Kardball Umpires

If Kardball were a professional sport, with championship titles and prizes at stake, we would probably want some kind of officiating — in other words, umpires.  What would the Kardball umpire do?

Dealing

One solution to the gray area of dealing the cards every half-inning is to have a full-time dealer.  That way it will always be consistent.  In addition, the dealer/umpire would also take charge of dealing out cards to the pitcher after every strike, dealing a replacement card to the defense when they make an out, and dealing three new cards to the next (deck or hole) batter after a hit.

In true Las Vegas fashion, the dealer should also scrape together all the played and discarded cards and make out piles.

Calling Plays

Without an umpire, the defense has to say "safe" or "out" every time a batter hits a pitch, or a runner tries to steal a base, and the batter has to call his own strikes.  It's not a bad system.  A base on balls is obvious to the whole table, too, as long as the pitcher doesn't try to cheat by withdrawing his pitch card without anyone noticing.

But calling these plays would be another good job for the Kardball ump — especially in those cases such as where a rookie fielder plays a two against a batter's two after a six was pitched. He can call this an "error" and rule the batter safe.

Game Board Maintenance

Who doesn't love to watch the umpire sweep sand off home plate? Am I right? Let the Kardball umpire keep the cards in the right spots on the board, and keep the out piles neat.  It will add a bit of sophistication to organized games. Let him push those Jokers out in front of the last batter on each side, while those of us playing the game continue to chew gum, spit, adjust our caps and scratch ourselves.