over and over and over

[elares]

I've been umpiring for just over a year. I find that the managers are not learning from my reminders about jewelry at plate meetings and during the games.

Every plate meeting that I attend, I or my partner mentions "properly equipped including no jewelry" and 90% of the games some players come out onto the field with jewelry.

I work only LL games and always at the league where my boys play so I know all these managers.

I am quite frustrated. Do you find yourself having to give the same reminders to the same managers all the time?

The UIC has advised me that I can't EJ a manager for players with jewelry so no joy on that front

Any advice appreciated.

[mstaylor]

Warn a kid and then start ejecting. They lose a kid or two for them being stupid and either it will stop or you will get that manager because one will lose his mind on you. It won't take many times of losing players or even better, having to sit a game himself will get him looking. I had a kid that played for me that tried every game to wear his lucky necklace. I told him take it off if he wanted to play, if not have a seat on the end of the bench. Came off everytime.

[XUIC]

Ejecting da bums seems like a great plan...

...until you mentioned that your UIC doesn't have your back on this.

Sounds like you have a decision to make my friend... eject one or two to get your point across and hope your assignor still remembers you when games come around... or deal with it on a game by game basis and don't take it personally.

I can tell you that when I was UIC I refused to assign guys who caused me problems. With all I had to deal with, I had too many options to have to deal with idiots. One guy in particular (paid staff) walked up to me and said "Blue, why won't you give me any more games around here?" My reply: "Because you cause me too many problems. Every single game I get complaints from managers and/or parents about your umpiring. I've talked to you about it before and you still don't seem to get it. I can't deal with guys who cause me problems. It's that easy." When I retired from the board I gave the new UIC the rundown on all the umpires... needless to say, that guy still hasn't gotten any games at the league... go figure.

At my league I had a similar jewelry issue this past weekend.

Plate meeting: "Blah blah blah... Coach, is this lineup the way you would like it? Yes. Are all of your players properly and safely equipped to include no jewelry: metal, rubber, plastic? Yes. Blah blah blah... Play ball!"

Then around the 3rd inning a lefty comes to the plate... first pitch thrown... "Ball.... TIME... batter, please go show your coach your bracelet... what?... I said pleased walk over to your coach and show him your beautiful bracelet. He'll know what to do." So just stood there at the plate (never moved an inch from my standing position), the fans had no idea what was happening as the kid walked dumbfounded across HP and over to his coach who takes off the bracelet and smiles at me. The kid then walked back to the plate with a big grin on his face and proceeded to hit a grand slam!" (that last part about the homer was put in using artistic license... the kid probably struck out, but I don't really pay attention to that stuff.)

Anyhow, here's my advice...

Is it really that big a deal? If it is, then feel free to grab that end of the stick. If not, just deal with it in a calm, cool, and calculated manner. Keep doing a great job of umpiring and eventually your UIC's kid will age-out and you'll get a new guy to deal with. :meditation:

[XUIC]

Dangit... my compewter decided to double-post... :bang:

[Umpire in Chief]

I've been umpiring for just over a year. I find that the managers are not learning from my reminders about jewelry at plate meetings and during the games.

Every plate meeting that I attend, I or my partner mentions "properly equipped including no jewelry" and 90% of the games some players come out onto the field with jewelry.

I work only LL games and always at the league where my boys play so I know all these managers.

I am quite frustrated. Do you find yourself having to give the same reminders to the same managers all the time?

The UIC has advised me that I can't EJ a manager for players with jewelry so no joy on that front

Any advice appreciated.

This irritates the hell out of me and just goes to prove that the coaches don't listen or pay attention at the plate meeting.

Technically you can EJ for this...

I've had this "fantasy" that one day a coach catches me in a mood not to deal with this type of BS and I toss the coach under 9.01(B) -- effecting the administration of the game. By lying to me that his players are properly equiped he is doing and he and his player are disreguarding an order given in regards to the administration of the game.

WIll I ever do it, probably not. Though I have also thought about awarding the pitcher a strike if a batter has to leave the box and delay the game to take off his bling. That's a distinct possibility.

