Dottelife

After 25 years of being an ump I have decided to retire. I am 46 years old and in great shape, still love to ump but have had enough of everything outside of the lines. - travel baseball is destroying the sport. Complexes are now telling umps they can’t eject without permission, coaches and parents are allowed to act crazy and say anything to us, as long as they pay that money no one seems to care. - I am sick and tired of working solo and not getting both paychecks. I am doing the work of 2 people why am I not getting paid for it? - started carrying a gun in my car this year after a fellow ump was attacked in the parking lot by a coach who had a bat. If I need to carry a gun to work what does that say about my job? It’s been a great ride and I salute you boys for doing what you are doing but for me it’s enough and I have too much pride to be treated like this by people who don’t care.

Cash is king. When I ran tournaments I would always pay cash when you were done with your games for the day. You would be surprised how quick word spread and I had no problems getting umps.

I set up a room in our building that has A/C and fenced off from the public. What irritated me is they would not use it, they would rather sit in a chair under a tree behind their cars lol.

834k34 is spot on. I have umped tournaments, UIC tournaments and ran a tournament. Running a tournament is Friday morning to Sunday night in 90 plus degree heat getting no sleep and the only break is when you take a leak. Friday afternoon is mowing, dragging, chalking the fields and unloading concession truck delivery. Teams play Friday night, hope all umps and workers show, record scores, deal with any coaches, show up to gate to explain why we charge a $5 entry fee for the 20th time and update website scores. After games drag field, chalk for morning games, empty trash lock up and leave around midnight. Saturday show up at 7am hope umps show up for 8 am start and 17 hours later repeat process. Getting umps is hard and good umps are a blessing. The feeling knowing I can put an ump on a field and he will handle it like a pro is priceless.

College it’s always foul and time. HS 80% it’s same but other 20% it’s dead ball!!! and I shake my head. Youth it’s dead ball, foul ball and the dreaded play ball. I try to talk to them but in one ear out the other. In youth my biggest pet peeve is putting the ball back in play. I explain to partner if it’s foul you gotta say play to make it live again otherwise on a pickoff coach will eat you alive.

More reasons not to umpire girls softball lol.

Maven fantastic write up and agree on everything you said. I absolutely get what you are saying. In 10 years of doing college baseball I have tossed 2 coaches. I have a good friend who runs a youth complex, it’s one step above rec ball. He ask me to do games here and there when he is in a pinch and since I grew up playing there and started umping there I feel obligated. In the 5 years I have been helping him out i have ejected well over 50 coaches (not kidding) These weekend warrior dads think they know everything and have no clue what the rules are or how to talk to an umpire. Most of it is a very week crew that allows them to act like an idiot so I get to clean it up. I go to every game thinking ok no ejections this game then First inning here comes coach running out the dugout saying no f**king way he was safe….you gone. My son wanted to ump and after watching a few games said no thank you and got a job at Culver’s lol. My friend had me at the mandatory coaches meeting this spring to discuss with coaches what we expect from them on the field. It went well and ejections are down so far this year but yeah it’s ridiculous how they act.

Here is thoughts - If TD wants a game started early they need to go address that with the coaches, I have and will always refuse to do it. - It is your plate and zone. The key word is consistency. - I may get flack but I do not announce where a pitch missed. It was a ball, coach knows where it missed and the only reason they ask is to make you look stupid. When I get a coach say “where did that miss blue?” I say the strike zone. I am not justifying my zone on every pitch. - 10u he gets ejected as soon as he cussed. Absolutely no exceptions. - Remember the 3 P’s for ejections. Profane, prolonged and personal. - I like solo myself because I seem to stay more focused. Solo in this heat and several games and I am calling balls and strikes from behind the pitcher.

I have umped and refed my own kids before. Rang them both up looking at strike 3.

Excellent post and 100% agree. You go to my partner first to cry about a call I made!!! The only thing that better come out of my partners mouth is “coach you need to address that with my partner.” It’s amazing how many times a coach will try to play us against each other. This isn’t Burger King lol love it

Dropping the F bomb will find you a parking lot. Good move getting an official ruling on it, sounds like you have a good league director.

