Never work with or for this guy again

[guitarplaya2007]

Ok, yesteday had a district game, Bottom 1st, I'm PU, R1 2 outs, batter hits an easy double possible triple to the right field gap. I start to rotate up to third, once i recognize there won't be a play into third i begin to head back home stopping when R1 rounded third to assure that he touched, sure enough he missed third by about six inches, plain as day. R1 scores and BR is standing on third after a potential time play. Catcher for DT calls time, DT Manager asks if i called time, I say yes. He then instructs his pitcher to step on the rubber so i can put the ball in play, I call play, knowing what is going on, and begin to walk towards third, pitcher throws to third I call R1 out, 3rd out of the inning and no run scores. OT Manager then comes down asking if i really saw it, i explained to him that his runner missed the base by about 6 inches and I saw it clearly. The runner who I just called out then starts towards his position at first base arguing the call, I tell him I already explained it to his manager and that I wasn't going to talk to him about it and he knew as well as I did that he missed the base. Bottom of the 6th inning rolls around, I call a pitch at the bottom of the zone a strike against the team who I previously called out on appeal at third. Batter then jumps up and out of the box yelling "That's not a strike!" I then instructed him that he needed to keep one foot in the box and that it's been a strike all game, he then began to argue back while his first base coach came down and calmed him down. The next pitch to the batter was a foot above his head, he then swings at the pitch and looks right back at me, I then told him that nothing was going on back here and he needed to turn around. The next pitch was clearly up and away which i balled. The 1-2 pitch is a curve ball down the middle which the batter takes for a called strike three. As I call strike three he turns around and stares at me as he heads back to his dugout, i then said to him "There isn't anything going on back here that concerns you so you need to turn around and go back to your dugout. During the next batter's at bat, the runner who I called out earlier for missing third base throws a game ball, without getting my or the catcher's attention after a foul ball, in my direction. The ball bounced off the ground and hit the catcher in the back of the leg, the catcher then began to yell in the direction of the dugout, I instructed him that I would take care of it, in lieu of ejecting the player i kicked the ball off the ground back in his direction and told him that if he ever throws a baseball in my direction again he and his manager are getting run. He then scoffs at me as he leaves the baseball laying in front of the dugout and walks into the dugout. I then instructed the on deck batter to throw the baseball to the catcher. Following the third out of the bottom of the 6th, the same player who threw the baseball in my direction strolled to his position at first base making it a point to walk within feet of my postion while dragging his feet through the dirt and staring at me. I continued to look at him as he made his way toward his position so as to make sure he did not make any unsportsmanlike gestures. When he got to first base my partner, who just so happens to be the president of my association, told the first baseman that he and his third baseman needed to straighten up their attitudes because I could have ejected them both. The first basemans response, which was inaudible to me at the time as my partner told me what he said when we got back to our cars after the game, was "You need to talk to him (referring to me), he sucks." My partner then told him that he couldn't say that. That is pretty much the extent of the situation. I just needed to vent that, if I were in my partner's shoes in that situation I would have immediately ejected him for talking about my partner like that. Maybe I'm just a red a$$ and I know I gave both of these players a little too much of a leash and am regretting it in hindsight, but seriously, I think my partner should've handled that situation a little better. That being said I'm now looking for a new local association, not just because of this situation, but this puts the icing on the cake. If my league president isn't going to stand up for me or anyone else for that matter on the field then who's to say what he is going to do off the field when situations arise where he needs to defend our members when they were just doing their jobs.   

[mstaylor]

the brats would have been gone long before incident at first

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[BigUmpire]

" Eject early to eject less" Says Jeapugrad.

Good advice.

[guitarplaya2007]

like i said, i should've run the kid for throwing the baseball in my direction, but I preferred making it a "learning experience" for him by just lighting him and his manager up. the kid who jumped up and out of the boxand started yelling I didn't run mainly because I missed the ejection, instead of running him right away I decided to tell him to get a foot in the box and more or less to shut his ratty, and no that is not supposed to be "bratty" mouth

[JHSump]

" Eject early to eject less" Says Jeapugrad.

Good advice.

...and to regret less.

[carolinablue]

Yeah he should have tossed him but I think you are possibly being a little hard on your partner. That situation at first should have never been able to happen. Never let a player stare you down.

[BigUmpire]

" When in doubt, throw them out"

Bumper sticker.

