DH from you know where

[umpire_scott]

I see on Arbiter that I have a 15U DH so I figure it will be pretty good baseball.  Boy was I wrong.  I found out it was a Rec League.

 

I have the dish for the first game.  The rules are no new inning after 1:45, only mercy rule is 10 after 5.  The visiting team is up 11-0 after 2 innings, and something like 17-0 after 4.  The game ends 26-4 after 5 innings and takes right at 2:00 to play.  Some of the worst baseball I've ever seen.  Back in Arizona kids stopped playing baseball in high school when they were this bad.  The league must have been 15 and up, because several of the players drove to the game.  After the game my partner, who had umpired in this league extensively in the past said that you sometimes get games like that because the level of play is so poor.  I mean most of these kids looked like they'd never thrown a baseball before.

 

I have bases for the second game and figure that we got the bad one out of the way.  I didn't even fathom that the second game could be worse, but it was.  It started out okay.  First inning both teams scored a run.  Second inning VT did not score and HT scored about 5.  HT pitcher was getting frustrated as he committed two obvious balks.  So we are something like 6-1 going into the third inning.  HT goes down in order in the top of the third.  Now I didn't look at my clock to see how far into the game we are at this point.  But i would presume it was about 30-40 minutes.  In the bottom of the third the VT used 4 pitchers, walked at least 15 guys, and the game ended on the 1:45 time limit in that inning with 2 outs.  So I'm estimating that they played over an hour in that 1/2 inning.  The final score was 25-1.  The kids for the losing team were insulting each other, and loudly proclaiming the game was already over.  I honestly wanted the coach to just pull his team off the field.  It completely stopped being a competitive baseball game and turned into a joke.

 

And to top it off it was hot and humid and gnats were everywhere.

[BigUmpire]

I see on Arbiter that I have a 15U DH so I figure it will be pretty good baseball.  Boy was I wrong.  I found out it was a Rec League.

 

I have the dish for the first game.  The rules are no new inning after 1:45, only mercy rule is 10 after 5.  The visiting team is up 11-0 after 2 innings, and something like 17-0 after 4.  The game ends 26-4 after 5 innings and takes right at 2:00 to play.  Some of the worst baseball I've ever seen.  Back in Arizona kids stopped playing baseball in high school when they were this bad.  The league must have been 15 and up, because several of the players drove to the game.  After the game my partner, who had umpired in this league extensively in the past said that you sometimes get games like that because the level of play is so poor.  I mean most of these kids looked like they'd never thrown a baseball before.

 

I have bases for the second game and figure that we got the bad one out of the way.  I didn't even fathom that the second game could be worse, but it was.  It started out okay.  First inning both teams scored a run.  Second inning VT did not score and HT scored about 5.  HT pitcher was getting frustrated as he committed two obvious balks.  So we are something like 6-1 going into the third inning.  HT goes down in order in the top of the third.  Now I didn't look at my clock to see how far into the game we are at this point.  But i would presume it was about 30-40 minutes.  In the bottom of the third the VT used 4 pitchers, walked at least 15 guys, and the game ended on the 1:45 time limit in that inning with 2 outs.  So I'm estimating that they played over an hour in that 1/2 inning.  The final score was 25-1.  The kids for the losing team were insulting each other, and loudly proclaiming the game was already over.  I honestly wanted the coach to just pull his team off the field.  It completely stopped being a competitive baseball game and turned into a joke.

 

And to top it off it was hot and humid and gnats were everywhere.

How much did you get paid?

[Mike Prince]

Welcome to umpiring?

[semper_fi_72]

 

I see on Arbiter that I have a 15U DH so I figure it will be pretty good baseball.  Boy was I wrong.  I found out it was a Rec League.

 

I have the dish for the first game.  The rules are no new inning after 1:45, only mercy rule is 10 after 5.  The visiting team is up 11-0 after 2 innings, and something like 17-0 after 4.  The game ends 26-4 after 5 innings and takes right at 2:00 to play.  Some of the worst baseball I've ever seen.  Back in Arizona kids stopped playing baseball in high school when they were this bad.  The league must have been 15 and up, because several of the players drove to the game.  After the game my partner, who had umpired in this league extensively in the past said that you sometimes get games like that because the level of play is so poor.  I mean most of these kids looked like they'd never thrown a baseball before.

 

I have bases for the second game and figure that we got the bad one out of the way.  I didn't even fathom that the second game could be worse, but it was.  It started out okay.  First inning both teams scored a run.  Second inning VT did not score and HT scored about 5.  HT pitcher was getting frustrated as he committed two obvious balks.  So we are something like 6-1 going into the third inning.  HT goes down in order in the top of the third.  Now I didn't look at my clock to see how far into the game we are at this point.  But i would presume it was about 30-40 minutes.  In the bottom of the third the VT used 4 pitchers, walked at least 15 guys, and the game ended on the 1:45 time limit in that inning with 2 outs.  So I'm estimating that they played over an hour in that 1/2 inning.  The final score was 25-1.  The kids for the losing team were insulting each other, and loudly proclaiming the game was already over.  I honestly wanted the coach to just pull his team off the field.  It completely stopped being a competitive baseball game and turned into a joke.

