Daniel

Please, oh please do not become one of THOSE guys who "eject" fans. Maybe I am sadistic ba$tard, but fans who act like this usually get a quick, but visible chuckle from me. When I won't take their bait...silience occurs. Thank goodness for that fence tho. Use at your own risk. If they become too much a nusance, placing both teams in the dugout until the offender leave will also solve your problem. Today a pissy fan kept motioning for me to come to the fence so he could talk to me about my strike zone....

Thats flippin funny right there! And for some reason, a mental picture just popped in my head of the mask comming off followed by a big hook. Then complete silence moments later. I look into the dugout and make eye contact with an Ass coach, who tells me "Yeah, I said you're horrible". Needless to say, off came the mask, and out went the ass. ..... The one humorous part was a fan from the home team said "He lives there, Blue. Let's play baseball. He does not live there. The house he was in front of was previously owned by Pete Jr, and the ass coach was not the purchaser when Jr sold the house !

This is probably the closest section for this...if not please move. Recently, we've been instructed to use the FED restriction rule in non-Fed games. The other rule sets our association officiates do not have such a provision. To my understanding, it is an attempt to keep more coaches in the game because they pay big bucks to get in there tourneys yada yada yada. Although I have voiced my displeasure with this, I'm told I won't win this battle. I think the context in which they (our leaders) would like to see this implemented is as an alternative to ejection. Any time I've used it, I end up with an ejection anyways because the coach ends up coming back out to the field...its just not effective in summer ball. IMHO. Anyone have to contribute? I'd really like to come up with an irrefutable arguement in hopes of getting someone to see some light here.

Pony, I think my partner sensed from the tone of his voice ( and the type of play he wanted an "appeal" on ) that the HC was going to be quite the A-hole, and figured he better shut it down. From our pre-game he knew if I said a fielder was off the base, that I was dead certain on it and would not be asking for help. I personally don't have a problem with my partner telling a HC he had the same thing as I, if it saves from further discussion and delay on silly requests like this. The actual "appeal" request was that his fielder got to the base before the runner did. It will stop any coach dead turkey. @Jocko sure does !! Come on, now you're just axing fo' it. Alright Fish.

Nope, I just think he really didn't want to be there that night. Although, perhaps a person probably half his age (myself) instructing him to go back to his box was enough to make him feel that way. The second time I said to him it wasn't a polite request, but rather a firm "I need you back in your box, NOW" deal. The only thing I could have done differently was not let there be that second time and EJ for being out of his allowed position; although that would have come across redassed.

Pony, I think my partner sensed from the tone of his voice ( and the type of play he wanted an "appeal" on ) that the HC was going to be quite the A-hole, and figured he better shut it down. From our pre-game he knew if I said a fielder was off the base, that I was dead certain on it and would not be asking for help. I personally don't have a problem with my partner telling a HC he had the same thing as I, if it saves from further discussion and delay on silly requests like this. The actual "appeal" request was that his fielder got to the base before the runner did. It will stop any coach dead turkey.

Oh why oh why would you make that call. I am sure you wouldn't have heard a peep after that mess of a game. If you were on the field with me, you'd be buying me a 32oz. serloin steak WITH that adult beverage.

Top 1: Grounder to F6. Throw pulls F3 off the bag, and F3 attempts to get back but comes no where near. I signal off the base - Safe. DHC groans from the dugout the F3 got back on. Comes out and tells my partner he wants to appeal it to him. Partner tells him F3 was off the bag. We move on. Bot 1: Same HC is now in the 1B coach's box. R1 is thrown out on a steal to 2B - close but out. On my way back to A, the HC starts arguging that his runner was in there. I said the tag was in time. HC keeps arguging and at this point is holding up the game as he is on the 1B foul line and not in his box. I instruct him to get back in his box. He grumbles some more about that being two calls now and I tell him thats enough and that he needs to get in his box NOW. He complies. Bot 1 with 2 Out. F5 gets a grounder and fires to F3 for a banger at 1B. I bang the out and head to short RF. I get about half way and he starts approaching me that his runner(s) were safe. I told him what I had and that we aren't disucssing it any further. He said "Well I wanna talk about the way you spoke to me." OK. I explained to him things could have gone much worse since he didn't listen the first time and kept arguing. He responded with "I don't need to be treated like that. When you grow up, maybe you'll learn how to talk to other adults properly." At that point he was EJ and sits in the dugout for a few minutes, holding up the game. (Time continues to run...) He finally leaves the dugout and sits in front row of the bleachers in plain view. "Now I REALLY get to yell" he yells. I don't think so. One of the assistants finally got him to leave the park and play resumed. I recieved some grief the next day over this ejection...with the BS excuses of "We're trying to attract more teams" and "Don't eject anyone - just ignore". I told my UIC at that point he would need to find a replacement for my other games this weekend as I would not work under those circumstances. The tone changed to an apolgetic state pretty quick as he wasn't looking for that assigning nightmare...

Just another day on the t-ball diamond eh Jax?

@ Jocko I swear you sent this guy to work with me a few weeks back. "Partner" (an experienced slo-pitch umpire?) shows up 45 minutes before the game. He's already dressed and I see him from the parking lot on the field talking with everyone. I think WTF. Go down and introduce myself and notice he's got all his plate gear on - I'm still in street clothes. (I had been assigned the dish on GM1 - already gotten my gear out and cleaned it, etc. You bet I want that early plate while its cool ) He tells me he only lives a few blocks away and figured he'd just walk over dressed. I offered to let him store his gear and such in my car, but he said no I'll just keep everything by the fence. He looks at his phone and realizes I have the plate because he looked at the schedule wrong. OK. We have a pregame where he insists PU has ALL tag ups, catches, fair/foul. Begin crash course in proper two man mechanics - to which he responded "This is too hard, this why I don't go to clinics or do what the book says. My way is easier." Gimme your game fee if thats what you insist. During the game he would routinely be out of position, and refuse to move back to A when he should. I think he called at a steal at 3B from A or B once (Small diamond) forgetting about R3. "Go on, I got it from here". I even brushed the plate a few times thinking he'd get where he was supposed to and motioned to him. When he was on the plate, he wore a mask that has no bottom pad or throat protection. WTFF Just a metal frame with a top pad. Last game we were on a different field. He as the BU jumped the plate meeting and began making up weird ground rules and referring to lodged balls as "blocked balls", insisting thats always the way we've played it at this field. After the conference was over, he asked me how many years I've been doing these tournaments, as I don't know what I'm talking about. I finally told him to get his @ss out to RF and do not talk to me. "Young man, you do not talk to me like that - you're going to be in trouble when I call the UIC!!" One of the coaches heard him say it, and said "now the umpires are fighting." I talked with the UIC later about this and learned this guy was probably going to end up quitting, as he was mad at all of the assignors over lack of game assignments. It was either that guy, or one I worked with naybe 6-7 years ago - that insisted he didn't call a catch when he said out and signaled so. The ensuing cluster f~ was a negated triple play and him screaming at me I need to pay attention. That story for some other time tho!

I laughed when they said something about "you could just take the bat then on a chopper and smack it again and it would be foul!!" NOT.

Surely you don't need all those shirts and pants for three games. Jelly of the field. About the nicest field I've ever been on was one used mainly for Men's fast pitch....375ft+ fences at 10ft high. lol

I sincerely hope this is a joke.

Am I too far back from the catcher? What do you guys think?

Jax oh boy, you're something else in your old age!!