The SB Nation Kansas City Royals community Royals Review is celebrating the start of spring training with an interview with former Royals catcher Brent Mayne.
They talked about the framing of pitches, an issue that kind of drives me nuts about baseball.
How often did you change your framing of pitches depending on the umpire behind the plate?
I never framed. The whole idea of framing is that you're taking a pitch that's not a strike then doing something with your glove to trick the umpire into thinking it IS a strike. I felt like a big part of my job was getting along with the umpire - to get him on my side so to speak. How was I gonna get him on my side if he couldn't trust me? I'm not saying I never tricked an umpire, just that I used more tact.