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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Buckminster Breaks Hand; McClelland Umps from Infield

Umpire Tim McClelland called balls and strikes from behind the mound during Tuesday afternoon's Spring Training Angels-Brewers game. In the top of the first inning of the contest, Angels batter Albert Pujols was hit by a Wily Peralta pitch. The ball then deflected into HP Umpire Seth Buckminster, the injury necessitating Buckminster's departure from the game.

With the young umpire's absence while A.J. Johnson donned the plate umpire equipment creating a two-person crew of 3B Umpire McClelland and 1B Umpire Jim Joyce, the senior crew chief opted to move behind the pitcher in order to call pitches, an acceptable albeit rarely seen umpiring mechanic. Lack of immediately accessible plate gear also may have played a role.

Buckminster, who was struck on the left wrist, was seen exiting the field while grasping his mask with the right, not left hand. After the game, it was revealed that the errant pitch indeed fractured Buckminster's left hand.

Video: McClelland calls the game from the middle of the infield while Johnson dresses for the plate
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12 comments:

  1. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 4:22 PM

    He only moved behind the pitcher while another crew member geared up.

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  2. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 5:01 PM

    I love it... its great for a Spring Training game. I am not so sure how "acceptable" this is though. Who had fair/foul on the third base line?

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  3. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 8:24 PM

    There wasn't another crew member to gear up as this was a three man crew so joyce was the only other umpire out there

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  4. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 8:26 PM

    There wasn't another crew member to gear up as this was a three man crew so the only other umpire out there was Joyce

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  5. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 8:56 PM

    Not true -- Anthony Johnson worked the plate.

    I'll be intrigued to see if Johnson gets a look. He brought upon the demise of Jack Evans, probably to the appeal of MiLB.

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  6. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 8:58 PM

    so if they had another umpire there why was this only a three man crew

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  7. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 9:16 PM

    Is Anthony Johnson related to Adrian Johnson? I would guess they are brothers. They both wear the same mask, both set up behind the plate the same way and both call strikes the same way. Anthony is a little thinner but it is amazing how similar they look behind the plate.

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  8. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 9:18 PM

    I think Johnson was always part of the crew but while he was getting the gear on McClelland wanted to keep the game going so he just started the game again as Johnson was putting his gear on.

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  9. LindsayMarch 19, 2013 at 11:59 PM

    Correct. This was a four-to-two-to-three switch. The plate was called from the mound likely because of the Spring Training setting and a desire to keep the game moving.

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  10. LindsayMarch 20, 2013 at 6:45 AM

    Love this, even better you can hear Jim Joyce ribbing McClelland after the first pitch and McClelland playing along with it. Good to see that they can still enjoy the game like that!!

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  11. LindsayMarch 20, 2013 at 7:14 AM

    Thank you for the clerification I was confused

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  12. LindsayMarch 20, 2013 at 11:55 PM

    Russ, I don't believe so. Not certain on that, though. They do. Normal strike mechanics very similar, too.

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