PonyUmpire

(@lawump) @ElkOil, I don't figure you for the type of umpire who goes out of his way to please coaches. I just think there's something SUBTLY wrong with your approach. Respect is key as an umpire, but giving even a fraction of a sh*t about whether you get it from coaches is not going to get you any more (in fact, it's going to end up getting you less). It seems like you're bringing a *small* part of your ego onto the field, where you have this notion of yourself as a "respected" umpire. This is what leads to bad games. You miss a call or mismanage a situation, especially in a high level game (which is no less likely to happen than a low level game), and this self image of being a "respected umpire" gets shaken. Your mental game breaks down and the rest of the game becomes bad, not just that one call (why should it have to be more?). I think a lot of umpires fall into the "I don't care what they think of my calls, but I want respect" trap. When you come onto the field expecting ANYTHING, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. You can't do anything more than your best, and the game participants just have to deal with it. You wouldn't be on the game if better umpires than you didn't think you belonged there.

No worries at all. How do you feel about my thoughts on game management? I'll 'hopefully' be starting on some college ball this coming season, so I need all the wisdom I can get.

@lawump I changed the comment to refer to me specifically, so as not to make a false generalization (which is ironic, because that's exactly what I was calling out @catsbackr for doing). Thanks for calling me out on that! When you get into a back and forth with a particular member, it can be easy to forget that others are also looking in.

Honestly, my comment wasn't supposed to be a generalization. It was directed specifically at @catsbakr, in response to his comment about assuming everyone's a rat. I'm not pretending to be able to speak for every umpire, or for you. You're somebody I respect a lot on these forums, knowing your experience umpiring higher level ball. My point is that for MOST umpires (and that was the read I got on the member I mentioned) umpiring is a passion or hobby, but not their life. For higher level players, baseball is their LIFE. There's something fundamentally wrong with someone in the former group making any kind of preconceived judgement about the latter. If you want, let's talk this out via PM

Because "one of those days where you can tell the catcher hates your guts... and the feeling is mutual" is not a sentence that would leave the mouth of an umpire who truly understands game management (read: an umpire who's going to move up). Plain and simple. If you're regularly (or really at all) letting your emotions inform your interactions with game participants, you're already failing to do your job right. I'm sorry if that sounds like garbage to you

I appreciate the input. Tell me this: is walking onto a field and immediately forming an opinion (always the same negative one) of several people you don't know consistent with what it means to be a good umpire? How can you possibly put yourself and your flawed preconceptions above people who wouldn't be out there if they didn't have an intense love for the game. Baseball is a sport. It is played between two teams of passionate PLAYERS, guided by passionate COACHES. That's baseball. Your job is to keep it fair, and funnel that intensity into something beautiful. Why are you more important than (at the higher levels) upwards of 30 people, who basically devote their entire lives to baseball (I umpire 3 to 4 high school games a week, and go to camps and clinics, but a high school player is putting in so much more work than I am)? Don't get me wrong. I'm not passing judgement on you as a person, but it really seems like you've lost track of what's important.

Who are you to pass judgment on any participant? That's not what you're there for. You're their to call a fair game and leave. It's not about you in any way shape or form. Honestly, it sounds like you think you're bigger than the game, and if that's the case, then get the hell off the field.

@Tksjewelry Not to dismiss your opinion. Every umpire is different in their game management strategy, and from your posts is seems like you don't have many problems in your games. It's just that I know many umpires who have the skillset to umpire in a more "people smart" way, but they instead follow conventional widsom and stick to some script (not that there's anything wrong with saying "that's enough", just don't be an emotionless robot), or sink into the conception that all coaches are rats (which is going to be a self fulfilling prophecy). EXPECTATION OFTEN BECOMES REALITY. So even though I might encounter a player who I can't deal with, and I have to eject (which I have), it's counter-productive to generalize about all teenage players.

I umpire high school varsity baseball.

It's never "no reason". There's always a reason. I think if umpires used their people skills more, and applied their social instincts to managing the game, so many situations could be avoided. Think how a coach interacts with his players. There's no doubt about who's in charge, but a good coach empathizes with his players and uses his understanding of them to coach them in the right way. A good coach doesn't say "Oh, what can you do? The kid just hates me". He doesn't oversimplify the situation as umpires often do, into a very cut and dry, us vs. them mentality. I think a lot of umpires just give up on trying to work with a coach or player, and then try to justify their failure by saying something like, "oh, he's just a rat", or, "oh, he's just a hothead". He's not a rat. He's not a hothead. They're people, and all (99.9%) people can be understood and reasoned with. With a high intensity situation like a sports event, though, it takes more effort than it normally would.

Screaming obscenities in a 12U game? Yeah, not only is he going, but I'm having a "heart to heart" with him about what youth baseball should be about. When it's *obvious* that a coach needs to go, and your partner lets him stay in the game, and you do nothing about it, you'll reap the game management consequences of that later down the road. For example, what if this was a DH? What if you had the dish for the next game? Do you want him to think that coming out on a pitch and acting like a jack*ss is acceptable? I think the answer is no. If you sit back and let your partner leave trash all over the field, you're eventually going to step in it, no matter how good you are at taking care of your own business.

