Tip of the Day - Working Solo

A few weeks ago, I was in Chicago to visit my sister in law and her family. While we were there, we went to their kids baseball games. Both of these kids play on select teams. One is 12 and the other 11. In each of these games, they only had one umpire. In watching these games, I was reminded of how hard it can be to work a game by yourself. I thought it might be a good idea to throw a couple tips out there to help you out.

1) Completely give up distance for angle. When you are umpiring by yourself, there is no way you are going to be in perfect position for every call. So do what you can to get the rigth angle on the calls and don't even worry about distance.

2) Hustle. Every time the ball is hit, you need to be out from behind home plate. On a play at first, you should be as close to the pitching mound as possible. You need to get out from behind the plate and give yourself the best chance you can get at seeing the play. Coaches will give you the benefit of the doubt if you hustle.

3) Be loud...SELL EVERY CALL!!

Umpiring by yourself is not fun and I don't think it is something that should happen very often but when it does if you follow these steps, you'll be ok.