[guitarplaya2007]

Ok let me clear something up real quick, In any other situation I would have run the first baseman when he threw the baseball in my direction and hit the catcher. However, we have been told as an association to warn more and let things like that go, I understand I missed the ejection. But when somebody says that I or my partner "sucks" they are going to get run without missing a beat. That is something, I'm sure, that we are all conditioned to do. I let him go as he stared me down walking and dragging his feet to first, probably at the least should've said something along the lines of "There's nothing going on over here" or "Don't stare me down, go to your position and play ball" however i opted to let it go and give the kid the benefit of the doubt, but my partner clearly saw all of that happen and then still let him stay in the game after he said I sucked.

[gnhbua93]

IMO, your partner handle it very well.  You didn't handle the situation very well from the get go, why pretend your partner eject somebody that you should eject half hour ago.  Sorry if I didn't wrote what you want to read.

[BigUmpire]

When you say “ district game†I am not sure if this school ball, rec ball or what.

 

"Warn more and let things like that go"

 

Ask why they want this.

Obviously non umpires saying this.

 

Part of youth ball is learning respect for uniformed authority figures.

No one like ejections BUT you should have.

 

What are they referring to when they say†let things like that goâ€

What is “That�

 

You must have a weak UIC OR your association is crumbling to†If we make them mad they will switch umpire groupsâ€.

 

Strong UICs will head this off.

[mstaylor]

Unfortunately you are in a group that thinks it is our job to keep players and coaches in the game. That is utter nonsense. Our job is to administer the game and to use our game management skills to control situations. Not all are attuned to that and as a result we have to excuse them. Brats and rats don't get to stay. Associations need to learn to read ejection reports and decide of it is a good one or not. Just saying warn more and eject less is lazy, shortsighted and stupid. All you get are out of control leagues. I strongly suggest you contact you're assigner or training officer and ask WTH you are supposed to do.

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[carolinablue]

You may be right about leaving the association then. An umpire or association that says that either doesn't care, doesn't have a clue or is  the coaches. If you want less ejections then the umpire is the wrong person to talk to. 

[JaxRolo]

IMO, your partner handle it very well.  You didn't handle the situation very well from the get go, why pretend your partner eject somebody that you should eject half hour ago.  Sorry if I didn't wrote what you want to read.

 

 

I agree. Not being disrespectful but you handled it poorly and then expect your partner to handle.

[Dannytheman]

Listen to the folks input above. I only do LL games now, and there is no way I would tolerate this type of stuff from any player/coach. It is sometimes the inexperienced umpires at the younger levels that cause YOU and us to have to deal with things that long ago should have been handled. I teach my Jr. Umps to deal with things properly and save me from having to deal with there lack of oversite as the kids get older.

 

Things I hate to hear, "the Umpire we had last night/week/month/year never made that call/ejected for that.  Ughhh.

[gnhbua93]

 

IMO, your partner handle it very well.  You didn't handle the situation very well from the get go, why pretend your partner eject somebody that you should eject half hour ago.  Sorry if I didn't wrote what you want to read.

 

 

I agree. Not being disrespectful but you handled it poorly and then expect your partner to handle.

 

Cuba, demonstrate it with a like.

[JaxRolo]

IMO, your partner handle it very well. You didn't handle the situation very well from the get go, why pretend your partner eject somebody that you should eject half hour ago. Sorry if I didn't wrote what you want to read.

I agree. Not being disrespectful but you handled it poorly and then expect your partner to handle. Cuba, demonstrate it with a like. Geez!!!

[Engineer]

I do park district and travel ball and if I ever had someone jump out of the box and yell at me that a pitch was not a strike, they would be watching the rest of the game from the parking lot.

[Mike Prince]

IMO, your partner handle it very well. You didn't handle the situation very well from the get go, why pretend your partner eject somebody that you should eject half hour ago. Sorry if I didn't wrote what you want to read.

I agree. Not being disrespectful but you handled it poorly and then expect your partner to handle.

Cuba, demonstrate it with a like.

Begging for a like because someone agrees with you? Give me a break!

[JaxRolo]

IMO, your partner handle it very well. You didn't handle the situation very well from the get go, why pretend your partner eject somebody that you should eject half hour ago. Sorry if I didn't wrote what you want to read.

I agree. Not being disrespectful but you handled it poorly and then expect your partner to handle. Cuba, demonstrate it with a like. Begging for a like because someone agrees with you? Give me a break! In his defense I was going to give a like. Just forgot.

[carolinablue]

I gave him one too. Takes balls to ask.

