper pivot occurs on the infield grass, one or two steps from the edge of the first-base cutout; it includes planting the left foot, turning the body counter-clockwise on the right foot as the batter-runner reaches first base, and stepping briskly with the left foot toward second base as the batter-runner continues around first. [all emphasis is mine] (page 18).

An important note: If your association requires the true pivot, you must assign all routine outfield coverage to the plate umpire. (See Technique #1, page 75.) Someone has to watch the ball while you pirouette, perhaps even fouetté your way to second.

Plays in foul ground

You're in Pos. A. B1's bounder heads for the outfield. You "pause" to evaluate the situation, "read" that the second baseman is busting hard to his left, and "react" by heading to foul ground so you will not screen F4 (if he makes the grab) from the first baseman.

You've just drawn old Smitty down to second base — if he can remember to go. You have effectively become a one-man crew, with your partner responsible for all the bases except first.

Instead, lengthen your distance from the base and shorten your angle. Simply put: Stay in fair ground. (See first base coverage, page 62.)

We can debate forever the efficacy of an umpire in Pos. A being forced to foul ground. But it's my book, so we're moving on.

Carl Childress is the Editor-in-Chief of Officiating.com. He's been writing professionally about amateur "hardball" umpiring for thirty years. RightSports, Inc., publishes each year his unique Baseball Rule Differences, known as the BRD. He's also the Umpire-in-Chief for the American Legion in his area as well as being the TASO secretary and rules interpreter. Click here to read a short biography. You may reach Carl at carlchildress@officiating.com.