Editors Message

Greetings and salutations true, blue believers,

Well, I am back again and hopefully better than ever. I have made the sacred sojourn once again there and back again from Cooperstown, the spiritual home of baseball and I am renewed. I’d like to say thank you to everyone who helped get out the August edition, especially Mike Chmar who took another turn in the big chair and made sure it all came together.

Dave Maher is in his usual spot with his President’s Message bearing the usual uber important information. Don’t miss Dave’s address featuring some upcoming local region training opportunities as well as another opportunity to donate to a great charity and be a part of what has become an annual tradition here in the DC area. Read President’s Message here.

I’m pleased to welcome Bob Nasser to the Blue Crew News content team as he has taken on a new role with the association as our rules interpreter. Bob’s brought us a very helpful piece on plays involving steals of home plate. Bob is taking over for Greg McAvoy and I’d also like to take this opportunity to say thank you both personally and on behalf of the association to Greg for all of his hard work and years of dedication to both our Craft, and the association both on and off the field. My first year was 2020…COVID. During our training Paul Porto encouraged all the rookies to reach out to Greg. I had a lot of rules questions…and then I just had a lot of umpiring questions and Greg took time out from his life to spend many hours over Zoom discussing with me personally the finer points of the rules as well as the finer points of umpiring. Thanks again, Greg. My only regret is that we never got to work a game together but I take a great deal of your shared knowledge out there with me always, brother. Read Rules Article here.

Batter interference is a play that takes new and even intermediate umpires some time and reps and experience to call…and call correctly. It’s a call that when most of us are learning that we see (hey, we’re on the plate it’s happening 5 feet away…) and instinctively we know something is not right there but, we hesitate, we call it late, or we don’t call it at all. So, straight out of MAC’s training department this month is Anthony Mayer (our resident video expert) with some videos of plays involving batter interference to show you mechanically what that play could look like and what the call looks like.

Batter Interference Video | Interference on a Steal Video

Blue Crew News’ sublime and spectacular man on the streets (errr…fields?) interviewer extraordinaire, Gary Reals has returned once again from parts unknown to give us another great profile of another exceptional umpire and superior human being…Dave Stewart. Gary’s piece this month is unique in that it’s the first one I recall reading that left me with more questions than answers! Dave, I do hope you plan on attending the banquet because questions, man…all the questions! Read the Umpire Profile Article here.

Up next, Johnny “Baseball” Blaeuer sent in some great photos of our brothers pre-game, in-game and post-game. You know, I’m not saying Johnny plays and umpires a lot of baseball but, they say he once pitched to himself, called balls and strikes on himself, and then hit a fair ball over the fence off his own pitch and closed the at bat by issuing himself a 4 base award. He is…the most interesting baseball enthusiast in the world. See Photo Gallery

Finally to close this edition, I had an unusual and special experience while I was in Cooperstown last month. I will tell you up front this is a departure from our normal fare here at Blue Crew News. It’s something a bit more on the ethereal side of baseball and humanity. Unlike most of our content, I can’t promise you reading it will make you a better umpire. My only wish is that just maybe it helps you to remember how special our game is and our place in it. Read Special Article – Sharing the Heritage here.

Please keep the cards, letters and photos coming. Our staff is available anytime at: [email protected]!

Excelsior,
Robert Fobian
Editor, Blue Crew News