I realize I’m slicing semantics and dicing details, but I chose my terms carefully, and details matter.
Whether or not an ejection is enacted when the circumstances and actions likely warrant it does have a direct bearing (or effect) upon your perceived capability as an umpire. Yes, on this, you are correct. However, it begs the question – “Who is doing the observing?” The “who” is important, because whomever it is, they are employing subjective bias.
By contrast, when you use the term “measurable”, that relates to an objective point. We also use the term “metric(s)”. Games worked at X level, TrackMan score, NFHS test results… those are all metrics… measurables. We crave measurables. We work in a stats-heavy industry, everything is broken down, reformulated, and scrutinized in numbers and figures, and then compared and projected. We just can’t do that with umpiring. There’s much too much subjectivity (and too many variables) inherit in our line of work.
Certainly, there is no shortage of people who try and translate subjective “impression” into objective results. We typically call them grades.
Ejections are a terrible, almost meaningless metric, insofar that their quantity is no indication as to if they were warranted (“good” ejection vs. a “bad” ejection), nor does it convey any of the events leading up to them, nor if the umpire with the “notches in his belt” followed the “proper” steps and protocols.
What was the purpose of your observing (and subsequently evaluating) him?
It was a one-man game, which creates an entirely different context. It begs the question, why didn’t you work with him? I’m not upset with you, BB4U, but more… irritated with the assigner. In that one-man game, that umpire likely took the path of least resistance and friction. Was there a sign posted “no buckets outside dugout”? If not (and that’s what it sounds like), did the buckets themselves cause any problems during the game? And if he’s walking everywhere, I can sympathize… solo games are long, and there’s a lot to manage. You have to maintain focus over the entirety of the game. What purpose is served from running/hustling everywhere, all the time, in a game like that one? I have found that, given my size (6’2” 215), that if I discern and choose when to run and when to walk purposefully, the participants (players, coaches) have a more appropriately responsive attitude.
The essence of my point is not that you, BB4U, are wrong or incorrect… simply to point out that a lot of this is contextual and subjective.