[guitarplaya2007]

guys i understand, i missed the ejections, got that moved on from that. What they mean about "let stuff like that go" is you are supposed to "turn the other cheek" when a player is showing you up in a non-verbal way such as staring you down while walking to his position. this is high school ball, i would've ejected both of these a$$ clowns in a heartbeat had I been working any other level of baseball for any other assigner/ association who I knew had my back. My only problem here is that the player did verbally "show another umpire up" which was clearly addressed by the association president, my partner in this instance, as an automatic ejection. I got it, i clearly missed the kid jumping out of the box, should've run him right off the bat, pardon the pun, and in any other league/ association i would have run the kid the moment he threw the baseball in my direction, let alone let him walk to his position clearly showing me up while dragging his feet within feet of me. I agree that i handled the situation poorly, but what do we do as umpires, when one of us misses something, I.E. a pulled foot/ swipe tag/ catch no catch etc. we give them help on the call where we can. in this situation I feel like my partner could have "given help" in this situation where he allowed a player to clearly say that his partner, me, sucks. Yes I missed it initially and I don't expect anyone else to clean up my messes, but i just feel like he could've had my back a little more ina  situation like this. Thus the reason I am leaving this association and moving on, they have the mindset that it is the umpires' fault when there are ejections, which in some cases it is i'm not denying that, but in this situation both players "ejected themselves" at least once, and the one player my hands were proverbally "tied" in the situation because of directives given to us by our assigner. I'm in no way trying to justify me f***ing up and missing the kid jumping out of the box on me, but i'm giving what was going through my head at the time. I've always had the mindset that if you miss ejections you feel like sh**, and i feel that way now because I did those kids and the game no justice by letting them stay in the game.

[mstaylor]

guys i understand, i missed the ejections, got that moved on from that. What they mean about "let stuff like that go" is you are supposed to "turn the other cheek" when a player is showing you up in a non-verbal way such as staring you down while walking to his position. this is high school ball, i would've ejected both of these a$$ clowns in a heartbeat had I been working any other level of baseball for any other assigner/ association who I knew had my back. My only problem here is that the player did verbally "show another umpire up" which was clearly addressed by the association president, my partner in this instance, as an automatic ejection. I got it, i clearly missed the kid jumping out of the box, should've run him right off the bat, pardon the pun, and in any other league/ association i would have run the kid the moment he threw the baseball in my direction, let alone let him walk to his position clearly showing me up while dragging his feet within feet of me. I agree that i handled the situation poorly, but what do we do as umpires, when one of us misses something, I.E. a pulled foot/ swipe tag/ catch no catch etc. we give them help on the call where we can. in this situation I feel like my partner could have "given help" in this situation where he allowed a player to clearly say that his partner, me, sucks. Yes I missed it initially and I don't expect anyone else to clean up my messes, but i just feel like he could've had my back a little more ina  situation like this. Thus the reason I am leaving this association and moving on, they have the mindset that it is the umpires' fault when there are ejections, which in some cases it is i'm not denying that, but in this situation both players "ejected themselves" at least once, and the one player my hands were proverbally "tied" in the situation because of directives given to us by our assigner. I'm in no way trying to justify me f***ing up and missing the kid jumping out of the box on me, but i'm giving what was going through my head at the time. I've always had the mindset that if you miss ejections you feel like sh**, and i feel that way now because I did those kids and the game no justice by letting them stay in the game.

You did miss a couple of chances but you are also working with a handicap. You have a gutless assoc that thinks ejections are bad, and you were working with the president that leads said stupid group. A few years ago there was an article from NFHS, either in the preseason guide or Referee, that said the officials have a large hand in promoting sportsmanship in HS sports. They stressed that the field/court was an extension of the classroom and if it wouldn't be allowed in class you can't allow it on the field/court. Unfortunately there are still groups that feel that being the bad guy will cost them games. Three choices for an umpire in a group like that, do what you know is right and possibly cost yourself games, go with the program or leave. The only other choice is to keep your head low, move up and get in a position of influence and change policy. 

[zm1283]

Lets see:

 

1. You know in advance the association and your partner don't like ejections.

 

2. You didn't take care of business when you could have.

 

I don't see how your partner at first base is to blame.  Could he have ran the kid?  Yes, but you had your chances too.  Don't expect him to clean up your mess.  Take care of business on your own.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[mstaylor]

That's kind of unfair to him, he is under constraints that are unreasonable, working with the big cheese that heads the idiocy. This is a prime example of why that policy is stupid. Yes, he had several chances to dump the guy but they were way more subtle than the Poe as first. The pres didn't dump him on a much more obvious transgression so what is a young guy to do?

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[zm1283]

That's kind of unfair to him, he is under constraints that are unreasonable, working with the big cheese that heads the idiocy. This is a prime example of why that policy is stupid. Yes, he had several chances to dump the guy but they were way more subtle than the Poe as first. The pres didn't dump him on a much more obvious transgression so what is a young guy to do?

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Run the player when he had the chance then defend it to his superiors if they question it.  If they really don't like it, go work somewhere else.  

 

That's just what I would do.