You gotta call it by the rule book!

[Wesley]

Last night I called my son's 7/8U LL Minors game.  I got to do my least favorite thing of calling him out on strikes (swinging).  Let me mention that for an 8U, he's a good reader and has actually read some of the LL rulebook.  Also plays F1 & F2, so he has a good idea of the strike zone.

 

We're walking through the parking lot and without me asking, he says, "You called a good game Dad, except you missed a couple."

 

So first I remind him not to ever say that to an umpire on the field, but I can't resist so I ask him what he thinks I missed.  We both remembered a called second strike on the outside.  I told him all the umpires in his league call a wide zone (chalk-to-chalk, per the league, word-of-mouth) and remind him that the coach tells the team to swing at those.  After a very long pause, he says, "You guys gotta call it by the book!"

 

We ended up talking baseball rules on the ride home and maybe he could umpire someday, which was pretty cool, and I thought that was the end of it.

 

Fast forward to the end of the night: I get him in bed, and after pleasantries, I turn off the light, and the very last thing he says is "you guys gotta call it by the book."

 

So what do you when your 8U jams you for not calling the rule book? 

 

Maybe he should run for the Board! 

[grayhawk]

So what do you when your 8U jams you for not calling the rule book?

 

Sounds like a postgame EJ and two game suspension to me!

[KLAH316]

So what do you when your 8U jams you for not calling the rule book? 

You gotta tip your hat to him and then pat yourself on the back for teaching him correctly!!

[bam]

Gently remind him that game management trumps the book. At least that's what my association's president says....

[BigUmpire]

He is headed to law school.

[Dannytheman]

I called my 12 year out on strikes as he was standing there with the bat on "not moving."    I had to hire a food tester for a couple of weeks.

But he is now 14 and Umpiring at Minor B level, so he always says he now understands.  Although I stil like to cook my own meals. 

[carolinablue]

I never would umpire a game my son played in except for a couple of scrimmages just to help the team. In those games I always ended up punching him out looking. Reading these other posts I may be seeing a pattern here. You think we are a little harder on our own sons.

 

To the OP, I really would recommend not umpiring any real game your son was in, eventually it will bite you. YMMV

[Wesley]

carolinablue, I agree.  This is probably the last season I'll call his games. 

 

At the 7/8U level, our league is so short of umpires that we end up with daddy coaches or guys out of the stands that end up with some AWFUL calls.  Ball bounces on the plate: called strike.  Pitch hits the batter: no base award.  Batted ball settles in the far rear of the batters box: fair ball, play on.  Two out force: score the run.  Crazy stuff.  I'm a newbie but at least I work hard on trying to be professional, try to get the calls right, and respect the game.  And in the end it's a matter of looking after my own interest: it's the only way I know my kid will have some level of officiating, even if that means it's only better than "bad".

 

I try to keep a low profile that my kid is playing in the game.  So far I haven't heard a word about it, but I agree, it's definitely not a practice to continue.

 

Hey, I thought this thread was supposed to be funny!     

[mstaylor]

My son played 7/8 fall ball one year. In fall ball the teams had to supply umpires, my son's team had two of us that did HS and college ball. The other guy's son is a JEA grad. Anyway, I called my son out on three straight pitches. The other stands were amazed, one mom said," Wow, that's his son!" The next time I had to do one of his games was 9/10s. I threatened to eject him and a fellow player. 

[mjr_2013]

In LL, At 7/8, I'm ok with it.

 

Even at 10U I'm ok with it if necessary

 

At 12U or any level of travel ball though, noooooo.... It gets competitive, and when mommy and daddy find out part of their league (or tourney) fees are going to a dad on the other team, they'll get PO'd.

 

Whether it's a positive advantage or a negative advantage (being harder on them), it's a conflict of interest and just not a good thing to get yourself involved in.

[mjr_2013]

My son played 7/8 fall ball one year. In fall ball the teams had to supply umpires, my son's team had two of us that did HS and college ball. The other guy's son is a JEA grad. Anyway, I called my son out on three straight pitches. The other stands were amazed, one mom said," Wow, that's his son!" The next time I had to do one of his games was 9/10s. I threatened to eject him and a fellow player. 

 

Closest I ever came to this was when a good friend of mine ran into the catcher in a game I was working. I thought REALLLLY hard about ejecting, and I would have had no qualms about it, but chose not to because there was contact on both sides of the collision and it wasn't malicious (which by my standards means it isn't UC in LL).

 

I told him postgame in joking, "If you ever make me think hard on that field again, I'll kick your butt personally!"

 

Looking back, I stand by my decision. He says I should have tossed him because it would make for a better story. LOL

[umpcoachfather]

Tell him he can't argue judgement calls and to do his homeowork. 

[mbrown2097]

You got some large nads to call your own kids games!!! Way too many things that can go wrong there.

