Quick Links
Board
Fields
Team Information
Field & Game Schedule
Tournaments
Rules
Meeting Minutes
Registration
Fund Raising
Bylaws
Administration

(Community Service for the Vision Impared!)

	Oregon District 4 UIC Jamie Simms takes time to teach advanced skills at the Northwest Umpire Clinic sponsored by Oregon District 7 and heavily supported by the Western Region.
	Southwest Portland UIC Robert Moore fine tunes his plate mecahnics in preparation for the season.
	Southwest Portland Little League encourages involvement of our community's youth to get involved in umpiring. Lisa Shimomaeda is pictured here receiving positive comments for her hard work at the Northwest Umpire Clinic.

Regarding the New 2010 Umpire Rule

At the February 8, 2010 President’s meeting, the district presidents discussed Little League’s new rule requiring that there be an adult on the field for each game. Trust us, we fully understand the burden this puts on each league. Both of us understand that many leagues struggle to develop any sort of umpire program, much less one that has enough adult umpires to cover each and every game.

This memo was shared with other District Four umpires before sending this out and it is evident that this rule will be troublesome in every way. But knowing that it is a rule, it will most likely be no different than losing the on-deck circle, or mandating breakaway bases on all LL fields. So please, this email is to serve as a precaution and a recommendation to comply with the rule. A bad adult decision today may have a huge negative outcome on a child (or children) later on down the line.

While it sounded like some leagues have contemplated not fully complying with this rule, both Jamie and I would urge reconsideration. At the meeting, several valid points were brought up and with Jamie's help, we will try to summarize them below along with additional thoughts that have come to mind.

If a league chooses not to comply with this rule and fails to have an adult on the field during a game, the league faces at least two risks.

• Liability/Insurance - we do not know what position LL’s insurance carrier would take, nor do we know the possible legal ramifications with regard to liability that could be asserted against Leagues, their boards, or on-field managers and coaches; however these are concerns raised when a safety rule is intentionally violated. Anyone may agree or disagree with the rule, but it has been adopted after study by LL International. This is no different than if a League were to declare that other mandated safety equipment or precautions may be disregarded, and an injury were to result.
Loss of Charter – it’s not that far-fetched to believe that LL could revoke the charter of a league that intentionally and flagrantly elects to ignore a rule such as this.

• One possible solution for this situation is to have one team (Home team? Or if interlocking, the team responsible for providing the umpires?) provide an adult to be on the field of play at all times. A league should be able to find a level-headed parent from the teams playing the game for this role.
• This adult umpire does not have to be part of the “active” umpire crew. We suggest that he/she station themselves in foul territory, against the dugout fence (if there is one), behind the base coach so that he sees the batter’s back (for example, on a right handed batter, he would be down the 3rd base line). At the meeting, it was suggested that this umpire could be down the outfield line near the fence, but upon additional thought, we are thinking that he/she should be close to the infield for reasons listed below.

It is important to understand that this person should NOT be a coach or manager in the game. Perhaps leagues could assign minors coaches to be at majors games and vice versa. There are those of us who tend to see a lot of them coming to watch these games anyway. This is an important consideration and may be an issue-solver if implemented correctly.

The duties of this umpire should be very specific. They should have the primary role of:

• Monitoring participant behavior and dealing with it as necessary.
• Assisting the active umpires in making decisions regarding field playing conditions.
• Handle and protect young umpires from any conflict that may arise. (if the umpire is in the outfield, he may not be able to ascertain what’s going on with the game or how tensions may be rising).
• He/she does not participate in actively making calls during the game (ball, strike, safe, out, time, foul, etc.)
• He/she is not allowed to overrule or change the call of an “active” umpire.
• Participants (managers, coaches, umpires or parents) cannot appeal to him for help in making an “active” call.

We believe the solution presented above is workable and one that meets the letter of the law – keeping insurance in place and liability in check.