Worst Partner Ever

[FleasOf1000Camels]

9 14u games last weekend with a veteran umpire who needed to retire 20 years ago.  The only shirt he brought on Saturday was a strange neon-blue golf shirt with an IZOD logo...none of the 16 shirts I had could come close to matching.  He claimed it was the "new MLB powder":...bullcrap, I found it last night on Kohl's website on sale for $14.99.  Slacks were wrinkled, filthy and fly wouldn't close.  Holes in his shoes and an old faded beanie cap with the logo of some obscure minor league.  Worked the plate mostly behind an old-school pillow...sometimes standing, but usually from a knee...NO slot, directly behind catcher.  Zone was strikingly different when he was standing vs when on a knee. Players, coaches, fans all grumbling about zone all weekend, of course he never heard it, because he doesn't wear his hearing aid on the field.

Never moved more than a step from home plate, even in obvious rotation situations.  Never, even once did he point or announce a ball back in play after dead-ball.  He misapplied an obstruction award, gave team a run they didn't deserve.  After game he admitted that his award was wrong, but he wanted to get that team an extra run to get closer to mercy rule.   He was actually proud of himself for this..."that's good game management" he said.   Kept referring to FED rules, despite pre-game and regular reminders that we were playing under OBR.  Verbally announced FAIR balls,  called balls FOUL before they were touched or past base  (only got burned on this once).  Regularly made calls that were not his...I'm in C, shallow liner to F8 who makes a nice, fully extended diving play...I'm waiting to be sure he's held it, then I hear from the plate "that's a nice catch, batter's OUT". 

When on the bases, he walks from position to position, even while play is ongoing...walks, huh, shuffles is more like it.  Reminds me of the old man Tim Conway used to play on the skits with Carol Burnette.  Never looked at 1st as batter-runner passed, walking behind batter runner going 1st to 2nd.  Looked like a spectator watching fly balls to LF and CF from A position...and several times got burned with these balls were not caught.  Once, the only base runner was trapped in a sloppy pickle between 3rd and home, I'm running back and forth in the gear, while he's standing over in B with his arms folded.  Once I looked at him between pitches (he was in A, kind of)...he was 20 feet in the outfield grass, and a good 12-15 feet in foul ground...I'm thinking wtf is he doing way over there...then I get it...at that point in the day, there was a shadow there from the light standards.   

After final game, I'm sitting at the tournament directors table, out of uniform, chatting with his wife, while TD is out on another field presenting trophies.  A couple from the team that just lost our championship game is ripping on TD's wife about how horrible "that one ump was"..."lazy, inconsistent zone, embarrassment, etc".  Then a fan from the winning team came over, and told her that he was in "total agreement with everything the other couple was saying".  He said "the other umpire (me) must have wished he could go hide under a rock."  He then recognized me, and said "you certainly must have felt ashamed to be on the same field with that clown."  My response "No comment."

 

 

 

 

[Mister B]

Nothing as bad as that, but i had a partner stop to tie his shoe during a play. Most of the time, he locked on to the ball, while on the bases, and really had no idea what the runners were doing. The worst was when he called the runner out on a tag at 3B. The coach asked if he could get help, as he approaches me, he announces loudly that he really didn't see the play. 

[BrianC14]

Damn, I thought I had some tough ones....    love the Tim Conway example.   Better days ahead.

 

 

[FleasOf1000Camels]

My guy did something similar.  I'm on the dish, he's in A, deep fly ball to LF corner, so I'm locked on ball.  I'm about 5 steps up 3rd base line as ball hits half way up the wall, 6-7 feet fair.  I'm emphatically pointing to fair ground, then take a look at runner, he's cruising in to 2nd as throw is headed toward 3rd.  I hear 3rd base coach shouting 'its all in front of you, take a turn and watch the throw."  Where's dipstick partner?...STANDING with hands on hips, about halfway between A and F4's normal position.

As ball gets back to infield, F3 is shouting "he missed first base".  F2 turns to me and says "can we appeal that he missed 1st base?"  (This one always makes me sad...most of these kids are used to FED rules, and don't understand how to make a live-ball appeal...I quietly said to F2 "I can't help you son, I was watching the ball."  F2 then shouts to dipstick "Sir, he missed 1st base."  DC is shouting to F1, "throw it to 1st, and Johnny you step on the bag".  As F1 throws to F3, dipstick shouts "TIME", then signals SAFE.

