renegadewolf

Man... I dislike the navy, but damn there is some outright animosity towards it in this thread... Fortunately here in Ontario we can wear navy, powder, black, cream and red. MOST upper level umpires here prefer black and powder with a few having cream (great for those hot sun shiny days). I've worn navy once in the last 5 years and it was because I was covering a game in an association I don't normally work for any they only offer the navy to their umpires and I was with a younger kid so I knew he wasn't spending any money on additional jerseys 219

​Correct. Batter stepped out in front of the plate of his strike 3 call. 96

I always like to get advice from my fellow umpires, that's why I post stuff here, so when I make a mistake or do something silly, I can get called out on it, learn from it and become a better umpire for it. As it happens, the game was a 10/U tournament, which was a heavy influence in the judgement that it was incidental contact. I like the advice of calling "THAT'S NOTHING" in this situation while it may not have stopped the coach from arguing, he would have had a clear understanding of my thoughts on the matter before he went off. Again, for clarification on the catch at first , I had the ball bouncing straight out of the glove as it hit the glove. I also like the idea of presenting that you are only trying to keep his kid in the game, will attempt to work that in if (when) that sort of a situation arises again. 88

In m own experience, waiting for a coach to count to 3 is too long. Not too long ago I let a coach get to three before I stepped in (was working with a new umpire who had maybe 10 games experience in) and told him to knock it off. Problem was is that by allowing his shenanigans not only did we as a team of umpires look weak and desperate, it gave other coaches the idea it was fine to rattle off to us. It damn near led to the ejection of all 4 coaches on the bench (which would have ended the game.... but i digress) because they all now had the idea in their heads that they could be obnoxious (at least a couple times) before anything would be said to them. What it chalked up to was poor game management by myself in the interests of seeing if my junior partner would do anything. While nipping it in the bud earlier doesn't always have a happy ending for someone it leads to fewer problems for yourself and other umpires in the future. As for working 8 years and never having an eject... good for you i suppose, though i am in the camp of I suspect an umpire in that situation has put up with some things that just shouldn't have been put up with. Sometimes people do stupid stuff for no reason, had a kid i banged out on a strike 3, down the dick so to speak, and he decided to reach across the plate and draw a line in the dirt.... a kid who was rounding third who was caught by an excellent throw from the outfield to the catcher doesn't even try to jump out of the way and runs into the catcher... both easy ejections one can't ignore or conversely, perhaps you should just buy yourself a lottery ticket to have worked that long and genuinely not run across anything hair brained the player or coach isn't automatically tossed....lol 64

While generally speaking my game last night progressed smoothly enough, teams were in rare form 15/u. through 7 inninhs I had batter interference, catchers interference, inside the park home run (fenced in park), pitcher dropped ball on the rubber balk, over throw the 3rd baseman out of play on an attempt to appeal a tag up on 3rd, catcher throws ball out of play after a dropped 3K (yes throwing to first.....) and a pitched ball rilled out of play on a ball 4 with no runners on (coach was confused as to why his runner didn't get second but I explained and finally an outfielder who lost the ball in the sun deep in CF and ended up wearing it on his face (I heard the smack of ball against flesh from about the pitchers mound, and that wasn't the in the park hr... though it was a stand up triple)

