Fueling the fire...

[AZump78]

So, given some recent discussion, I'll throw this out there...

My thoughts on ejections are:

1. People are going to react.

2. We cannot control their reactions.

3. We can influence what they do.

4. They are ultimately responsible for what they do.

We cannot keep someone in the game if they decide to act inappropriately. We can decide not to act in a manner which would reasonably be expected to have an inappropriate reaction.

Rip this apart, if you will.

#3 you can't influence what they do... the ey will do what they want, like it or not.

You can't CONTROL what they do, but you can INFLUENCE what they do, simply by what you do or say (or how you do it or say it).

I will disagree... sometimes they want to get tossed, your words are not gonna stop anything...LOL

True enough.

[AZump78]

The other umpires aren't doing their job?

...sigh...

Not even close.

I should have used a emoticon, it was tongue in cheek. It does prove that each ejection has to be looked at and decided if it was a good toss or not. The guys with one or two could be said that they are taking too much crap. It could be said that other group that averages three to five are too thin skinned or not using good game management. What the numbers say is nothing. It could be a mix of both things. Looking at numbers is no way to track what guys are doing.

Coaches will get tossed on purpose at times. That is just an anomaly that proves that numbers alone is not a gage.

Sorry I live in Literal-ville sometimes.

Your points are all valid. The only thing I would add is that just because all your ejection are totally warranted and justified, the fact that you pile them up over time at a rate higher than the norm could (and likely does) mean you are either a red ass or are missing way to many calls.

[mstaylor]

The other umpires aren't doing their job?

...sigh...

Not even close.

I should have used a emoticon, it was tongue in cheek. It does prove that each ejection has to be looked at and decided if it was a good toss or not. The guys with one or two could be said that they are taking too much crap. It could be said that other group that averages three to five are too thin skinned or not using good game management. What the numbers say is nothing. It could be a mix of both things. Looking at numbers is no way to track what guys are doing.

Coaches will get tossed on purpose at times. That is just an anomaly that proves that numbers alone is not a gage.

Sorry I live in Literal-ville sometimes.

Your points are all valid. The only thing I would add is that just because all your ejection are totally warranted and justified, the fact that you pile them up over time at a rate higher than the norm could (and likely does) mean you are either a red ass or are missing way to many calls.

True, it could mean exactly that. That is why we review every ejection, including a report from the second umpire. Trends need to be followed and fixed if need be.

[johnnyg08]

at a rate higher than the norm could (and likely does) mean you are either a red ass or are missing way to many calls.

maybe. is it possible? yes, that that ALWAYS the reason, no.

[AZump78]

at a rate higher than the norm could (and likely does) mean you are either a red ass or are missing way to many calls.

maybe. is it possible? yes, that that ALWAYS the reason, no.

Umm....I'm pretty sure both the words "could" and "likely were used in my post so I'm not real sure what your point is....

[kylejt]

I work in a pretty tame area. Upper middle class families, many of them intact (!). For the most part, coaches and parents are pretty docile.

If I worked a few miles away, I'd be filling my dance card with ejections. It really depends on where you work, and the culture built in that area. We've developed, over many years, a common respect for everyone at the ball fields. It's not uncommon for managers and umpires to share a frosty one after games where I work. Try that other places.

Try this: If you can't have a pleasant conversation with all parties after a game, perhaps you're not doing your job.

(Okay, not really. It's not my job to make everyone happy.)

[Kevin Finnerty]

I worked with a guy who overreacted to a common mask shot, and while he was "regrouping" at the backstop screen, a coach said to a member of his own team, "It didn't look like it was that bad of a shot." It almost sounded like a show of concern.

Suddenly, my partner looked up and ran the guy. And he made it a big, overblown Bill Hohn type of toss. He has a reputation for quickness, but it had to rank as one of the weakest and silliest ejections I've ever seen. The coach actually wound up laughing incredulously. He turned to me and asked, "Is he for real?" Then he chuckled some more.

I actually got asked if I thought it was warranted by our assignor, and I had to respond with a you're-not-really-going-to-make-me-answer-that-question kind of response.

I neither look for trouble, nor avoid it, but there's a balance. I don't have a lot of them, but I can honestly say that I regret none of them.

I regretted even being on the field for this one.

[yawetag]

I work in a pretty tame area. Upper middle class families, many of them intact (!).

I don't think this is an indicator at all. A lot of my umpiring work is done in an area that many of our umpires wouldn't even accept a game. The area is low-income and in districts where basketball and football are king. The play is sub-par (at best) and games could last a lot longer than those in other areas. In these games, I've never had a problem.