 

And to top it off it was hot and humid and gnats were everywhere.

How much did you get paid?

 

Yep I would be complaining all the way to the bank with the $25 an hour I would get paid for  games like that

[Stan W.]

as a baseball fan, I can sympathize with not liking bad baseball.....I like seeing it played  and officiated at the highest ability level possible.......but ......as an umpire its a part of the job..... I get paid the same for good baseball as I do for bad baseball......and we are expected to deliver quality results regardless.......

 

be grateful for the fact you had time limits on your games................I've had mercy rule games go 2.5 hrs......the only thing that concerns me about bad baseball is that someone will get hurt........when one team is up big, they tend to want to "experiment"....let little bobby pitch or catch.........or play third, or heaven forbid catch.......and they get hurt..........

 

we have all been there.........hang in there....

[umpire_scott]

I made $80 for the DH. 

 

It's hard to stomach when today I worked a DH with the same age group.  First game was 8-1, second game 5-2.  Both games were full 7 inning games in 1 hour and 20 mins.  And today's games were also $58 each instead of $40 each. 

[umpire_scott]

I have a lot more tolerance fro blowouts when the team that is getting blown out actually cares and is trying.  But these teenagers were too "cool" to actually try and fail so instead they gave no effort at all and were mocking each other.  It was a travesty. 

[Pete Peterson Sr]

I have a lot more tolerance fro blowouts when the team that is getting blown out actually cares and is trying.  But these teenagers were too "cool" to actually try and fail so instead they gave no effort at all and were mocking each other.  It was a travesty. 

 

 

 Not all of your games will be competitive, and not all kids give a rip. It is a fact of life when one is an umpire. You may as well get used to it....

[carolinablue]

I don't have a problem with kids still playing baseball at that age even if they are not very good. I mean there are a lot of worse things they could be doing but what I don't understand is why teams that bad insist on playing double headers. They usually barely have enough pitching for one game. However, like others have said, I get payed the same and it keeps me on a baseball field.

[umpire_scott]

I don't have a problem with kids still playing baseball at that age even if they are not very good. I mean there are a lot of worse things they could be doing but what I don't understand is why teams that bad insist on playing double headers. They usually barely have enough pitching for one game. However, like others have said, I get payed the same and it keeps me on a baseball field.

 

It was not the same teams in the DH.  So there were two different teams that were that bad.  I don't have an issue with teams that bad, but I have a difficult time understanding how at that age they don't know how to throw a baseball.  The first catcher in the first game literally threw a rainbow that would land half way between the mound and second base.  And much more of a concern than their level of play was their complete disregard for having any respect for the game.  At one point in the second inning when the team was down 6 or 7 runs, the coach yelled out to his pitcher asking if he was okay.  The SS yelled back, "well obviously not, look at the scoreboard".  Most of the kids on the second bad team had this crappy attitude like they didn't even want to be there.  To me you owe something as a player to the fans and your teammates to give an honest effort.  I have no respect for kids that don't adhere to that. 

[semper_fi_72]

 

I don't have a problem with kids still playing baseball at that age even if they are not very good. I mean there are a lot of worse things they could be doing but what I don't understand is why teams that bad insist on playing double headers. They usually barely have enough pitching for one game. However, like others have said, I get payed the same and it keeps me on a baseball field.

 

It was not the same teams in the DH.  So there were two different teams that were that bad.  I don't have an issue with teams that bad, but I have a difficult time understanding how at that age they don't know how to throw a baseball.  The first catcher in the first game literally threw a rainbow that would land half way between the mound and second base.  And much more of a concern than their level of play was their complete disregard for having any respect for the game.  At one point in the second inning when the team was down 6 or 7 runs, the coach yelled out to his pitcher asking if he was okay.  The SS yelled back, "well obviously not, look at the scoreboard".  Most of the kids on the second bad team had this crappy attitude like they didn't even want to be there.  To me you owe something as a player to the fans and your teammates to give an honest effort.  I have no respect for kids that don't adhere to that. 

 

Want to know why kids are the way they are, Look at the parents.

Attitude reflects Leadership.  Again look at the Coaches and Parents.

Maybe these kids didn't want to be there but are playing because their parents say they must play.

 

You want to see a change in attitude and motivation?

Look what happens when kids move up from LL Majors to Juniors.

[umpire_scott]

 

 

I don't have a problem with kids still playing baseball at that age even if they are not very good. I mean there are a lot of worse things they could be doing but what I don't understand is why teams that bad insist on playing double headers. They usually barely have enough pitching for one game. However, like others have said, I get payed the same and it keeps me on a baseball field.