The crowd, especially those on the 1st base side, are howling "How can you call that?...You were not even watching."  I have no idea if he touched or not, but based on what I'd seen of this idiot over the past few games, I'm quite certain that he never saw the touch or no-touch.  After the game I told him "if you're going to be a spectator, you ought to buy a f***ing ticket."

 

[ElkOil]

I hate getting trapped in a sloppy pickle.

[Richvee]

9 games with this guy? God Bless You.

[stkjock]

8 minutes ago, Richvee said:

9 games with this guy? God Cursed You.

FTFY  

[Kevin_K]

Two with the same partner can be more than enough.... ain't dat right @Richvee?

Fuggetaboudit.....  sorry wrong thread.

[Richvee]

6 minutes ago, Kevin_K said:

Two with the same partner can be more than enough.... ain't dat right @Richvee?

Fuggetaboudit.....  sorry wrong thread.

Sometimes it's got nothing to do with the partner..When it's 90 and humid and you've run out of water in the 6th inning of game 2? Yes indeed. ...Next Sunday  I'll bring enough water.

[Kevin_K]

Just now, Richvee said:

Sometimes it's got nothing to do with the partner..When it's 90 and humid and you've run out of water in the 6th inning of game 2? Yes indeed. ...Next Sunday  I'll bring enough water.

And I will bring the post game libations.

[Richvee]

5 minutes ago, Kevin_K said:

And I will bring the post game libations.

[Stk004]

4 hours ago, Richvee said:

9 games with this guy? God Bless You.

Something tells me those 9 game fees weren't nearly enough for fleas, especially considering these kids were 14. My condolences.  

[ElkOil]

15 hours ago, Richvee said:

9 games with this guy? God Bless You.

Sounds like he didn't!

[stkjock]

6 hours ago, ElkOil said:

Sounds like he didn't!

 see my post above. 

[Jimurray]

On 6/19/2017 at 4:11 PM, FleasOf1000Camels said:

My guy did something similar.  I'm on the dish, he's in A, deep fly ball to LF corner, so I'm locked on ball.  I'm about 5 steps up 3rd base line as ball hits half way up the wall, 6-7 feet fair.  I'm emphatically pointing to fair ground, then take a look at runner, he's cruising in to 2nd as throw is headed toward 3rd.  I hear 3rd base coach shouting 'its all in front of you, take a turn and watch the throw."  Where's dipstick partner?...STANDING with hands on hips, about halfway between A and F4's normal position.

As ball gets back to infield, F3 is shouting "he missed first base".  F2 turns to me and says "can we appeal that he missed 1st base?"  (This one always makes me sad...most of these kids are used to FED rules, and don't understand how to make a live-ball appeal...I quietly said to F2 "I can't help you son, I was watching the ball."  F2 then shouts to dipstick "Sir, he missed 1st base."  DC is shouting to F1, "throw it to 1st, and Johnny you step on the bag".  As F1 throws to F3, dipstick shouts "TIME", then signals SAFE.

The crowd, especially those on the 1st base side, are howling "How can you call that?...You were not even watching."  I have no idea if he touched or not, but based on what I'd seen of this idiot over the past few games, I'm quite certain that he never saw the touch or no-touch.  After the game I told him "if you're going to be a spectator, you ought to buy a f***ing ticket."

 

Your partner told me about his game. He told me about how he backed you up when he saw that you only got 5 steps down the line (a little truth there) on a deep fly ball so he stopped and backed you up (bullcrap there). But his buddies congratulated him on a good game and good back up afterwood and they went off celebrating what they don't know.

On a balk that was no, balk addressed in a thread here, while many concerned umpires where cognizant about what happened, they were also aghast at the congratulations of a good job by many of their cohorts from the same umpire organisation as the calling ones.

We have a long way to go as @lawump will tell you. 

But maybe I can make you feel better, or not, because there have been some failures but unknown successes in cockpits around the world where a partner dealt with a less accomplished partner and everything worked out.

[udbrky]

Worked with a guy tonight, 3rd time this last month, and he always shows up right at game time. Tonight, he said he'd do plate before the game, and I had to dress quickly and he came up at game time. So frustrating with a partner that continually does what they shouldn't do.