I know the reports are wordy, but i was asked by the convener of the tournament to be detailed about the incidences Game: 12PM VPark Teams: C vs W Inning of incident: Bottom of 6th inning. Runner on 2nd, 2 out Person ejected: Coach #2 C There was a play at first base, F3 was in the act of fielding a throw to him from F6 he had the back half of his foot on the bag. The ball reached the fielder before the batter runner reached the base however immediately the batter runner reached the bag and in my judgement made incidental contact with the fielder(stepping on his heel and both players going down) and the fielder dropped the ball before he had secured it so I declared the runner safe . During this time the runner from second had rounded third and was heading towards home and subsequently crossed home. As there was continuing action I did not call time and allowed the run to score. The coach was disagreeing with the call at first as well as allowing the run to score he started yelling that "I made the wrong call, this was a player safety issue so i can't let the run score and that i made a terrible call". I tried to being to explain why I had ruled the way I had but he just interrupted me yelling "you're terrible" at which point I ejected the coach. Coach initially did not leave the are, so I called time and informed the coach he needed to leave but he did not leave. I next told the coach that he needed to leave immediately, again he did not leave. I then told the coach that we were not going to commence playing until he left the area. Coach then left the area immediately. Game: 4PM V Park Teams : G Vs A Inning of incident: Bottom of 3 Person ejected: Coach #2 A Coach had been argumentative about strikes in previous innings, but nothing was said to the coach in the first 2 innings by either my partner nor myself. In the bottom of the 3rd a batter for the A struck out, and was being demonstrative about his being upset for striking out. The player waved his arms out made and exasperated face and audibly expressed his disappointment. I told the batter to knock it off at which point the coach interjected and told me not to speak to his kid. I told coach the player was being demonstrative and that wasn't acceptable. Coach retorted with he was coming to me not you and i should mind my business and then started to go on about how awful the zone was. I ejected the coach. Upon realizing he had been ejected the coach started to come onto the field. I told him 3 times not to come onto the field, he was done, but he decided to come out anyways. The coach was asking if he didn't get a warning, i said no and then began to ignored him as he was going on about my proficiency as an umpire. I then asked the A head coach to get the ejected coach off the field, however the ejected coach left without incident and immediately left the area 49

I'm more or less in line with maven here but to me once the coaches goes demonstrative, if my partner doesn't do anything I'm taking that step. My partner might not like it, the teams might think i am being a red ass but the fact of the matter is I do have the authority to do so (8.01d) and when a coach decides it is ok to try and get away with that crap and is allowed to, it just becomes another umpires problem in the future. 265

If it fits in the fence, I put it there, if not I put it up against the fence. Had a catcher a few games ago ask me to move my gatorade bottle from against the fence, to where I am not sure but I told him it wasn't going to happen. 66

Was doing a 14U game, and the pitcher just couldn't hit the zone for his life, just a bad night for him I guess. The problem was that after every pitch he would make faces and raise his arms in a shrug and make loud exaggerated sighs. After about an inning a half of this behavior going on my partner calls time after yet another pitch in the dirt takes off his mask as he steps out from behind the plate and tells the kid he needs to knock it off with expressions, further my partner says to the kid that he is showing him up and he won't put up with it anymore. Finally this gem come out. "I don't know what leagues you play in, but those weren't strikes in any of them". Now the HC comes out the mound and starts yelling at my partner "you can't be mean to my pitcher, don't talk to him like that". A brief exchange occurred between them which ended with the coach yelling "Why don't you just throw me out then", my partner obliged. Glad I had nothing to do with this whole situation. 5560

i just got mine in the mail Wednesday, haven't worn them in game yet, but I love the feel. 56

This seems like one of those rules that the onus is on the opposing team to be aware of before enforcing.... like an appeal, or a pitcher using a glove with white panels, it's up to the other team to recognize the situation I'm not saying word one until I hear a complaint from the coach and only then will I do something about it.

I know I am going to get some major disagreement here, but sometimes you have to give a fool the rope to hang himself. While generally I try to stay away from ultimatums especially in higher levels but in special cases I have used them. If the coach wants to be a smart alec and say "word" after I have given him direction that I am done listening to him, toss him, the context will be there in the report and the ejection will be justified. Showing me up is showing me up and sometimes a trouble maker has to go.

International(Canadian) team+FED=WTF.... Truer words have rarely been spoken. Most people up here haven't even heard of FED rules. glad to hear a semi-local team has done well down south of the boarder. 45

Lets see..... the big peeves in no particular order. Informing a new pitcher about outs/on bases/new batter/marital status etc... not having balls ready for me at the plate meeting catchers who insist on framing the ball for more than a second the term "full count" the count is not full it is 3 balls and 2 strikes, there is going to be another one of those two options called eventually, therefor the count is not full..... any coach who insists on telling me that they either are, or were at one point an umpire where is the strike zone? "can you check that" when the bat hasn't left the batters shoulder "you are the plate umpire.... can't you overturn your partners call"? 41

Had to turn off the volume listening to the abject stupidity of the people in the crowd..... Why on gods green earth U2 kept his arm in the air while coach was screaming at him, but i digress. A coach who comes running out like that and screaming the whole while is going to get a very short rope, maybe he somehow managed to get his point across without crossing a line, but I have my doubts. For what I do (OBR) that's likely an easy toss, but I am not overly familiar with FED rules, so I will leave it to those how are better in the know

