NateWalter

So here's the other conundrum: if the home team goes back out there, it's been a good 2-3 minutes. The pitcher hasn't pitched that entire time. Do we let him warm up again? How do we protect the pitcher in this case? Again, it was the offense that left the field first, then the defense left in response.

Weird one from last night. 13U (USSSA) matchup. The game was going smoothly until the 5th inning, that's when the game went off the rails. In one half inning, we had two injuries, a pitching change, an error fest. All in all, that one half inning took nearly 35 minutes. (Oddly, we still finished 7 innings in 1 hour and 45 minutes.) The order of things went something like this (I'm giving this to the best of my recollection): Out 1 A ton of hits and walks and errors Injury (stemming from a hit by pitch) A lengthy delay to check on batter More hits, more walks, more errors An injury to the shortstop. A pitching change. Note: It's important to note that I reminded the new pitcher that there was just one out. I reminded everyone that there was just one out. No one said anything to disagree with me. Out 2 After Out 2, the hitting team (Visitor) leaves the field, as their coach told them there were 3 outs. The defense (Home) leaves the field, mercifully. Now, it's important to also note two things: First, my partner and I were both confused. We both had that last out as the second out. We got together and decided if they wanted to stop hitting with only two outs, we weren't going to stop them. We would consider it a forfeiture of their third out. Second, the visiting team had been on the field, thrown multiple warm up pitches and the catcher was getting ready to launch it to the second baseman before their coach came out with realization his team only had two outs. He was pleading with us to let his team come back up and try to get his third out (mind you, they were ahead 9-1, or something like that... they didn't need the extra runs). We told them no. We felt as though he missed his window to appeal this, and he shouldn't have sent his kids out to warm up before appealing this. I've been scouring the rulebooks trying to figure out if my ruling was correct. Perhaps I missed something, so I'll bring it here. Were we right to not let them come back and hit again after they left the field (and subsequently warmed up on defense) with just two outs?

We've probably all thought this idea before. One league is making it happen. Good for them. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2023/04/25/new-jersey-little-league-forces-those-who-argue-umps-don-mask/11734568002/

I'm starting a petition for the Walk-Off Mercy Rule.

If the games weren't 1:45 for 9U, I'd probably agree. But that's an obscene length of game for kids who haven't made it out of 4th grade. Those games should be limited, at most, to 1:30, with a hard stop at 1:45 or 2:00. We discuss player safety all the time and part of our job is to help ensure the safety of these kids. But then we let games go on for ever. I have no qualms with moving the clock back by a minute or two if it helps prevent a situation where a 9U game goes for 2:45. A game at that level going that long also means kids are throwing a crazy amount of pitches, unless these teams are 15-18 kids deep. Simply put, that shouldn't happen, so working around a clock to prevent it from happening isn't that out of pocket.

Also, I'll be that guy: I hate music at this level. Walk-up songs, in between innings... all of it. Maybe I'm a grump, but it's almost always a problem. I had a game last summer where they'd play music in between innings and some Kanye song (I think it was Kanye, I'm not up to speed on hip hop) came on and it was the uncensored version. I told the coach that if I heard any foul language in the music again, I would restrict him to his dugout for the game. "It's just a song, relax." "If I won't let your pitcher say it, I won't let Kanye say it. Clean up the music or get out." They ended up just turning off the speaker and the coach said, "happy now?" I was.

This is the standard for probably most tournaments, and it's why I don't like working a lot of them. You get to a point where one of the games ends up going nearly three hours. Think of it this way: your 9U game went longer than the average MLB game has gone this year. That absolutely should not be happening.

When you put a clock on baseball, there's going to be a grey area. Our league adopted a policy that the first pitch of the following inning must be done while there is still time on the clock. That would prevent the whole "there's 10 seconds left!" when the last out is recorded. In practice, if there are less than 2 minutes, we don't start a new inning unless there's a tie or the home team needs one more at bat to win. Maybe it's not a perfect way of doing things, but it works for us.

I wasn't even told who my partner was until about 90 minutes before the game. We get a lot of guys from the local college baseball teams that umpire, and if they have makeup games, the kids don't communicate that with the director. This forces him to move umpires around from field to field, and often the partner we were assigned to a week earlier is not the partner we end up working with. I'm working my game tonight (or supposed to be) with a regular, so if it stays the same, we shouldn't have this problem.