More practically, continue working with the UIC of your LL. Take notes on the reality of how many kids are disregarding the rule and ask him to bring it up to the committee. Have it come from the top down that jewelry is not accepted. I understand your committee/board wants to be nice to the kids but it is a saftey issue at times and LL is all about protecting/over-protecting the kids. They are putting umpires in a bad situation by their not addressing the issue. WHich can be as simple as the president of the board sending an email and handing out a flyer to all coaches.

[mstaylor]

The UIC said you couldn't eject the coach on the grounds of his player having jewelry on, which is true. However, it is against the rules for the players to wear the jewelry and can be warned, then ejected. If you do this, and you should, the coach is likely to argue that fact. For that, dump him, he has no standing to argue. This is a safety rule and should be enforced strictly, arguments are not needed, warrented or valid. I have ejected coaches for this offense.

I can tell you that when I was UIC I refused to assign guys who caused me problems. With all I had to deal with, I had too many options to have to deal with idiots.

I have a bit of a problem with this statement. If I have an umpire out there pulling rules out of thin air creating problems, certainly limit his games or try retraining. If his ejections are valid, and either situation I cited is valid, then that isn't creating problems Incorrect rulings, confrontational interactions and unreasonable ejections are problems, enforcing safety rules is not.

Is it really that big a deal? If it is, then feel free to grab that end of the stick. If not, just deal with it in a calm, cool, and calculated manner. Keep doing a great job of umpiring and eventually your UIC's kid will age-out and you'll get a new guy to deal with.

Safety rules are that big a deal, illegal bats, broken helmets, jewelry and guys sitting outside dugouts are all things that need to taken care of imediately. If it leads to an ejection, so be it.

[Mr Umpire]

Since this isn't FED, does LL or the local park have a "no jewelry" rule? If not, why is it being brought up at the plate meeting? If so, then the ejection is for disobeying a direct order by the umpire since the rules say "no jewelry".

[elares]

Yes, LL does have a rule that prohibits jewelry.

[Mr Umpire]

Then, you have 3 options.

Ignore it and stick it out while you work at this park. But, get in writing that the UIC will not allow EJ for violation of this rule for liability reasons. When he has to do that, he may rethink his position or you have to go to option 3.

Or, start ejecting players and coaches to see if they start getting the hint. I strongly encourage this b/c of liability issues which are easily avoided if you do everything within the rules. After starting this, you may find yourself using option 3 as well.

Or, work somewhere else until you find an organization you like. This may be your best option or you may find yourself in this situation if you choose option 2.

[XUIC]

The UIC said you couldn't eject the coach on the grounds of his player having jewelry on, which is true. However, it is against the rules for the players to wear the jewelry and can be warned, then ejected. If you do this, and you should, the coach is likely to argue that fact. For that, dump him, he has no standing to argue. This is a safety rule and should be enforced strictly, arguments are not needed, warrented or valid. I have ejected coaches for this offense.

I can tell you that when I was UIC I refused to assign guys who caused me problems. With all I had to deal with, I had too many options to have to deal with idiots.

I have a bit of a problem with this statement. If I have an umpire out there pulling rules out of thin air creating problems, certainly limit his games or try retraining. If his ejections are valid, and either situation I cited is valid, then that isn't creating problems Incorrect rulings, confrontational interactions and unreasonable ejections are problems, enforcing safety rules is not.

No worries MST, but the issues I had were of an arrogant umpire who didn't know the rules and in the end felt the need to stay for one of my games and critique my skillsets from the 3rd base stands... while play was going on. I had had retraining conversations with him and he wouldn't have any of it. He tried to prove he was a better umpire than me and the only thing he proved was what a flipping moron he was. My point was simply that if you upset your boss enough he will soon not have a need for you. Love it or leave it, the UIC/assignor is our boss (even if we are a volunteer) and you have to realize that before you take action.

Is it really that big a deal? If it is, then feel free to grab that end of the stick. If not, just deal with it in a calm, cool, and calculated manner. Keep doing a great job of umpiring and eventually your UIC's kid will age-out and you'll get a new guy to deal with.

Safety rules are that big a deal, illegal bats, broken helmets, jewelry and guys sitting outside dugouts are all things that need to taken care of imediately. If it leads to an ejection, so be it.