[Aging_Arbiter]

Unfortunately, sometimes it comes down to logistics.  If I had "dads" that were interested in umpiring, do you think I sent them away because their kid played ball?  No.  However, once trained up and supervised for a while, they were working their kids game.  When possible, I'd put Dad opposite the player on 2 fields that we have together (co-located) in town.  Whoever finished first, could walk to the other field (100yds away) and wait for the other. When they played on the field on edge of town, Dad got assigned there. The better news is, once these players got older, they had an appreciation for what dad did, and I got 3 new junior umpires out of the deal.

 

Sometimes the perception (not reality in this case) was that they were harder on their boys to avoid any impropriety.  When in reality, they were just as fair to the batter before & the batter after.

[KLAH316]

A couple years ago, my son gotpicked up on a club team that was playing in the league I umpire in.... My schedule was already set when I realized one of the games was going to be his.

I called the assignor and told him that my son was on one of the teams now and could he replace me.  He said it wasn't a big deal to work my kids game, he trusts me to be fair.  He went on to say that he umpires most of his kids games since he has the contract for that league too. 

 

Needless to say, they of course started my kid on the hill.....  I squeezed him! 

 

First and last time I did one of his games.

[Mike Prince]

I've called exactly one of my son's games, he was a catcher so I made sure I didn't have the plate.  Was still an awkward feeling, he no longer plays so I don't have that to worry about anymore.

 

When he used to watch my games, he would quietly give the crew an A/B/C-type grade as we walked off the field and "give us pointers" back at the car while we did post-game (this is when he was a lot younger, like 10-11 years old).  Best I ever got out of him was an A-...

[Wesley]

I played ball for years and I have to say after umpiring for a while I have a new appreciation for the job and the men who do it.  In my own experience it is truly a thankless, “no win†situation.  Dam*ed if you do and dam*ed if you don’t.

 

The reason I do it is because I feel I have an obligation to my son and our community.  I've found that if I don't do it, few others are going to, either.

 

And I’ve found that for some strange reason, regardless of the abuse (in all it's forms), or maybe because of them, I enjoy umpiring a baseball game.

[mstaylor]

The worse time I had to umpire my son was in 13-14 Pony. I was his flipping manager and no umpires showed. The president insisted I do the game. I was pissed, I am playing the second place team for first place and I am on the the field umpiring. 

[carolinablue]

The worse time I had to umpire my son was in 13-14 Pony. I was his flipping manager and no umpires showed. The president insisted I do the game. I was pissed, I am playing the second place team for first place and I am on the the field umpiring. 

 

You had to umpire a game for a team you managed......that your son played on......and it was for 1st place???

[mstaylor]

Yep, and we lost. The worse part was my parents were all over me the whole game. 

[JHSump]

Yep, and we lost. The worse part was my parents were all over me the whole game. 

 

This all sounds like a nightmare!  Did you wake up the next day and ask your son if it all really happened??

[HokieUmp]

I don't know if this tops the "1st v 2nd" one, but mine has a twist...

 

When we were living in Australia, my kid's game was before mine (I was working the older division later in the morning), but no one showed to work it.  I already had my uniform on - we lived a block away from the reserve - so I said sure, just I did it from behind the mound.  (No, that's NOT the twist, I just chose to take that game out there.  Age-wise, it was fine.)

 

I called my kid out on strikes on 3-2 pitch.  Eyes were shooting DAGGERS at me.

 

The twist?  The kid was my ... daughter.  Not a huge twist, mind, but it's certainly different than the other stories.  Her team at that age was about half and half, boys and girls.  There was no girl's option for stick-and-ball, other than cricket.

 

On the plus side, she and I get along much better now, since it's been about eight years, and I'll be walking her down the aisle in August.

[JHSump]

I don't know if this tops the "1st v 2nd" one, but mine has a twist...

 

When we were living in Australia, my kid's game was before mine (I was working the older division later in the morning), but no one showed to work it.  I already had my uniform on - we lived a block away from the reserve - so I said sure, just I did it from behind the mound.  (No, that's NOT the twist, I just chose to take that game out there.  Age-wise, it was fine.)

 

I called my kid out on strikes on 3-2 pitch.  Eyes were shooting DAGGERS at me.

 

The twist?  The kid was my ... daughter.  Not a huge twist, mind, but it's certainly different than the other stories.  Her team at that age was about half and half, boys and girls.  There was no girl's option for stick-and-ball, other than cricket.

 

On the plus side, she and I get along much better now, since it's been about eight years, and I'll be walking her down the aisle in August.

 

Did it take her 8 years to let you off the hook?  

[Nazrat]

I always end up with a strikeout looking when I work my sons' scrimmages. 

 

In the last one, my 12 year old gave me the stink eye after the 3rd strike and I told the coach to replace him or I would eject him.  I refuse to work their actual games. 

 

My sons don't like the outside corner while hitting.  Pitching is a different story.