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Why isn’t there an umpire positioned in centerfield during playoff and world series games? Why just in LF and RF? When there is a play in CF the 2ndbase umpire always has to run out there and do the best he can.
Seems like an umpire in CF would be useful to me. Maybe not though, who knows I guess.
r/Rat
Here here, Rat! From one ump lover to another, I like the way you think! The more arbiters the better I always say.
I have been proposing this centerfield ump that Rat speaks of for many years now. In a perfect world, we’d have not one, but two umps crouched behind the catcher. One to eye the heart of the zone outward and the other to call the balls and strikes from dead center inward. Four eyes are better than two. I think on those called strikes right down Broadway, it would be kind of neat to hear two umpires bellowing out in unison “steerrriiike”! I also think an added necessary touch might include stationing an umpire in each dugout to help keep order and to quickly pounce up to prevent opposing infielders from falling onto the hard concrete in pursuit of foul balls into the dugout, since players no longer are willing to help prevent injury to opposing players in these situations such as we witnessed in the Houston dugout last night.I suspect a CF umpire could easily get in the way. As opposed to the LF and RF foul lines, where there are often calls to be made, I think a CF umpire would have close to nothing to do. JMO.
In this day of replays, there is no need for a center field umpire. Perhaps in the pre-replay days, an ump in center could have helped on plays like “trapped or caught” low-liners, and maybe on whether or not a drive was a home run, or hit the top of the fence.
But even then, the guy would have little to do and might be more of a nuisance than anything.
Good point, Brian. But I think RatsBuddy had a fleet footed ump in mind to handle centerfield arbiting chores. A Joe West would not work out, but good ole’ #59, Nic Lentz, would fit the bill. Lentz has the patience of a Great Blue Heron and the foot speed of a Harrison Bader….both vital traits to handle centerfield umpiring duties.
Yep, I thought about all of the above mentioned points. About how there might not be much to do. Or perhaps a nuisance and just being in the way.
I just thought I would toss it out there and see what others thought. I am almost positive a CF umpire could have got the call on Orta at 1stbase in Game Six in 1985 correct. I guess the 1stbase ump couldn’t though.
r/Rat
Man, that 1985 Don Denkinger call haunts me to this day. Watching on television, I was sure Orta was out by half-a-step. It did not even look all that close – sure enough, when they ran the replay he was easily out. There are a lot of plays closer than that one where the ump gets it correct. Denkinger just blew it.
But who knows, the Royals may have come back in that one anyway. That would have been the first out of the inning, not the third.
I’ll go for the center field umpire. We could put Angel Hernandez out there. It’s as far away from home plate as it’s possible to get.
I guess he could be positioned right at the centerfield wall and therefore have a better angle on balls hit into the crowd and whether there was interference by the fans or not. The Red Sox/Astros game the other day, the Bartman/Cubs game, the Orioles/Yankees back in 1996. I assume others as well.
Might be a use for him after all.
r/Rat
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