I am Guilty!!!

[JaxRolo]

I must confess That I am Guilty of Unprofessional Conduct as an Umpire.

11U Game last Night. I had the Dish. No complaints about "Balls and Strikes" and no complaints from Base Umpire on Safe and outs.

This was only a scrimmage game to let Batters hit and New Pitchers learn. We were asked to be very lenient on Balks.

The home team didn't have a score book and and teams didn't even exchange line ups. Coaches were good. But the parents on the visiting side were horrible.

They kept complaining about some of the rules that we enforce or didn't enforce.

One inning with the first batter of the inning having taken ball 1. The scorekeeper and her husband called me to the fence and said the batter was BOO. SO I said ok and I called HC over and he said no that it was the correct batter. Then the scorekeeper kept insisting it was the wrong batter. So the HC who didn't want to argue just said ok and put the next batter in and I resumed with an 1-0 count. But before we could keep going the score keepers and some parents now started yelling that the Batter is Out for BOO. WTF!!! So the HC comes back wondering what is going on. I made the decision to put the original batter at the plate and just play baseball. Keep in mind that the batting order really didn't matter. (just a practice game)

Even the VC didn't care. But the parents just kept complaining.

We kept playing with the visiting parents not to happy.

A couple of innings later we Home at bat. R3 with F1 ON the rubber from the Set without moving his feet just throws to Third. "BALK" from both Umpires. Well the Visiting Parents came unglued! WTF!!! "How is that a Balk?" "No Way" etc, etc. Visiting coach knew it was a Balk and didn't complain. A couple of Batters later the scorekeeper tried another BOO. WTF!!!! and there goes the parents again.

This is where I became Unprofessional!!!!!

I turned around and looked at the guy that was complaining the loudest and said. "Sir here is my Mask and I will give you my gear and YOU can do this since apparently you are much better at this than I am!!!! He said. 'Yeah somebody needs to!" I looked at my stop watch and time was almost out anyway. So I looked at both coaches and said "Game is Over"

I have never done this before but I just had enough.

The Visiting Coach and his wife came to me us in the parking lot and was very apologetic about his parents. And to give him credit he did try to talk to them a couple of times.

[bpate]

Practice Game? Balk em again and then look strait at the parents that are complaining the loudest. Anything else, repeat previous steps. They'll get the picture.

[sdix00]

Ugh. This noise is my biggest pet peeve from LL.

For some reason they get mad at the umpires when they don't understand the rules. They should be getting mad at the manager for not "questioning" the calls.

[grayhawk]

BOO in an 11U scrimmage? Why did you return the original batter to the plate?

As for your "unprofessional" behavior - I don't have a problem with what you said as long as you were volunteering your time. If you were getting paid, then you'd be better off ignoring them.

[semper_fi_72]

Question on BOO problem with scorekeeper

When did scorekeepers get the responsibility to question or point out BOO?

The BOO can only be addressed by the Manager.

Scorekeepers are suppose to remain silent about BOO.

As far as what you did with the parents.

If you were getting paid - unprofessional but don't blame you at all.

Should have gotten the coach much more involved in controlling them.

I have gone to the back stop between innings and offered some Dad my gear to call balls and strikes if he can do better.

Otherwise sit there and enjoy the game and stop umpiring.

[mstaylor]

I don't like the idea of offering the parents your gear, that will bite you in the butt, but I certainly will tell him to shut up or go home, on a scrimmage, not a regular season. I have done games where they didn't have enough players but wanted to scrimmage. I will tell them as long as they are not screwing around I stay. And there have been times where they screw around and get dangerous, I leave. One night I left in the middle of a batter, rolled the balls to the dugout, said thanks and bye.

[Forest Ump]

This is where I became Unprofessional!!!!!

I turned around and looked at the guy that was complaining the loudest and said. "Sir here is my Mask and I will give you my gear and YOU can do this since apparently you are much better at this than I am!!!! He said. 'Yeah somebody needs to!" I looked at my stop watch and time was almost out anyway. So I looked at both coaches and said "Game is Over"

Your'e not guilty. You're working fall ball. Enough said. Don't take crap in fall ball and never take crap in an 11yo game. Next time turn around and tell them to knock it off. If one of them continues to give you grief, stop the game and boot his sorry a$ out of there. If he won't leave, suspend the game until he does. You are the only one there who can control the game. Take out the trash early and you will not have to put up with this kind of crap.

[JaxRolo]

I think the problem lies in past umpires that let this crap go. These fans and coaches just think that it is ok. Then when we toss them they complain to the assignors and UICs and we get less games.

I am a 52yo man and won't put up with these punks. And no I don't have a chip on my shoulders. Times are different than they used to be.

And it shouldn't be left to the Umpires. Park management should be there to control these bozos.

[mstaylor]

I worked a SrLL exibition game once between two leagues. The visiting pitcher was throwing curveballs up, the catcher was sitting four feet too deep and the manager was a crier. After a couple of discussions between innings he was still complaining. One of his players started whining about pitches during his AB. I told the manager I was done with ANY ball/strike discussions. The idiot then says he is tired of me calling two different zones, BANG, he's gone. To be honest I took more than I would normally take because it was an exhibition but enough is enough. I have told this story here before but now for the rest of the story.

I rarely address the crowd but it will ocasionally happen. I go out the gate to get water and several fans asked why he got tossed, they didn't think he had said anything that bad. I started not to answer but I said got tossed for telling me I was cheating. They wanted to know when he did that, they had heard everything and they missed it. I explained that by saying I was calling two zones I was calling one for the home team and another for the visiters. You could see the light come on and they said they had never thought of it that way. I don't suggest doing this but it worked. It became a teaching moment but it could have blown up in my face. The manager's brother actually came to my truck after the game to talk to me. He introduced himself and I thought this can't be good. He said it was a good toss and that his brother was an idiot.

[Cajunyankee]

Fans abusing you at a scrimmage game? Seriously, don't take that crap.

I volunteer my time a lot around my area because there are many teams that need development and not many 'real' umpires that are willing to help.

Here's how I've handled this in the past:

If the parents/spectators at an exhibition, scrimmage, practice, etc. are misbehaving, I'll have a quick word with the HC of the team that they're there for. I'll let him know that I'm not going to have such behavior at a 'laid back' game and ask him to handle it.

If he doesn't or can't, I'll occasionally address the parent(s) directly.

I've actually done this twice.....

Sir/Maam, I understand that you're excited about the scrimmage game, but I'm just here to help. If you'd like to explain to your kid that his scrimmage was cut short because his parent was abusing the VOLUNTEER umpire and that umpire left rather than take any more abuse, you go right ahead and keep chewing on me. Otherwise, I'd suggest that you sit back and enjoy the remainder of the game.

I realize that in ANY 'real' situation, this would be unacceptable and I'm a huge proponent of not interfacing with the fans at all but in the case of a volunteer umpire being abused, screw them....don't take their crap.