If you've been assigned with a new partner, do that person a favor and answer text messages that are sent regarding the game! I was working with a college kid for a 13U doubleheader, and about an hour prior to the games, texted him introducing myself, and asked, "hey [name], two questions: what color shirt are you wanting to wear, I have black, navy and powder blue and do you want to work plate first game or second?" 30 minutes to game time, I hadn't heard a response. I didn't see him in the parking lot. There was no one changing into gear anywhere else. So I text back, "I'm gearing up, wearing navy. I'll let you work plate second game"... I geared up, walked to the field (the parking lot is a good distance from the fields) and there he was: in his plate gear, wearing powder blue... playing on his phone. He sees me, comes over and I ask him if he didn't get any of my messages. He did. He just "forgot" to respond to them. One of the coaches even mentions, "uh oh, they didn't communicate"... and it makes us look like idiots. It's 15 minutes to game time, and it's gonna take me at least 10 to get to my vehicle, gear down, and get back. So I just take off the plate gear in a dugout. My partner parked and took his umpire gear to the field and changed at the field, so he was able to switch into a navy shirt, but it just looked embarrassing for both of us. Moral of the story: check your text messages when you're at the field. Communicate with your partner. If you don't know their number, get it from the assignor or Arbiter or whatever fancy-schmancy scheduling software your league uses. Otherwise, you'll both look like total morons.

This question was asked of my USSSA league, and because we have time limits for games, we don't use a pitch clock. However, keeping the game moving and not allowing for the pitcher or batter to delay the game is still a good part of game management.

While we're at it, let's just eject any player that walks on the field. Just to ensure that no one does anything to want to fight the other player. After all, we can't have people looking or talking to one another!!!

Enforcing it is still a judgment call, is it not? You still have to make a judgment of whether or not it is deemed unsportsmanlike. As an umpire, situational awareness is crucial. And in this case, warning a player who "glances" at the opposing dugout, as a response to being yelled at, proves that the umpire doesn't have the situational awareness to properly assess what occurred. When players are being yelled at, they will naturally look at the person/people yelling at them. If the directive you've been given requires you to ignore situational awareness or consider the facts involved, then frankly, stop working for that league.

Just to be clear, I've done my fair share of high school officiating, as I did so in Iowa for 3 years. Iowa does HS baseball in the summer. This allowed me to pick up a JV doubleheader at 10AM on random weekdays or call a varsity game in the evening. When I moved to Missouri, the spring schedule didn't work so easily with my family and work schedule, so I decided to simply help the local league here when I can. If I had time to do HS ball again, I most certainly would. (I'm moving to Indiana and would happily do HS ball if someone has some connections)

A few things: 1. Yes, this was probably a quick pitch (I'm a massive Giants fan, too). It was the wrong call. 2. The umpire even let Anderson get a few words in. But when he kept going from the bench, he ran him. 3. There are some that argue Webb should have been tossed as well, but I don't believe that was necessary. The umpire let Anderson have a word. He let Webb have a word. Webb discontinued after that, Anderson did not. 4. Anderson has two incidents of making contact with umpires in his fairly brief MLB career, both resulted in suspensions. Maybe it's not fair, but he's not going to receive much benefit of the doubt from officials.

The thing is, as well, is that this coach was more than willing to pay for a one-sided umpire, providing his team was the "one side." Had the calls gone his way, he wouldn't have said that.

I'm still seeing anything that would necessitate a "warning" for the Liberty player? He looked into the bench of his opponent (most likely as a response to them chirping at him)? He didn't say anything. He didn't flip his bat. He literally celebrated his home run, and the other team didn't have the maturity to handle it. I'm all for warning for sportsmanship issues. I'm confident that this was not one of those issues. Warning for this is a sure way to create trouble when you don't need to.

"Towards an opponent" is kind of a key thing here, don't you think? Also, show me in the video where the Liberty player "flipped his bat"... at all. He set it down.

If there was something said to him from the opposing bench, why is he wrong to "glance" or "stare" in that direction? It's natural that when something is said to us, we look at the person. Connecting some dots, it's likely that something was said to him. After all, Austin Peay felt it prudent that, whatever he did, it merited being thrown at. I doubt it took them two innings to get upset about a HR in the first inning. The point is, the directive is most likely there to eliminate over-the-top issues, not simple glances or stares toward a bench (in which it remains likely he was being spoken to or yelled at). If you wish to address both teams, that might be the only way to make this appropriate, but addressing the batter here would go well above and beyond the intent of the NCAA's directive. If the opposing team is incapable of allowing their opponent to celebrate, don't punish the opponent. Punish them.

