renegadewolf

Not only did you dump the HC for no reason, but there wasn't much reason to dump the AC. God knows we all handle the odd situation poorly, and I have had more than my fair share, but they can also be great learning experiences. Had you perhaps said any number of things like, that's enough, or sure, or ok or thanks for your opinion coach instead of what this situation may have worked out differently. For me personally I've come to find that stopping and saying "what" to a coach is a direct challenge or dare to them to repeat (usually one they feel the need to repeat in a more explicit fashion) what I had clearly heard. Now that I have challenged the coach by escalating the situation they respond in kind and then whammo there is an EJ because I escalated the situation in the first place. There's always a chance in using non confrontational words that the coach is an ass and will just get louder and nastier, but in that case he has made his own bed and it will be blatantly obvious to everyone else (whether they agree with it or not) that it wasn't me trying to provoke things. In that situation HC is not coming out for an explanation, he will know perfectly well why his AC got the hook and I avoid that extra paperwork

You didn't have a defensive coach screaming about a thrown bat and the batter should be out???

Personally I wouldn't have an ejection here, the coach was I presume talking to you face to face as opposed to shouting across the field. I would however answer the question and then end the conversation. Anything after that would be a toss. Just as an aside, thats pretty hard ass imho to say a 10 year old was actually trying to swing and hit the ball when it was quite obviously flying at his head.

The behavior is deplorable, but at least they made the toss easy for you.

Like the tobacco rules or not, they are in fact rules and our job is to enforce them. Any minor ball here in Ontario has a no tobacco rule for all participants including coaches and umpires in uniform (for which we can lose our card if we are caught) One mens league i do has a tobacco rule, the other doesn't. I just call the rules as they want them called. I don't go looking for it, but if it's right there or pointed out to me in plain sight, well someone should have known better, that or they wanted an early day. At the end of the day being asked to enforce a rule isn't being a "tattletale" it's smart.

I personally think you are being generous using the phrase "newspaper" to describe the rag called the Windsor Star.

someone once asked if i coached baseball..... I was terribly offended

Sunday July 21 A Park 1pm start time Minor Bantam T1 C (home) v S (visitors) Bottom of the 5th inning . 0 out There was a play 2nd, runner slides in and I call safe as there was no tag on the swipe. There was a lot of disapproval of this call. As I began to walk towards my position between second and third bases Team S coach OJ SIMPSON from the dugout along the first baseline called out in a very loud voice for all to hear, "That's 2 now blue" in reference to his opinion that I had botched a previous call and this was the second botched call. I stopped and looked over to the bench and momentarily stared at the coach, then resumed moving to my position, The coach then repeated again in a loud voice "that's right I said that's 2 now blue" at which point I ejected the coach from the game. The coach then felt it necessary to walk out to my position while not getting directly in my face he did come uncomfotably close to me in order to berate and call me out for ejecting him using both foul language and insults calling me a "big man" in a rather condescending voice and that "my younger partner was suppose to be the child", asking "did i just threw him out of the F*#King game because I said that's two now?" and that i need to "develop a F*#King skin for christs sake" interlaced with other profanities. I only responded with ":you've been ejected, you need to leave the field coach" and then requested one of other team coaches come remove him from the field as i started walking towards thier dugout in order to lead him off the field. A pretty standard ejection, felt it necessary to include his coming onto the field and some of the things he said in my report as walking from the dugout behind 1st base out of play line to my poisiiton was excessive, unnecessary and brought this from a pretty standard ejection to an "elevated" occourance. My partner was a younger kid, 16 years old and a 3rd year umpire in his first 15U travel game, and i don't think he was experienced enough or confident enough to know what to do when the coach came onto the field the way he did, which is fine, i didn't expect he would act as a buffer between us.

I prefer the point to the side as I am rising and then vocalize the strike, as my out mechanic is a hammer fist forward, but I never look away from the ball, because Murphy (of Murphys Law fame) seems to like me and will ensure something odd happens when I am not looking. The Baseball Ontario "curriculum" teaches the traditional hammer fist as appropriate for both strikes and outs with the variation is a strike hammer is held still and the out is a forceful "pounding" of the hammer fist, although the pointing to the side mechanic is widely accepted

The catcher should have been dealt with long LONG before any description of all game long could be used to describe framing, chirping and questioning the location. Not necessarily as an EJ, infact I don't like to toss a teams primary catcher as they tend to be the most reliable in stopping the balls, but giving him a quiet one on one talking to to know the stupidity off if he wants to keep playing.

I think what you are looking for is 6.08 The batter becomes a runner and is entitled to first base without liability to be put out (provided he advances and touches first base) when... (b) He is touched by a pitched ball while he is not attempting to hit unless (1) the ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, or (2) the batter makes no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball; So as we mentioned earlier, if in your judgement the batter was not trying to hit the ball then you have a HBP and send em off

...nevermind

Personally I always take a step back from the coach if they are in close proximity, as I loudly announce the fact they are now ejected I turn away from them so as the "arm swing" or "pitching" motion i use to eject will not be anywhere near the coaches person. The thinking here is to avoid inadvertent contact with the coach/player here, plus i am now facing away from them and it makes it a lot easier to begin walking away from them. I will never call over a coach to inform them, that has the appearance of being an antagonist, and is asking for trouble. Your mechanic aught to be big enough and loud enough that everyone knows what just happened.