[MadMax]

How about calling a Grand Slam Home Run, fair by two whole wall panels, a Foul Ball?... in a USA Baseball tournament game?... using Fed rules, so it cannot be fixed or overruled?... and would have given us runs 11, 12, 13, and 14, and put us well on our way to a 15-run Run Rule -shortened game of 3 innings and 1 hour? Instead, we had that game go thru the 5th inning, with wasted arms on both sides, and it went 1 hour 58 minutes...

... in 114º heat.

My partner for three games was a clown. He spoke in vacuous, abstract soliloquies and phrases. If I was to say "his head was in the clouds", I'd be lying, because Arizona has no clouds... but his head was nowhere near the game venue's four fields. He only brought Classic Polo Blue w/ black collar and Cream. That's it. I myself can pull any one of twenty different styles or colors from my shirt arsenal, but I've become soured on Cream, primarily because of what happened here, and the association I now have between Cream and this clown. His signals were a cross between directing aircraft to land and feigning a bareknuckled boxing match of the 1900's. Never was a call made from B; oh sure, he'd start out at B, but during the first pitch of that batter, he'd drift over to C, continuing to judge pickoff attempts of R1 at 1B. He wouldn't mechanic "Safe" until the ball was back... to the pitcher!! If there was an Out, he'd rise up onto one foot and drive his fist straight down, looking like an old man slamming down the remote control because he saw something outrageous on television, bellowing, "AAAAAAHHHHHHOUUUUUTTTTT!".

Many of his calls were made while he was on the move, each time with a loping, flailing gait.

With such incredible heat here in Arizona, the tournament has been scheduling only 3 games per day, and made it very clear to not only get games completed in as rapid a fashion as possible, but that umpire crews should divide the workload to 2 Plates first (morning), then switch for the last one (midday). My partner presented to me, using vocabulary, delivery and tone that would be found in a late weeknight television infomercial for some spa (I'm not kidding... he used the term "refreshed" four times) that we should go me on Plate first, then switch for the second, then switch back for the third!

Not. Happening. If I take my Plate pants, shin guards, plate shoes and personal protector off, I am not putting them back on again for at least 24 hours. Besides that, my Cream shirt was, after only one game, sodden and riddled with mud splatters because, of course, we're on the first game of the day on a freshly watered field, played by 15-year olds throwing 59' pitches (stop throwing "breaking" balls, you snots! They're already broke!).

Calls made at 3B were regular events of great trepidation, for the 3BC would be trying, furtively, to see if I would intercede and/or have a different call. Simply stated, I was not stepping into that sh!tshow. At one point, we had a rundown between 3B and Home. Blatant obstruction occurred, with R3 nearly tackled by F5 (or F6, couldn't tell) waiting on F2 to stop pump-faking. I called "That's Obstruction!", only to have my BU follow the mess of bodies to 3B and call R3 "AAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOUUUUUUTTTTT!" after F2 finally threw to what I believe to be F7 covering the base. During the half-inning break, my Site Coordinator walked in with water and towels and his first words were, "Obstruction all day every day... how did he miss that??"

But all of these events paled in comparison to the forthcoming suckfest when he got on the Plate. He started his plate meeting with "Welcome to our fabulous baseball environment...". I watched the two head coaches visibly wince, each, and roll their eyes. Again, his signals were wild embellishments, his mechanics were all cartoonish, and his game management skills were nearly nonexistent. His zone was inconsistent at best, and when the score started to become lopsided, got overtly distorted, searching for strikes... and that was just in the 2nd inning!!

Then, there we were in the top of the 3rd, bases loaded, and one of the VT's best hitters absolutely tattoos one, over a Major League Spring Training field fence, and I'm about to crank up the "touch'em'all" mechanic when I notice my PU's Columbia Blue shirt out of the corner of my left eye, and see him up the 3BL, at around the 60'-70' mark (meaning he let R3 go past him), waving his arms and calling Foul... late... and on the move. The place came unglued. I had to explain to both coaches and sets of ballplayers (within earshot) that under Fed rules, once a ball has been called Foul, it is foul forever, and cannot be fixed.

For the remaining two innings, every time a fly ball went to the outfield where it was PU's call of catch/no-catch, a chorus of "Foul"'s would come from the dugout. And, each time the VTHC would look my way, he'd shake his head in disappointment, sympathy, and pity. He voiced his biggest concern out loud, at the close of the game, to no-one in particular but for most to hear – "Yeah, Sammy just had to throw 50 unnecessary pitches."