 

It was not the same teams in the DH.  So there were two different teams that were that bad.  I don't have an issue with teams that bad, but I have a difficult time understanding how at that age they don't know how to throw a baseball.  The first catcher in the first game literally threw a rainbow that would land half way between the mound and second base.  And much more of a concern than their level of play was their complete disregard for having any respect for the game.  At one point in the second inning when the team was down 6 or 7 runs, the coach yelled out to his pitcher asking if he was okay.  The SS yelled back, "well obviously not, look at the scoreboard".  Most of the kids on the second bad team had this crappy attitude like they didn't even want to be there.  To me you owe something as a player to the fans and your teammates to give an honest effort.  I have no respect for kids that don't adhere to that. 

 

Want to know why kids are the way they are, Look at the parents.

Attitude reflects Leadership.  Again look at the Coaches and Parents.

Maybe these kids didn't want to be there but are playing because their parents say they must play.

 

You want to see a change in attitude and motivation?

Look what happens when kids move up from LL Majors to Juniors.

 

 

I could be wrong, but I doubt that parents are making 16 and 17 year old kids play.  Many of the kids drove themselves to the game.  I think the probably joined thinking it would be fun and maybe were completely oblivious as to how bad they were.  Then when they get their hats handed to them, instead of "taking like a man", their defense mechanism is to make a joke out of it.  As a teacher I've seen this before.  Kids are afraid to try and fail, it makes them vulnerable.  Instead they don't try and then don't have to admit that they failed.

[th3]

i do bad ball and not so bad ball. sometimes i make $20/hr and sometimes i make $30/hr..for me, with the level of commitment I am able to give to getting better at this stage in my life, this is where i should be and i take it all as it comes...i'd need a bunch of a-hole coaches to make it a game from hell...

[umpire_scott]

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather make $15 an hour umpiring good baseball than $30 per hour umpiring bad baseball.  I don't really get the guys that say they do it because they love the game and then also say they don't care if it's a bad game.  Bad baseball is bad baseball.  I don't like watching it, coaching it, playing it, or umpiring it.   I understand that there are levels of play.  I prefer doing a Senior Legion game to a 12U select game.  But at least both of them qualify as decent baseball.  I can even stomach doing an 8U machine pitch game as those kids are just learning the game.  But I had no fun doing that 15-17 rec league game.  I couldn't wait for it to get over.  And I don't like umpiring when I feel that way.  I mean what is fun about umpiring a game where the only way an out could be recorded was an infield fly.  The bases were always full because the team walked like 25 batters in three innings, and made an error on every ground ball hit to them.

[umpire_scott]

i do bad ball and not so bad ball. sometimes i make $20/hr and sometimes i make $30/hr..for me, with the level of commitment I am able to give to getting better at this stage in my life, this is where i should be and i take it all as it comes...i'd need a bunch of a-hole coaches to make it a game from hell...

 

I would much prefer a-hole coaches and a good game, than nice coaches and a poorly played game.  After all only so much a-hole needs to be tolerated and I control exactly how much.

[BigUmpire]

 

i do bad ball and not so bad ball. sometimes i make $20/hr and sometimes i make $30/hr..for me, with the level of commitment I am able to give to getting better at this stage in my life, this is where i should be and i take it all as it comes...i'd need a bunch of a-hole coaches to make it a game from hell...

 

I would much prefer a-hole coaches and a good game, than nice coaches and a poorly played game.  After all only so much a-hole needs to be tolerated and I control exactly how much.

 

You will get over this.

[Mike Prince]

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather make $15 an hour umpiring good baseball than $30 per hour umpiring bad baseball.  I don't really get the guys that say they do it because they love the game and then also say they don't care if it's a bad game.  Bad baseball is bad baseball.  I don't like watching it, coaching it, playing it, or umpiring it.   I understand that there are levels of play.  I prefer doing a Senior Legion game to a 12U select game.  But at least both of them qualify as decent baseball.  I can even stomach doing an 8U machine pitch game as those kids are just learning the game.  But I had no fun doing that 15-17 rec league game.  I couldn't wait for it to get over.  And I don't like umpiring when I feel that way.  I mean what is fun about umpiring a game where the only way an out could be recorded was an infield fly.  The bases were always full because the team walked like 25 batters in three innings, and made an error on every ground ball hit to them.

 

You are quite idealistic, part of umpiring is to umpire the games you get assigned and focus on doing your job out there vs. letting the "quality" of game influence anything.  Are the great games good to umpire?  Absolutely.  But use the "bad" baseball games as an opportunity to work on something; you are far more likely to see an unusual situation in a poor game than you are in a good one, so the poor game requires just as much of your focus as any other game (and probably more in some cases).