I enjoy the luxury that I don't work in an associations that are is the town I live in. Coaches will justify the most outrageous sort of nonsense, such as an umpire has a vested interest in any given team winning when the game isn't going the way they want it to. Once I worked a plate game it turned out my eldest daughter was playing in. After ringing her up on a fastball over the inside edge of the plate she started expressing her opinion on the call and continued expressing her displeasure at a volume i could hear. All i could do was look at the coach and tell him to wrap her in or i would have to eject her. Everyone was pretty stunned by that statement, but I explained it that I wouldn't allow any other player to go off like that, she doesn't get a get out of jail free card. I imagine that would have been an awkward ride home. My other daughter played on a travel team for a few years, and being separated from her mother I wasn't exactly being made aware of when she was playing. I was living in another town and was assigned what i thought was a regular house league game, but it turns out i show up, there are my daughters, my ex wife and we are all standing with very confused looks on our faces. I immediately let the coach from the local team know about the situation, and he just looked at me and asked if i thought that was really going to influence the game because he didn't. Long story short if i know about some sort of issue in a game i let everyone know, otherwise where I am from doesn't matter, and I usually like to save the fact I don't live in the area I am working in till one of the coaches trys to call me a homer

To answer the question plainly and to the point, no it is not reasonable to have coaches evaluate the umpires. Even the most cursory thought on this question reveals a very poor idea at best and outright nonsensical and damaging to reputations at it's worst. While I'm not going to say only a peer based evaluation should be used, a system that employs people who are knowledgeable about the rules, positioning and game management is what aught to be used if you want more accurate picture of how umpires are performing. Some coaches may even fall into this category and let them evaluate during a game that they have no vested interest in (not their team or division) so that they can be more objective about their evaluations. While one can never remove the whole personality aspect out of the evaluation, trying to limit the opertunities for abuse would be helpful

Isn't that most of the time?

It has to be something in the water down Windsor way, most of my family is down that way and something in the water would go a long way to explaining a lot of things.

I actually verbalized "BOOM" followed by "You are done" in an EJ last year.... couldn't believe it

The number one reason I eject is that there is a fundamental lack of respect being shown to myself. A coach can get a lot of rope being respectful in asking his questions and expressing his opinions. A lack of respect covers a lot of ground for me, from arguing balls and strikes, questioning my authority, to trying to show me up. This is a far from inclusive list The number 2 reason I eject is a show of poor sportsmanship. Spiking a helmet, smashing a bat on the ground, tossing equipment and taunting opponents are a few examples of poor sportsmanship i may or have ejected for The number 3 reason I eject is for questioning my integrity. Saying I cheat for one team or another, that I am a "homer" questioning my competency and knowledge of the rules

I always keep my eye on the ball, and agree with the suggestion of looking forward when making the strike mechanic off to the side. Players will always decide to pull some kind of brain dead maneuver when you aren't watching it, and yes I know they do half the time when you are watching, but at least you can see where it's going. Nothing makes you look or feel more incompetent than missing something and shrugging your shoulder because you weren't paying attention

My first 5 years I wore a traditional mask, simply because it was traditional for umpires to wear that style of mask, Gradually over those 5 years I came to see more and more umpires switching to them. Last year in May I received a pretty nasty concussion from a pitch outside and in the dirt that bounced funny, curved up and smashed me in the base of the skull behind the ear. I wasn't able to call another plate game until late August. Due to 6 weeks of short term disability taken, better part of a season being able to only do bases, a slight personality change and an effected memory, I chose to don the HSM. I realize that i was hit with a one in a billion shot that will likely never happen again (but then again I do seem to be a magnet for odd happenings) I can't afford the possibility of another head injury due to an errant ball hitting an exposed area of my head as if it were a good enough hit I might never call another game, and that is just unacceptable to me.

I actually find the opposite here, I hear the chirping because people think the top of my zone is too low, and the pitch at the knees over the plate is too low as well. Although calling a tournament this last weekend I did hear a coach call out to his batter "You gotta swing at those ones, they've been strikes all day" in regards to the bottom end of the zone. Hopefully proof a good consistent is noticed

9.02 (a)(b)© are some of the most commonly misunderstood rules I've come across. For some reason coaches (and players) seem to think one umpire can just overturn anothers call. I just love when my partner bangs a guy out/calls a runner safe and I am usually at least 90 feet away or watching some other aspect of the goings on during play and the offense/defense is asking me if I saw the play, and if i can over turn it. happened 3 times so far this year and I've called maybe a dozen games due to Ma Natures insistence to rain down from on high every freaking day since may first.... or so it seems

I'm going to print this PDF and keep it in my pocket and hand to to any coach that thinks my zone stinks XD

It was well said earlier, ego is the enemy. I get hot because someone who is most likely not as educated about the rules as I am is trying to tell me that I am wrong. Alpha personalities don't like being told they are wrong, and the fact is that most of us, on the diamond anyhow, are alphas. Alphas also has stupidly sensitive egos that are easily bruised when someone has the audacity to question anything we say or do. It's quite the catch 22. I try to remember my 3Rs. Ready, Respect, Repeat. Be ready to explain the call. Be respectful explaining the call. Repeat the explanation. People go away when they figure out you are a broken record.