My first career ejection 2012

[tjwoelfel13]

Ha,  I am taking over the first page of the ejection forum.  I am now out of EJ stories until the season starts.

Anyway,

 

This is a 4th grade game 1:50 time limit.  Kid pitch with the regular count system.  Stealing but no lead-offs.  Two man system

 

I can't find the exact report but I'll do the best I can.

 

6-2-12

I was working the bases  and in the 3rd inning the visiting head coach started loudly chirping about balls and strikes. PU warned him and he quieted down.

 

The bot of the 4th I had the lead off hitter safe on a banger at first and he started chirping again. This time I did the warning as he was yelling from the dugout. The next batter then walked and the third man up laced a single through the hole on the left side and R2 scored and R1 went to third. The f7's throw was a bit up the line and r1 was safe. However I had a huge brain fart as the f5 faked a throw back to the pitcher and I turned my back    and pulled the hidden ball trick as the runner dusted his pants after the slide. The runner did not call time. Of course I didn't see this until to late  and had to call him safe because I didn't see it happen and my partner didn't see it either due to  the r2. Visiting team HC comes unglued charging out of the dugout and I didn't blame him because I had just absolutely blown the call out of the water. Until he called me the worst F***Ing umpire then I hooked him he also the call was male cow fertilizer and then wasn't satisfied with that he poked me in the chest and all of this was in front of the home team dugout. I was feeling horrible because of the tanked call and didn't know what else to do so I jus kept repeating that he was gone until the field supervisor came to separate us. At this point I became emotional because of the ranting and was scared to the point where I couldn't think straight and I temporarily removed my self from the game to calm down. The field supervisor understood and took my place. 

 

Two older women from the visiting team were very friendly with me and told me what the coach had done was totally unacceptable even if I blew the call and even offered to call the police on the coach and was also going to write a report. I politely refused this offer.  The home coach came over and told me he was going to report the VHC for his actions.

 

After the game I made my ejection report.

Two hours later I got an email from my supervisor asking if I told the coach to shut up. The ejected coach emailed this in his report.

 

I replied that I never even thought about saying that and if he needs evidence to read all of the reports.

 

Twenty minutes later he replied that the coaches 1 game suspension had just been turned into a one year ban including the rest of the regular season, post season tournament, and fall ball. Coaches have to apply every year and I also worked this level some in 2013 and I didn't even see him at the complex.

 

I don't know what to think because I egregiously blew the call but I know what the coach did was unacceptable.

 

Your thoughts,

 

TJ

 

 

 

[Mr Umpire]

None of that is acceptable in any level but especially below HS.  This coach doesn't need to be allowed to coach kids.  He may have went somewhere else since he had a reputation now.  Who knows, who cares.

 

You missed a call.  So what.  We all DO regardless of how good @JaxRolo thinks he is.  It happens.  We momentarily take our eye off the ball for some unexplainable stupid reason.  And, then, something unexpected happens.  We have all done that at some point.  And, it may happen more than once.  Not something to beat yourself up about.  The kids are not going to go into a great depression over 1 play though their coach seems to.

 

Forget it and move on.

[VAUmp]

If you didn't see it, how do you know you missed it?

[mjr_2013]

Ooooh, you're firing me up. You saw in your last thread how I feel about intimidation of youth officials. My blood pressure is sky high right now.

 

Now, first off, as VAUmp said, how do you know you blew it if you didn't see it?

 

I assume you have a feeling he was out when you called him safe, so that goes into my next point. Everyone blows a call. I have, you have, the pro's do and have it spread across the country. It becomes a matter of accepting that it's going to happen, and moving on.

 

What this coach did was 1000 times over unacceptable, idiotic and downright reprehensible. To behave like a Lou Piniella, particularly with making contact with an official, in a FOURTH GRADE GAME makes me want to throw a punch at him!

 

Your league confuses me. It appears that the upper echelon knows how to run a league properly, yet these coaches somehow continue to seep in. They're disposed of quickly when something happens, but three times in a two year period is three times too many.  

[tjwoelfel13]

Unfortunately it seems that the rats get by with tiptoeing the line until I or another umpire decide that they have had enough and decide it is time to give the hook and the rats are surprised by this and explode.

 

I think at the levels I work at the young guys are reluctant to eject. I don't blame them because at our age it is hard to stand up to a fully grown 40 yr old who is yelling and screaming at them when you are still learning how to umpire to begin with but it also comes with the job.  If they learn to eject early they won't have to deal with this kind of behavior as the rats will learn that it simply won't work anymore.    