[Jimurray]

19 minutes ago, MadMax said:

How about calling a Grand Slam Home Run, fair by two whole wall panels, a Foul Ball?... in a USA Baseball tournament game?... using Fed rules, so it cannot be fixed or overruled?... and would have given us runs 11, 12, 13, and 14, and put us well on our way to a 15-run Run Rule -shortened game of 3 innings and 1 hour? Instead, we had that game go thru the 5th inning, with wasted arms on both sides, and it went 1 hour 58 minutes...

... in 114º heat.

My partner for three games was a clown. He spoke in vacuous, abstract soliloquies and phrases. If I was to say "his head was in the clouds", I'd be lying, because Arizona has no clouds... but his head was nowhere near the game venue's four fields. He only brought Classic Polo Blue w/ black collar and Cream. That's it. I myself can pull any one of twenty different styles or colors from my shirt arsenal, but I've become soured on Cream, primarily because of what happened here, and the association I now have between Cream and this clown. His signals were a cross between directing aircraft to land and feigning a bareknuckled boxing match of the 1900's. Never was a call made from B; oh sure, he'd start out at B, but during the first pitch of that batter, he'd drift over to C, continuing to judge pickoff attempts of R1 at 1B. He wouldn't mechanic "Safe" until the ball was back... to the pitcher!! If there was an Out, he'd rise up onto one foot and drive his fist straight down, looking like an old man slamming down the remote control because he saw something outrageous on television, bellowing, "AAAAAAHHHHHHOUUUUUTTTTT!".

Many of his calls were made while he was on the move, each time with a loping, flailing gait.

With such incredible heat here in Arizona, the tournament has been scheduling only 3 games per day, and made it very clear to not only get games completed in as rapid a fashion as possible, but that umpire crews should divide the workload to 2 Plates first (morning), then switch for the last one (midday). My partner presented to me, using vocabulary, delivery and tone that would be found in a late weeknight television infomercial for some spa (I'm not kidding... he used the term "refreshed" four times) that we should go me on Plate first, then switch for the second, then switch back for the third!

Not. Happening. If I take my Plate pants, shin guards, plate shoes and personal protector off, I am not putting them back on again for at least 24 hours. Besides that, my Cream shirt was, after only one game, sodden and riddled with mud splatters because, of course, we're on the first game of the day on a freshly watered field, played by 15-year olds throwing 59' pitches (stop throwing "breaking" balls, you snots! They're already broke!).

Calls made at 3B were regular events of great trepidation, for the 3BC would be trying, furtively, to see if I would intercede and/or have a different call. Simply stated, I was not stepping into that sh!tshow. At one point, we had a rundown between 3B and Home. Blatant obstruction occurred, with R3 nearly tackled by F5 (or F6, couldn't tell) waiting on F2 to stop pump-faking. I called "That's Obstruction!", only to have my BU follow the mess of bodies to 3B and call R3 "AAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOUUUUUUTTTTT!" after F2 finally threw to what I believe to be F7 covering the base. During the half-inning break, my Site Coordinator walked in with water and towels and his first words were, "Obstruction all day every day... how did he miss that??"

But all of these events paled in comparison to forthcoming suckfest when he got on the Plate. He started his plate meeting with "Welcome to our fabulous baseball environment...". I watched the two head coaches visibly wince, each, and roll their eyes. Again, his signals were wild embellishments, his mechanics were all cartoonish, and his game management skills were nearly nonexistent. His zone was inconsistent at best, and when the score started to become lopsided, got overtly distorted, searching for strikes... and that was just in the 2nd inning!!

Then, there we were in the top of the 3rd, bases loaded, and one of the VT's best hitters absolutely tattoos one, over a Major League Spring Training field fence, and I'm about to crank up the "touch'em'all" mechanic when I notice my PU's Columbia Blue shirt out of the corner of my left eye, and see him up the 3BL, at around the 60'-70' mark (meaning he let R3 go past him), waving his arms and calling Foul... late... and on the move. The place came unglued. I had to explain to both coaches and sets of ballplayers (within earshot) that under Fed rules, once a ball has been called Foul, it is foul forever, and cannot be fixed.