First I done this for 20 years from HS to Tball and UIC. Never one time have I ever flexed my credentials on or off a field. Had a few try and I told them it does not impress me. second you better dam well never and I mean never show me up on a field. We are a team and neither of us are perfect. If I need help or a second opinion I will come to you and ask. If you want me come to me and ask. You better not tell a coach or player I blew a call or give them a funny look. I have worked with men that were so bad behind a plate Ray Charles could have called a better game and not one time did I throw them under the bus. Worst I ever had was doing basketball had a young partner that was green but trying. I hear someone in the stands say horrible call you are garbage. It was the red for the next game sitting in the stands with his ref shirt on. I ejected him and then called my boss who fired him over the phone. We are a team and have to work together.

No one on who cares. Runners on and no one tries to advance just let coach know between innings that it’s a live ball so maybe don’t do that. Runner on tries to advance you have a problem.

Screaming when the pitcher is set or beating on the fence is annoying and unsportsmanlike behavior, I don’t do softball for this reason alone. If other coach complained i am going to say it was effecting his pitcher more then he was just being a jerk. Ump backed him up so he had to have a feeling it was having a negative effect also. I would suggest telling them to cheer when they actually hit the ball.

The joys of 10u baseball lol. Here is what I did, may not be text book but it worked for me. - I always set up in the slot on a knee. Right hand batter right knee on the ground, left hand batter left knee down. I did this for a few reasons. First it gives me a better view of the zone since most are shorter and second saved my back and knees. - my strike zone was chalk to chalk neck to shin. Like seeing eye dog said outs get us home and walks make it just horrible for everyone involved. - The key is to be consistent throughout the entire game. If a pich at the ankle is a strike in the first inning and it’s a strike in the last inning coaches may gripe but ask them if you were consistent and if they say yes you did a good job. it’s a hard age to call.

No

When batter is in box and pitcher is on mound PU will say play and point. The ball is now live. Unfortunately some umps do not always do this and it can end bad.

Had this 5 years ago in a 14u tournament last inning Hat at bat. Runners at first and second no outs. Dropped strike 3 PU says batters out but no one could hear him because parents and coaches are screaming run. Only first base coach knows he is out because first is occupied but runners at first and second are confused so they stand 2 steps off the base. Throw to first tags runner, throws to second to tag other runner. I bang them both out and say ballgame. Coach went crazy and my partner says as we are walking off field it’s not my job to teach your parents and players the rules of the game. HC finds the UIC who tells him the same thing we said. No intent to deceive just horrible coaching.

I am asking coach to wait before he gets that far. If he does we have a talk about not stepping on the field before time is granted and 99% of the time it never happens again. If so he gets restricted to the dugout but never had it go that far.

Don’t ever do basketball because it’s this conversation all day. Hey why is that a travel? Because he took 4 steps they do that in the nba Yeah we actually call it by the rules here

Learned this the hard way when I first started umping. Rec league game coach pitch working by myself, had plate as I walk away HT coach says hey rule on overthrow is ball is dead and player gets next base, can we just play no dead ball and anything goes? I say as long as other coach is ok with it idc. Go to VT coach and he says sure works for me. Sure enough last inning 2 out his player hits ground ball and overthrow at first, ball get picked up and he is gunned out at third. Here comes VT coach saying no the rules say one base, stood there stunned he would use this tactic. Long story short I called ballgame and coach lost it screaming I was lying and just cheated his team. League director called his buddy who is a coach on VT and he admits we agreed to the rule modification. So lesson learned and never again will I ever modify a rule trying to be a nice guy.

Let’s be honest he is lying and just does not wanna do plate and I am split on this one. On one hand it’s his plate and I was looking forward to an easy game. On the other hand if he is trying to get off plate usually that means he sucks, his zone is going to suck and his game management is going to suck. That means I am going to hear it from the coach all night, at some point that coach is going to chew his rear and I am going to have to go save him. So what to do? If it’s a young kid or a new ump I make him admit he is scared and mentor him during the game. If it’s an older guy I say cool but next time we work together you got plate. Years ago when I worked summer league guys would pay you $10 to take their plate.

It was great and we tried to get the GM to make it permanent lol

During covid all fans had to be behind the outfield fence. It was glorious and never enjoyed umping as much as then. I would love to see this become a thing. The problem is coaches are stupid, parents think there is no consequences for their behavior and leagues do not have umpires back.

If I had a dollar for every time I told a coach to get his bucket off the field and heard no one has ever enforced that I would be rich. It’s a pet peeve for me to get off the field.