Did I handle this right?

[firemanump]

High School game in a round robin tournament. Home team getting hammered. Pitcher for home team is showing tons of emotion with every call. Kid was throwing straigh but it was there ankles. Now my strike zone has expanded a bit because it is 15-0 in the second. Kid throws another one that catcher catches at least 10 inches outside the plate. Kid jumps up on mound looking to duggout. Coach says I know, I know. I call time and grab a ball out of my bag as I walk toward mound. I give the kid the ball and say little less emotion up here, you are missing low and the last one was way out. This is the only time I am coming out. Are we understood. He replies with a polite yes sir. As I walk back to the plate his coach calls time. He comes up to me and says what were you saying to my pitcher. I explain the convo to him. He says you can't do that, you are not a coach just hired help! I said, Coach I am in charge. Whether you like it or not I am the boss when it comes to the calls on this field and the conduct I see. I was simply explaining where he was missing so he might throw a little better and show less emotion. You are the one that should have called time and talked to him when he was jumping around. He says I am reporting you! I said, report all you want this is summer ball. After all it ain't my fault you are down 15-0, you can walk to the duggout or you can walk to the parking lot. Do you want to decide or do you want me to decide for you? He turned and went to the duggout. Game ended in 3 with a final score of 19-0!

[scrounge]

It may have been wiser to say a little less, just telling F1 to knock it off. Perhaps send the catcher out instead or first before a warning.

[MPLSMatt]

Some vets will probably have better feedback but you are totally within your right to tell the pitcher he can't be dancing around out there like that. In fact, if it's repeated, you have to put a stop to it or you'll lose control of the game. You were polite in the way you addressed it and I think that's fine - you also could have gone with 1) knock it off, pitch. You keep complaining about pitches, your going to be done. or 2) send the catcher out to squash it.

Once the coach came out and acted rattish, you might have handled things a little better. When coach asks what the chat was about (a total rat move BTW) you could have told him, "I told him were not going to be complaining about balls and strikes." If he insists that he doesn't want you doing that, I'd say "Bill, I'm not going to allow someone to show me up out there regardless of how he feels about the strike zone. Now lets play ball." If he refuses to go back to the dugout at that point, you can get a little more forceful and use your dugout or parking lot line.

IMHO, things went wrong when you started to peck back at him. I would recomend never saying "I am in charge." Also, as much as we want to, I would really discourage criticising his coaching by saying "You are the one who should've called time...." Nothing particularly bad there, you just want to make sure you aren't fanning the flames.

[firemanump]

If it had been the regular season I would have. The HS teams in GA play the entire month of June. It is used to help the younger guys get used to HS ball and for the older ones to work on mechanics. This was the only game out of 20 or so that I have had an issue.

[firemanump]

@Matt

I totally agree I could have probably handled a little better. The reason I said that to the coach was because when the pitcher was acting a fool, he was pouring gas on the fire by saying I know. I should not have told him I am in charge but it is his job to Coach not mine.

[MPLSMatt]

Oh, for sure. It's easy to sit here and type well thought out responses but when a coach is acting a fool, it's really hard to restrain the urge to peck back at them. I still don't succeed at it all of the time and have had several situations where I've gotten done with a game and thought "SH*#, I didn't need to say that. You had to be a Big Shot and shoot your mouth off."

Hell, I'm one of the best internet umpires in the world :-). Just trying to make it translate to the field more regularly.

[firemanump]

I hear ya, in retrospect I should have handled diffently. Got same two teams today so it should be a good one.

[umpcoachfather]

Utopian response "I told your pitcher to calm down instead of tossing him for his little temper tantrums, when he throws strikes he'll get them. It's 15-0 in the second you have more than me to worry about."

[Jocko]

You got it, Coach. Next time I will just dump him.

[mstaylor]

I don't have a problem with talking directly with the pitcher. I have used the catcher to shut it down and also I have stepped out told them to knock it off. If a coach tells me I can't talk to their players, and I have, I tell them I take care of problems on the field and if that requires me to talk to a player then that's what is going to happen. They generally respond by something stupid like," If you have a problem with a player come tell me and I will take care of it." And I tell him,"No, my job is to handle it and that is what I will do." Then I walk away.

[UmpTTS43]

You did fine. Nice job.

[Welpe]

I don't have a problem with talking directly with the pitcher. I have used the catcher to shut it down and also I have stepped out told them to knock it off. If a coach tells me I can't talk to their players, and I have, I tell them I take care of problems on the field and if that requires me to talk to a player then that's what is going to happen. They generally respond by something stupid like," If you have a problem with a player come tell me and I will take care of it." And I tell him,"No, my job is to handle it and that is what I will do." Then I walk away.

Once again, Michael nails it. I've had coaches in other sports get on me for talking to their players and I told them flatly "If I end up T'ing up or ejecting one of your players, you'll be all over me for not warning them." I've actually had a couple coaches say "Well that's true."

Dealing with coaches is a clash of Type A personalities. Both of us have a need to be in charge but only one of us gets to during the game. Sometimes they'll show their butt but usually you can work with them to get the desired behavior out of them. And some men...you just can't reach.

I probably would not have responded the way you did but that's just how my personality is. I have no issue with the way you did if you can pull it off and evidently you can.

[Stan W.]

Ive done a number of things....

Talked directly to the pitcher....

Sent the catcher out to do it.....

But trout gets it for me..........

Coach "dont talk to my player"

Umpire. "OK you got it, next time I'll just eject him..."