7:30pm start fora 9 inning game or mercy of 10 runs after 7innings. Temperature at start time was 50F for the most part sustained winds of 15+ MPH. Visiting team starts out strong and has a 9-0 lead after 3. The temperature has now dropped below 40 and are experiencing gust of 25+ mph winds. In innings 4,5 for every run the visitors scored, sure enough the home team matched with the 6th having no score which maintained the 9 run differential 12-3 . All the pitchers have been moving slow and counts are running high since the sun went down, sometime near the beginning of the 3rd. In the 7 visitors score 1 and home scores 5, 13-8.... so much for an early game, not that it would have been terribly early as we have passed the 2 1/2 hour mark. Inning 8 was fast, pitchers faced 7 batters that inning. Top of the 9th seemed to turn into batting practice and the visitors score 12 runs. Mercifully the home team was put out in 6 batters scoring 1 run. A very cold 3 hours 20 minutes later we have a 25-9 game 220

Friday May 15, 2014, 7:30pm start timeField : DixonHome : CVisitors : HDivision: Junior Inning: Top of 8, 1 outPlayer involved: #10 Let's call him Bryce Harper for SH*#s and giggles.....Description of incident: Strike 3 was called on the batter who then looked back at me with a look of disbelief and proceeded to reach across the plate with his bat and drew a line in the dirt. I Immediately ejected the player. Routine ejection 135

Had one of those nights tonight that neither team could field a pitcher who could hit the broad side of a barn. 60% of the pitches thrown were balls, a good 30% of the strikes I called were balls in the real world. I kept asking myself if i was squeezing these kids (14U) too hard but pitch after pitch was at the batters eye level, 6 inches outside, anywhere but near the strike zone. I got to the point of almost feeling bad calling another ball even though Stevie Wonder could have seen the pitch was a ball. Fortunately in the 4th the teams started swinging, it was the only thing that saved us from hitting the 2hr 45min time limit. Got the 7 innings in at about 2hr 25 mins. 22

Don't you wish they were all this easy? 171

I can't really add much to what has already been said, but like everyone has said, you have one of those rough games that makes you second guess your desire. My worst game involved baiting a coach, swearing at him, 5 ejections, 2 teams going crazy, parents almost as crazy as the kids and my partner and I walking off the field in fear of our safety. All of that was due to some very VERY bad game management. I shared and I learned despite never wanting to so much as see another baseball game, and I got a bit better from it because all the people here not only showed me what my mistakes were, but how i could not make them again. I also got a lot of reassurance that we all have a bad game. 7 years later I still don't like ejecting, but it's part of the job and when I need to I do. 48

That's what the sport aught to be like, sounds like a very decent community. Glad to hear the prognosis is good and he may yet get back on the diamond! 1965

I was working dish on a mens league game last night, the guys take the game pretty seriously and it is fairly competetive. Unfortunately this game turned into a blowout very early on and the home team had a 12 run lead in the 3rd. In the bottom of the fourth there was a pass ball that went all the way back the full distance (30+feet) which allowed R2 to advance to 3rd. The catcher is meandering back towards home and gently lobs the ball towards the pitcher. R3 now decides he is going to bust it home and successfully scores, which as you can likely guess didn't go over to well with the visitors (and a lot of the home team as well). While I was getting a drink between the innings I overheard someone mention that they aught to plunk the kid next time he comes to bat. The context of that was in a normal level conversation, and normally had I not been back where I was I never would have heard the conversation. The afore mentioned plunking never occurred, so this is more of a hypothetical, but had the kid come up to his next bat and gotten hit by a pitch say anywhere other than in the head would you let it go as "lesson learned" so to speak or would you feel the need to eject. I am personally more in the "nothing to see here" camp again unless they are throwing heat at his head at which point it is just flat out unacceptable. 1968

Man... we let the kids start umping at 12 here. Granted they aren't generally allowed to work at or above their age levels (unless the do not play in which case they can do their own age groups) crazy stuff, glad however it has all worked out for you! 1466

One game down so far.... May is notorious for bad weather and rescheduling around here though. Things start to pick up steam after the may long weekend hopefully a nice season ahead. 1459