Safety rules are a huge issue, but you can't tell me that they are all created equal. Broken equipment, catchers not wearing a cup, coaches standing in opening are all pretty serious issues, but you'll rarely toss a guy for allowing this to happen. With that, we're (more than likely) talking about a baseball bracelet or necklace and to toss a coach out for allowing a player to wear one is kind of silly. In my mind, you have them attest at the plate meeting, you send the kid back to the coach to remove the offending article and you talk to the coach in between innings. Give him a warning then and there, but I don't see an ejection being warranted for that.

Oh well, everyone can have a difference of opinion on this, just know that there may very well be consequences to those actions.

Here's another thought... while you are checking equipment prior to the game, touch base with both teams and let them know that if they are wearing jewelry of any type it must be removed. Sometimes kids don't think about it and some coaches obviously don't care.

[carolinablue]

I worked a LL Minors game about a month ago, 1st minors game I have worked in a long time. It was an unusually cold day. 2 outs in the third inning the VC calls time ( his team was batting ) and walks over to me at the plate and respectfully says " I'm not trying to cause a problem but can he ( the pitcher for 3 innings) have those white sleeves on." I felt like a dumba$$ because I had been so nonchalant about the game I didn't even notice the sleeves. It was even worse when I had to stop the game and make the pitcher put some different sleeves on.

The point I'm making is that rules such as these and jewelry ect.. are a pain because we all want to call balls and strikes and safe/out but they are part of the rules which is our jobs to enforce. Also the coaches and players know these rules sometimes better than the actual playing rules and if we don't pay attention and demand they are adhered to someone will bring it up at some point and the only one that will look bad is the umpire.

[mstaylor]

XUIC:

I agree completely that an umpire that refuses to take instruction or opening criticises another umpire needs to be taken off he schedule. The problem is many leagues, and unfortunately umpire associations, believe that ejections are a bad thing. Bad ejections are a bad thing, good ejections are a tool in the umpire's toolbox for game management. But many throw the baby out with the bathwater, trying to make ejections a taboo for the umpiring staff. What that does is allow coaches and players to do what they want with impunity. Many associations want few ejections so they don't upset the customer, the league. That is a fine line between not making them mad and keeping control, keeping control is more important.

Now whether you think safety are equal or not, they need to be enforced stringently. Coaches think that small cracks in helmets and bats are no big deal so they try to use them. They think standing/sitting outside the dugout isn't a big deal so they do it. And they think jewelry is no big deal so they don't check for it. None of it is a big deal until somebody gets hurt, then who do they turn to, us. If there is a safety rule in the league you are working, enforce it. It doesn't matter if it is helmets, bats, jewelry, standing outside the dugout, or swinging bats in the dugout in LL, enforce it.

I am not saying because you warn them at the plate meeting doesn't mean you are going to toss the manager. What it means is you are going to warn the first player and toss the next player. What is possible is the manager may lose his cool and get himself tossed. That is for arguing a safety rule not violating the safety rule, big difference. I will never reprimand my guys for an ejection for a safety violation. I would prefer they err on the side of safety.

We had a 17/18 league a few years ago that was out of control, safety violations, sportmanship problems and other problems. I was the UIC but not there very often, when I was there were no problems. At the beginning of the year meeting several guys said they didn't want to do that league because they were out of control. My response was why were they a problem? Because you guys aren't taking care of business. I told them to do what they would anywhere else and if they get over the top, toss them. I told them I would have their backs and I would make the BOD go along too. A few guys got tossed and the problems went away.

My point is you toss a couple and the problem goes away. To address jewelry directly, I work three sports and TD tournaments in several others. In baseball jewelry is a warn and eject offense, soccer is a yellow card to the coach and they play a man down until the next substitution, volleyball is a point awarded to the iother team. Softball is the same as baseball but you can warn at the plate and toss on the first violation during the game. Wrestling and basketball have penalties but I am not sure what they are. This shows six sports that all say no jewelry, evidently somebody thinks it's a big deal.

I have tossed exactly one player for this violation, I have carded many in soccer for it, volleyball seems to take it off. In a game situation I tell a batter to go take it off. While he does that, I tell whichever coach is in the dugout to check the rest because the next one leaves. The whole thing is very lowkey but the difference is they know I mean it, others don't.