Just perusing through some of these old threads. I was behind the plate in a 13U game. Called a close pitch to the right-side of the plate for strike one or two (don't remember which one). Coach in the third-base box asks the kid, "where was it?" He spreads his hands apart signifying it was "this far" off the plate. The first base coach calls time and begins approaching, but he calls for the batter to come talk. His words were, "don't lie about where the pitch was when we ask you." My advice for coaches: teach your kids to be honest about what happened. It's okay to not like the call, but don't let them get away with lying or exaggerating a call. Good for your kid for saying what he said!

How is flipping a bat in celebration "involving the other team"? Do we also punish high fives? Fist pumps? Verbal celebrations? Not to mention, in the video in question, there wasn't even a bat flip. The batter literally set the bat down. As he crossed home plate, he glanced in the direction of the other dugout. Even without any context, I don't see how this would rise to the level of warning, or worse, ejection. I would seriously doubt your national directive is that the athletes cannot celebrate, but rather, to address demonstrative, over-the-top celebrations. Nothing within this situation rose to that level, even the very, very brief "stare" over to the dugout.

They do, in fact, make them the other way around. I know this because I misplaced my indicator once and borrowed my partner's. His was reversed from mine and it was the worst game of my life.

When I first started umpiring, a wise, experienced umpire told me to avoid doing things that would make people question my ability. Making a noodle-armed throw is one of those things. Even if you have a very good throwing arm, it takes one bad throw for fans, players and coaches to look at you and go, "where did they find this guy?" Let the catcher be the one to make the bad throws.

As I prepare for my 13U/14U season beginning next week, I worked an unsanctioned scrimmage between two local teams over the weekend. This was essentially a practice game for both teams to get some work in, and the coaches for the teams had asked me to work the game behind the plate (they paid me, of course), so I agreed. I was the only umpire who showed up, so we had a coach for each team alternate innings as the field umpire. Some context, Team A is one of the "wealthier" teams... a lot of upper class kids and they pay a lot of money to play. Team B is probably the better team (although Team A is very good, as well), and more organized. Team B's coach was the one who organized my umpiring, Team A was the one writing the check. Maybe it's not a perfect system, but I was just trying to help out in an unorganized game and make some easy cash. As I'm working the plate, the pitcher from Team A gets called for a balk. He didn't come set, so I called him. No big deal. We moved on. Same inning, same pitcher, same situation, I called it again. The inning ended, I felt that the kid wasn't understanding what he was doing wrong, so I pulled him aside between innings and explained. I thought all was well. Team A goes up to the plate, 3 up, 3 down. Next inning rolls around, Team A is back in the field. Same pitcher on the mound. Gives up a hit, runner at first. Very next pitch, he doesn't come set again. I call him again. And then a second time that same at-bat. If you're keep track at home, that's four (4) balks for one pitcher in a matter of 2 innings. The coach was no longer agitated at his 14-year-old pitcher. He was misdirecting his anger at me. So he shouts, "Call it both ways, Blue!" Whatever. Nothing new. I ignored it. But the coach didn't like that I didn't address him, so he said it again. This time, I addressed it with him. "Coach, if you need to talk, please ask to talk. Don't yell from the bench." He approaches, we discuss... his gripe was that I called four balks on his guy, but none on the other team. Remember, his team didn't have a base runner... how could I call a balk on the other team's pitcher? I reminded him of this. "Coach, I can't call a balk when there are no base runners." The coach perceived me to be taunting his team, which only made him more upset. We end our conversation, resume play. The next inning, Team B has runners at second and third. Batter hits it to 2B, runner at third takes off to score. 2B attempts a play at home, and it's super close. I had the runner as safe, but again, it was about as close as you could get. Team A's coach LOSES IT. (Do I need to remind you that this was a scrimmage???) He argues with me about the call, I hold my ground. He then proceeds to hold out his hand and insist I give him the money back. "Give me back the check! I ain't paying for a one-sided umpire!" I eject him. I ejected a coach in a scrimmage game. And no, I didn't give him the money back (I quickly deposited the check before I left the parking lot... thanks for banking apps on your phone!). I'll get this coach another 8-10 games this year. Yay for me!

Oh goodness. Some days, I question why umpires get such a bad rep, and then I read stuff like this. If you want every player, coach, fan, commenter, and even possibly league official to be against you, eject a player for flipping his bat after a home run. It didn't hit any one, let it go. That the other team might gets their jock straps all twisted about it isn't something you need to deal with. Eject brazen displays of unsportsmanlike behavior, not moments where the athlete is having fun.