For the remaining two innings, every time a fly ball went to the outfield where it was PU's call of catch/no-catch, a chorus of "Foul"'s would come from the dugout. And, each time the VTHC would look my way, he'd shake his head in disappointment, sympathy, and pity. He voiced his biggest concern out loud, at the close of the game, to no-one in particular but for most to hear – "Yeah, Sammy just had to throw 50 unnecessary pitches."

I think you had an opportunity to negate the foul and allow the HR. At least the way I read 2-16-e. And some interps.

2005

SITUATION 3: With one out and a 1-1 count, the batter hits a high fly ball in left field near the foul line. The umpire declares “Foul Ball” as the fly ball is subsequently caught by the left fielder. RULING: Once the umpire verbally declares “Foul Ball,” the ball is dead and treated as foul ball. The batter will return to bat with a 1-2 count and still one out. (5-1-1h)

SITUATION 4: With the bases empty, the batter hits a long fly ball down the left-field line that easily goes over the outfield fence. With the sun in his eyes, the plate umpire initially declares “Foul Ball,” but then realizes he made a mistake, that the ball did indeed go over the fence in flight in fair territory. RULING: The umpire may reverse his call and declare a home run. The ball is dead because it left the field by going over the fence in flight, not because the umpire declared, “Foul Ball.” (10-2-1l, 5-1-1f-4, 8-3-3a)

Note in 2006 they added 2-16-e and an interp to negate the above Sit 3 but they did not negate Sit 4.

[MadMax]

5 minutes ago, Jimurray said:

I think you had an opportunity to negate the foul and allow the HR. At least the way I read 2-16-e.

Two things working against this, especially under Fed rules: 1) the ball never visibly came down. It went over the opaque fence into a grove of citrus trees; 2) my partner was PU, and thus, was UIC. And, according to 10-1-4 and 10-3-1, I'm not in a position to change that finality.

[Jimurray]

20 minutes ago, MadMax said:

Two things working against this, especially under Fed rules: 1) the ball never visibly came down. It went over the opaque fence into a grove of citrus trees; 2) my partner was PU, and thus, was UIC. And, according to 10-1-4 and 10-3-1, I'm not in a position to change that finality.

But he would be if you correctly told the offended team that they could ask the PU to confer. 

[Aging_Arbiter]

47 minutes ago, MadMax said:

Two things working against this, especially under Fed rules: 1) the ball never visibly came down. It went over the opaque fence into a grove of citrus trees; 2) my partner was PU, and thus, was UIC. And, according to 10-1-4 and 10-3-1, I'm not in a position to change that finality.

Unless your organization clearly states the PU is the game UIC, I would disagree with you.  Granted, some do indicated the positioning as such, some do not.  Based on your testimony, I would say that the PU and the UIC were in 2 different positions that day.

[ilyazhito]

Indeed. I would shudder to think of what a game with the partner MadMax described would be like. Hopefully the AIA has higher standards for umpires than the one that MadMax worked the USA Baseball tournament with. I had a partner for the second game of a high school doubleheader in PG County who wore a yellow undershirt, no plate shoes, a navy blue shirt with the "PG Boys and Girls Club" logo, and a hat with the "PGBGC" abbreviation. Normal practice in my association is to wear "MAC" hats for games in Maryland, and "NV" hats for games in Virginia. The MPSSAA (Maryland's governing body for high school sports) also requires baseball umpires to wear a navy blue uniform with the MPSSAA patch on the right sleeve (This implies that no other additions to the uniform are allowed, except perhaps an American flag).   The non-standard uniform made me suspicious about my partner's ability, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

Once the game started, I was on the bases, and he was working the plate (I worked the first game of the doubleheader alone, because my assigned partner for that game was removed the day before, and MAC could not find a replacement for him.). I noticed that he worked over the catcher instead of in the slot, and his judgement of balls and strikes seemed to be accurate. However, the situation changed with runners on base. He would not give any rotation signals, and if I initiated any signals, he would not respond to them. Because of that, I had to cover all plays on the bases alone. Fortunately, the game ended in a blowout after the third inning, when both coaches agreed to call the game.

After the high school season, I had a travel game out in Anne Arundel County with this same partner. He did not move from home plate, and left me to cover a play at 3rd base alone. What is worse was that play should have been a rotation situation, but I had to scramble over to 3rd after seeing the batter-runner touch 1st base. At least he responded to rotation signals this time, so he might even rotate next game we have together! Fingers crossed.