Where's the line...

[Jocko]

Like most things judgement this is a tricky bit of work in my opinion. I don't put up with unsportsman like behaviors or disruptive behaviors on my field (and yes, when the game is on it is MY field). I understand and have said time and time again that this is a passionate sport, played by passionate people who love winning. You have to expect that a coach is going to verbally berate their players during a game when mistakes are made, things aren't going their way etc and there is nothing we can nor aught do in this type of a situation. There does come a time however where things become abusive, language is peppered with inappropriate words and sportmanship lines are crossed. I have no qualms about telling a coach to knock off his abusive behaviors because he IS effecting the game on both sides and his conduct is unsportsman like. At this point if the shenanigans continue, it's an easy EJ. Of course what passes for inappropriate is a whole new ball of wax, whats is fine for adult ball lots of times is not cool with 10 year olds. Being aware of the atmosphere is one of those "soft" skills you are either well aware of or oblivious to but will be a great guide in how to deal with those situations

Wriiten by: Abigail Van Buren

[JHSump]

Interesting side note to this discussion I just found.

In the "first officially recorded game" of baseball between the "New York Knickerbockers" and the "New York Nine" Alexander Cartwright served as the Umpire.

Cartwright fined a player 6 cents for cursing.

Cartwright had written down the first 20 rules of baseball for the Knickerbocker Baseball Club. According to the Wikipedia article on this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Knickerbockers) "Cartwright's rules would soon become part of the rules of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. These rules slowly evolved into today's rules of baseball."

So players --- and coaches/captains, since they were chosen from clubs --- were not allowed to cross certain verbal lines. This was built into the rules of baseball from the beginning --- and enforced by that first Umpire, as required by the rules.

[bam]

Interesting side note to this discussion I just found.

In the "first officially recorded game" of baseball between the "New York Knickerbockers" and the "New York Nine" Alexander Cartwright served as the Umpire.

Cartwright fined a player 6 cents for cursing.

Cartwright had written down the first 20 rules of baseball for the Knickerbocker Baseball Club. According to the Wikipedia article on this (http://en.wikipedia...._Knickerbockers) "Cartwright's rules would soon become part of the rules of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. These rules slowly evolved into today's rules of baseball."

So players --- and coaches/captains, since they were chosen from clubs --- were not allowed to cross certain verbal lines. This was built into the rules of baseball from the beginning --- and enforced by that first Umpire, as required by the rules.

Well yeah. But those were also the days when the fans (and players - Ty Cobb amoung them) would beat the umpire senseless.

[JHSump]

Haha...But it's not clear that Cobb would have beaten umpire Cartwright in a fight! Cartwright was a volunteer firefighter in Manhattan, and from pictures looked like a pretty strong dude. Took park in the gold rush in California. At any rate, there was no chance to find out: Cartwright died at age 72 when Cobb was 6 years old.

One thing is nearly certain: Cobb would not have been allowed to be a member of the Knickerbocker "gentlemans" club.

[amarillo]

I think I will take the same approach that has been preached to me as a concealed firearm carrier

Observe and report unless absolutely sure of the situation and then use the force necessary to diffuse it

[kylejt]

Again, you have to take into consideration where you're umpiring. If it's a HS game, let the manager do his thing to his team. Mom, or the AD will handle it. If it's a youth travel ball game, with no national body to sanction the nut, call the TD over.

But if it's little kids ball, like LL, you're not only an umpire, but a league official (by rule). Feel free to step in,

But sometimes you need to take your umpire hat off, and think about what you'd do at the local Costco, if you heard Dad verbally abusing his kid. Sometimes just getting in his line of sight is enough, or getting his attention somehow.

Twice during a LL Majors game yesterday I used the "Hey!" to a manager who was going off on his kids. The guy is just wound too tight. Both times he shot back "You're right" and calmed down. It's Winterball, where no score or standings are kept, but he's acting like he's one game from Williamsport.

Yeah, it's easy to hide behind a uniform, say "Not my job", and ignore stuff happening to little kids. But y'all wear a Nutty Buddy for a reason, right? Feel free to use 'em, when needed, fellas.

[plateumpire29]

@ Pete. Years ago I was working a Memorial Day Tournament championship game behind the plate. It was 13u, two good teams. In a tight game, the left fielder drops a fly ball to allow in the goahead run in about the fourth inning. With a look on his face like he wanted to kill this kid, the coach got nose to nose with him at the end of the inning. The following inning, it became apparent that the kid was deathly afraid of making a mistake and let several balls drop in front of him. The enraged coach yanked him before the inning was over. The kid ran off the field with tears streaming down his face. I was so disgusted with what I had witnessed that I baited the coach and ran him. Had that been my kid, me and that coach would have been dancing in the parking lot. I don't justify my actions and don't give a damn what anybody else here thinks of what I did. That piece of s$&) probably ruined that boy as far as baseball was concerned and didn't belong in the position he was in.

[Jocko]

@ Pete. Years ago I was working a Memorial Day Tournament championship game behind the plate. It was 13u, two good teams. In a tight game, the left fielder drops a fly ball to allow in the goahead run in about the fourth inning. With a look on his face like he wanted to kill this kid, the coach got nose to nose with him at the end of the inning. The following inning, it became apparent that the kid was deathly afraid of making a mistake and let several balls drop in front of him. The enraged coach yanked him before the inning was over. The kid ran off the field with tears streaming down his face. I was so disgusted with what I had witnessed that I baited the coach and ran him. Had that been my kid, me and that coach would have been dancing in the parking lot. I don't justify my actions and don't give a damn what anybody else here thinks of what I did. That piece of s$&) probably ruined that boy as far as baseball was concerned and didn't belong in the position he was in.

sadly, it was probably HIS kid :(