I think the determinant is how competitive the team is. The more they want to win (or are ingrained to think winning is the only option), the more the tempers flare when things go against them. When they're losing, it's never their fault, so they have to find the fault elsewhere.

[Guest]

Game management skills are obviously such a big part of one's ability because as we all know, it is what separates the best from the rest. But the truth is, the way we most commonly try to assess this skill - simply looking at the number of one's ejections in a period of time - demonstrates little to nothing of what we're looking for.

There are just so many other variables that contribute to a situation. As the saying goes, it takes no skill to eject and no skill not to eject. The biggest variable is inconsistent application of game management. We have that problem a lot up here. Countless times, I or a partner have ejected for something that we and many other umpires would consider a "no doubter" only to have the ejectee react in shock and go "you're running me for that? I do that all the time and never get thrown out." Yes, sorry buddy but you're not allowed to rifle your bat 50 feet back to the dugout after I ring you up on a called strike 3 for the second out.

The other thing is, with many situations, there is guaranteed to be disagreement between ourselves as to have handled a situation. It happens on here all the time. One camp believes the action to be a straight hook, another believes in a firm warning, etc etc.

But ejection totals aren't useless. If you're racking up ridiculously high or low ejection to game ratios, it's time to take a look at something. But there is a very wide berth of middle ground.

Which is where the real measure of game management comes in: the respect you get from the baseball community. Obviously the premium assignments are (usually) the best indicators of ability. But politics can get in the way a lot of the time so there are many other smaller indicators to look for and take pride in if they're present. We should want to be the ones getting the assignments where trouble is potentially brewing and the boss needs someone there to try and keep the pot from boiling over; you want coaches to remember you and seem genuinely pleased to see you at the plate as they approach with the card; you want players to acknowledge you, maybe even make a little small talk with you, and never get carried away with how they interact with you in the heat of battle. It's never a bad thing when anyone from the losing team comes to you after a game as you leave or when they see you in the parking lot after and say hey, nice job tonight.

I think one of the most important things we forget is the amount of emotion that players play the game with. When something doesn't go their way, their reaction is instinct. I'm not giving anyone a free pass for the events right after a call - if they go over the line, they go over the line - but sometimes I feel like we're all guilty of taking these innate reactions too seriously. Now, when they become prolonged, I have an issue, but most of the time it's just brief and that's the end of it.

Lots of guys talk about verbal judo and what not when trying to diffuse a situation. And the central concept of that is understanding and accepting that yes, someone is going to be upset when a close call doesn't go their way. The more important the context of that call, the more upset they will be. Empathizing with that frustration is the best way to lower the individual's blood pressure quickly. Try it for yourself. Next time you have a situation where someone is a little hot under the collar, say to them "I understand you're upset. This isn't a situation that happens often and this rule is a difficult one to understand. But I take a lot of pride in doing my job correctly and this is what needs to happen..." It's not always going to work. But the best we can do is try.

It takes time to learn good game management. I'm not trying to imply I'm a master at it - I had 11 ejections in 215 games this year. 2 or 3 of them, I would have liked to have handled better. Some guys will go 11 over 215 (1 EJ every 19.545 games), that's way too many. All in the context though. 1 was because a partner wouldn't step up and make an ejection. 5 were in some type of playoff game. 2 were a pitcher / manager for throwing at a batter after warnings. I had partners make 14 separate ejections in games with me this year. One of my best friends, who made it all the way to PBUC this past year and gets a free trip right back this year (because our work visas don't allow MiLB placement in the same year you originally go to PBUC) had at least twice the amount of ejections as I did. As you've probably deduced from some of the stories, things can run a little more amok up here.

But at the same time, I was able to talk myself out of some very volatile situations. In years past, they probably would have ended differently, mostly with someone getting hooked.

When you have "one of those games", the next day, step back and ask yourself

1) Did I have a legitimate right to make an ejection?

2) Did I attempt to diffuse the situation first?

3) Did I do anything to provoke the situation?

As long as you're answering yes / yes / no to 95% of your ejections (we all screw up now and again), it doesn't matter how many ejections you have. What matters is that you're taking out the trash when the trash needs to be taken out. Because the fourth question, "Should I have had an ejection, but failed to make it?" is not something you want to be saying "yes" to on a regular basis.

[Umpire in Chief]

^^ Great Post Chris!^^