Did I snuff my partner?

[tldavis19]

Yesterday in a JV game I was PU and we had a pitcher that wasn't the smoothest of guys when it came to his delivery. He threw one pitch and in the middle of the AB my partner (BU) calls time and calls the home JV coach out of the dugout and begins to speak to the Home pitcher and JV coach. I wait about a minute thinking "surely he won't drag this out." After a little bit, the Varstiy HC yells to me from the dugout "Terry can we move this along? We've got coaching clinics in December we don't need one right here. If he's balking, call a balk." I had already begun walking to the mound at this point. When I got there all I said was "Are we ready to play, fellas?" The meeting broke up and we proceeded with play. After the game my partner says, "I really don't like that you walked out there on me, it hurt my feelings."

 

While I'm not trying to hurt his feelings or step on his toes, we were an hour into an 1 1/2 hour game and delays were costing the home team precious time. Did I do the right thing in walking out or should I have let my partner finish? At what point do I as the PU need to assert myself in keeping the game moving and how do I do so without being offensive?

[JaxRolo]

I think you did the right thing.

The coach requested that you come up pretty much. I would had a good talk with partner after the game.

[Thunderheads]

I think you did the right thing.

The coach requested that you come up pretty much. I would had a good talk with partner after the game.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ concur

[mstaylor]

Tell him you will give him a hug in the parking lot. Although in scrimmages  I will tell coaches about borderline problems I see, I would never call time to do it. I tell him between innings, scrimmages are practice, it is a good time to get problems fixed. 

[James Walker]

Hurt his feelings?!?! : There's no crying in baseball...

[NFUA_44]

Holy crap....hurt feelings? Seriously? He needs to move on to Volley Ball or something.

Just call the balk already. When and IF the HC wants an expl. Give it to him in the course of the game, or as micheal said between innings if its more informal. You did the right thing, and no u didn't stuff your partner, he did it himself. Especially in a game with time limits.

Address it post game, point out the fact that if he holds a pitching clinic for one side he would have to do the same for the other team. It also means if you wind up with a real balk that has to be called your gonna hear it from the other side about why somebody got a warning and they didn't. This type of thing just opens up way to many issues that aren't necessary, and won't be happening at the Varsity level (hopefully)

[mstaylor]

Yesterday I did a scrimmage. I called a balk on the V pitcher, turned to first, no throw. Later in the game another V pitcher was coming set and rolling his shoulder to first. I simply told his manager to watch his shoulder. Call the elephant balks, explain the more technical stuff, but never stop the game for an extended conversation. I guess you are going to have brush up on your Kum Ba Yah.

[BalkHawk]

At this conference, do you think he was explaining what feelings and emotions he experiences when F1 pitches?

 

 

 

You can have these to give to your partner.

   

When I hurt SWMBO feelings, flowers make her feel better.

[Dragon29]

Concur - You were fine.

 

If he wants to make a quick comment to F1 like, "Give me a better stop", or "Watch your shoulder turn." or something like that, great.  He had no business calling the coach out there in the first place.

 

Re:his 'feelings' - Tell him the battery's yours anyway, so he was already stepping on your toes.

[Jocko]

Feeling, schmeelings. Do your damn job. Leave the rest in the locker room.

[Mike Prince]

You did the right thing.  What your partner was doing makes no sense, it's not rec ball.  If it's a balk, call it and explain to the coach if requested so that he can do his job.  If I was the VT coach I would have not been happy.

[Trakes2]

[cyclonehokiece]

 

Is it just me, but if you didn't know the context, looks like he is either going to grope or choke her.

[MidAmUmp]

Never ever ever (I mean ever) hurt your partner's feelings.      He must have a plastic participation trophy on his shelf.

 

He's an umpire, not a pitching coach.  If he's got something more than what takes a quick comment to fix, either balk it or ignore it.  In Missouri (not the baseball mecca of the world) if a JV pitcher can't figure out whether to throw to 2nd or the plate, I generally tell umpires to ignore balks unless they fall down.  No sense in adding insult to injury.  Let the coach handle the instruction.

 

Just be sure the next time you go to break up a mound visit by the base umpire you have everyone sit "crisscross applesauce", hold hands, sing a verse or two of Kumbayah, share a drink of kool-aid, and pass around the orange slices so as to not make anyone sad.

[renegadewolf]

While I've only been at this a few years, one of the first things i learned umpiring is if you are prone to having your feelings hurt by comments, then you are likely in the wrong business.  On an unrelated note, i almost choked on my pop when I read it.  Perhaps it is just me but to snuff someone means something entirely different that how it is used here, and it's not very pretty.

[tldavis19]

haha here it only means to step on someone's toes or something along those lines. I didn't feel like I was in the wrong here, and I brought it up in postgame and he tried to make it sound like I was letting the coach tell me what to do. I was VERY irritated with him but instead of unprofessionally giving him a piece of my mind I just nodded and went on about my business. Ugh 

[scrounge]

While I've only been at this a few years, one of the first things i learned umpiring is if you are prone to having your feelings hurt by comments, then you are likely in the wrong business.  On an unrelated note, i almost choked on my pop when I read it.  Perhaps it is just me but to snuff someone means something entirely different that how it is used here, and it's not very pretty.

 

Yep...when I first saw the topic title, I was wondering where it was going.

[tldavis19]

While I've only been at this a few years, one of the first things i learned umpiring is if you are prone to having your feelings hurt by comments, then you are likely in the wrong business.  On an unrelated note, i almost choked on my pop when I read it.  Perhaps it is just me but to snuff someone means something entirely different that how it is used here, and it's not very pretty.

 

Yep...when I first saw the topic title, I was wondering where it was going.

half the battle is having a catchy title