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A higher calling Umpires visit camps to demonstrate new strike zone
Updated: Tuesday February 27, 2001 4:49 AM
MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- Umpires visited several spring camps Monday to give players a firsthand look at the new strike zone. "Players better be ready," said veteran umpire Jim McKean, who called a simulated game at the Philadelphia Phillies camp in Clearwater, Fla. "If baseball tells us to do something, we're going to do it. The game is changing." In recent years, umpires called strikes from the knees to the waist. Now, they're being instructed to follow the rule book, which says a strike is any pitch over the plate from the top of the knees to the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of uniform pants. An umpire will visit each major league team during spring training to explain the strike zone and then demonstrate what it will look like. Most umpires spent about 30 minutes talking Monday to players and coaches before calling games. "The way he explained it was beneficial," Chicago Cubs catcher Joe Girardi said in Mesa. But there was some arguing as umpires called strikes on pitches that would have been balls last year. Phillies regulars Mike Lieberthal and Pat Burrell were both called out on high strikes in the simulated game.
"I was rung up on a pitch about an inch above the waist," Lieberthal said. "Last year, that's a ball." And there's going to be plenty of griping if hitters are called out on a chest-high strike, Lieberthal said. But most players agreed the new strike zone is a work in progress. "I think they're going to see how it goes in spring training games and go from there," Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams said in Tampa, Fla. "It's hard to speculate now how it's going to go. We're just going to have to see." This is going to take adjustment from everyone, Girardi added. For years, each umpire had his own, unique strike zone. Now they've all been ordered by Commissioner Bud Selig to call strikes from the knees to the chest. Umpires also are being told to not give control pitchers, such as Atlanta's Greg Maddux, extra inches off the plate. "Players have to have patience with umpires, and umpires have to have patience with players," Girardi said. At Yankees camp, umpire Jerry Crawford also reviewed the policy that allows umpires to eject pitchers without a warning for high and tight pitches. He said the policy wasn't directed toward Roger Clemens, as some in the Yankees' organization believe. "Pitching inside has come up, and that has to change because guys can get seriously hurt," Crawford said. "It's not due to Roger Clemens. It's just due to the fact guys can get hurt, and if you're going to be a major league pitcher, you ought to know how to pitch." As for the high-and-tight ejections, Crawford said is the key word is intent. "Somebody throws a ball up-and-in, it doesn't mean the guy is going be ejected right away," Crawford said. "It's our judgment as to the intent."
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