Maybe it's my zone, or my game management style, but I've never had a game where I felt the catcher "hated my guts" (that term is a cognitive distortion anyway. It's not productive to think that someone hates your guts. it's a ridiculous oversimplification of a complex situation). A catcher might disagree on pitches, but I'm the kind of umpire who's willing to dialogue on the strike zone. It's the kind of dialogue where I maintain 100% control of the situation, but it's still a dialogue. So I might not get assent, but I'll certainly get respect. The fact that the OP says "one of those days" implies that there's probably something wrong with his game management approach. To Rich's comment, why on earth would a 16U catcher come out and act like a jerk? That would be beyond crazy, to preemptively antagonize the guy that's going to be calling strikes behind you all day. If he's acting like a jerk, you probably rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe your behavior was "reasonable", but it antagonized the player in some way. Players are people too. If you're already butting heads before the first pitch, I'm sorry, but your approach is wrong. I think a lot of players don't appreciate umpires who "front" -that is- cultivate some kind of "tough guy", or "stern" persona for absolutely no reason at all. The player is out there to play. He's not waiting for the first opportunity to undermine your authority.

@umpire_scott On plays like this one that you only see a couple times in a season or less, you can't use your normal timing. Your brain is going to need more time to process what you saw. Use all the information available to you, including the batters reaction and just the general "feel" of the situation, take your time, and then go with what your baseball instinct told you happened. Don't overthink, or you're more likely to end up being wrong.

I was talking to a parent the other day (not from a team I'd had, off the field, and out of uniform). He said that it seems like MLB umpires pick fights for no reason. My response (and it kind of clicked in my head when I said it) was that: The umpires aren't power tripping. They are using their voice as a tool to manage a volatile game with the most intense players and managers in the world. When you're dealing with a testosterone fueled and frustrated MLB batter who you just rung up on strike three, being "approachable" is going to do absolutely nothing for you. You need to take control of the situation, and when you're dealing with that caliber of athlete, that means being aggressively assertive with both voice and body language. I also pointed out that the reason situations like the one in the video seem to pop out of the blue is that MLB umpires are so good at preemptive game management, you aren't even aware of 90% of situations. The game management that you actually see (notice) on TV is last resort game management, and it doesn't look good, but sometimes it's what's needed.

Knowing when to grant time is about having a sense for the game. Is the pitcher trying to freeze the batter up? Does the batter need to collect himself after taking an up-and-in pitch? Is the batter just asking for time to mess with the pitchers rhythm? I'll generally give the batter one "freebie" (ie. time with no questions asked) during an at-bat. After that, there better be a damn good reason. The exception to the "freebie" is if the pitcher is starting his motion, in which case safety dictates tough sh*t for the batter.

For God's sake don't go to your partner if you don't actually want what he has. You're potentially throwing your partner under the bus, and opening the door for coaches to start asking for help on anything. If you don't think you need help, then don't get help.

Worrying about calling a good strike zone is a great way to call a terrible strike zone. Focus on tracking and timing; let pitches call themselves for you. As for pitchers who are all over the place, don't feel the need to go on a strike hunt. Stick with a zone you're comfortable with (which should be generous to begin with).

Maybe, since it was a blowout, he took the opportunity to play with his stance.

Unless there was some lead up which wasn't mentioned in the OP, which it seems like there probably was. In my experience, these kinds of situations don't just appear out of nowhere. Perhaps there was some behavior that should have been nipped in the bud, but wasn't?

Wow. Things went from 0 to 100, real quick. Real quick, whole squad on that real sh*t.

I think it's pretty well established on this forum that first names are used in real baseball. The "Umpires" Facebook group is another matter.

The word "you" doesn't necessarily make a remark personal. "You missed that call" is not personal. It's a value judgement on the call, not on me. "Your zone sucks" isn't personal either (although I might still eject for it). A statement is personal if it's an assault on me or my character, regardless of whether or not it contains the word "you". If a coach turns to me on his way back to the dugout and says "a**hole", he has just made a personal comment.

I find that, when faced with a confrontation, it's very helpful for me to take a deep breath, collect my thoughts, and decide how I'm going to address the issue before I open my mouth at all. Having a repertoire of go-to phrases helps a lot as well (ie. "that's enough", "knock it off", "I understand that you saw the play differently, but I had _____", ect.). It can be hard to control your emotions during a confrontation, but it's easier to avoid saying something you regret if you "stick to the script".

I think UE members could learn a lot from this

The "you missed the call, so go to your little partner and get help" comment is egregious, and needs to be addressed. It's flat out bullying; the coach is advertising the fact that he has ZERO respect for the umpiring crew. The correct response would be a firm "that's enough", or "knock it off". Personally, I'd probably bait him with an "excuse me coach!?", and then run him for whatever inane comment he would inevitably say next. YMMV