[BRUMP]

Unfortunately it seems that the rats get by with tiptoeing the line until I or another umpire decide that they have had enough and decide it is time to give the hook and the rats are surprised by this and explode.

 

I think at the levels I work at the young guys are reluctant to eject. I don't blame them because at our age it is hard to stand up to a fully grown 40 yr old who is yelling and screaming at them when you are still learning how to umpire to begin with but it also comes with the job.  If they learn to eject early they won't have to deal with this kind of behavior as the rats will learn that it simply won't work anymore.    

 

 

i started when i was 12 and i was scared SH*#less to run someone….the best way to cure this is to have the board fully explain to the young umpires that they have their backs and then when something does happen stick to that promise

[mstaylor]

I haven't read the other threads yet so I don't all the history, but youth umpire are senior citizen, a coach has no reason to lose his mind or ever touch an official. Blowing a call does not give him free reign to rant, it is ok to feel bad but you still have to take care of business. Now, whether you missed a call, or he thinks you missed a call, expect him to come out. I don't have a problem with that, to a point. 

If you think he may a point, tell him he may be right but you just didn't see it. If he wants to escalate, shut him down by holding your hand up and tell him enough. Walk away, if he follows, dump him. When you dump him, walk away, your partner should come in and rodeo him off you. At the youth level, sometimes this doesn't happen. If you are below eighteen and he bumps you or lays hands on you at all, call the cops. If you are an adult you can weigh what you want to do, as a minor, call the cops period. 

[Platejob29]

Unfortunately it seems that the rats get by with tiptoeing the line until I or another umpire decide that they have had enough and decide it is time to give the hook and the rats are surprised by this and explode.

 

I think at the levels I work at the young guys are reluctant to eject. I don't blame them because at our age it is hard to stand up to a fully grown 40 yr old who is yelling and screaming at them when you are still learning how to umpire to begin with but it also comes with the job.  If they learn to eject early they won't have to deal with this kind of behavior as the rats will learn that it simply won't work anymore.    

I was in your shoes not that long ago. I started when I was 14 and I'm 20 now and I can vividly remember the first few times I had a coach come out and I should have ejected but I didn't because I was too scared too and quite frankly I didn't have the skill on the field to back it up with any kind of real confidence. I had only been calling ball about a month. At the time my dad was the UIC at the complex I worked at (mostly tournaments with 2 nights of league play all select USSSA AAA level baseball or higher) and he scheduled all the games. He told me that no matter how bad I blew the call that if the coach said the magic words then he had to go and to do it with out any hesitation. Well for whatever reason after calling for a little over a month and a half things just started to click for me and I progressed leaps and bounds to the point that I was getting requested for games for every level we had even the 14 year old games. At that point I had the confidence to eject and not have any second thought about it or any hesitation. I don't even remember what my first ejection was any more but I do have one that happened 2 years ago that really stands out to me and I tell to all the younger umpires when they run into trouble. 

 

It was a 12 year old majors select tournament and was the 3rd game of the day for me. I was on the dish and had a coach arguing everything from calls on the bases to balls and strikes. He did it in that kind of needling way where he wasn't directly arguing it and I didn't want to look like the aggressor. Well eventually in the bottom of the 3rd I ring his player up on strike 3 and he complains about it and this time was directly complaining to me. I called time and called him over to tell him that I had heard enough and he wasn't going to argue any judgment calls by me or my partner. He didn't like that too much and blew up with "You don't even know what you're doing. You don't have a clue where to stand." Before he even got the second "you" in that statement out I dumped him and said "coach you're done, I don't come to your place of work and tell you how to do you're job you don't tell me how to do mine." He comes back with "I'm a grown man and you're just a kid you don't talk to me like that." I tell him "no I'm the umpire and you're a coach you don't talk to me like that and we are finished here." I turned around and walked back to behind the plate where he tried to fallow but his assistant pulled him back and sent him to the parking lot. Bottom line of the story is no matter what you're age is off the field and what the coaches age is off the field when you step onto the field age is irrelevant. You're the umpire he is the coach and you are in control not him. 

 

You can't think of yourself as a young umpire no matter what your age is. As soon as you can associate yourself as an umpire and not the young umpire you're entire prospective of your job will change. It's something that I realized pretty early on that has helped me tremendously.

[mstaylor]

 

 

It was a 12 year old majors select tournament and was the 3rd game of the day for me. I was on the dish and had a coach arguing everything from calls on the bases to balls and strikes. He did it in that kind of needling way where he wasn't directly arguing it and I didn't want to look like the aggressor. Well eventually in the bottom of the 3rd I ring his player up on strike 3 and he complains about it and this time was directly complaining to me. I called time and called him over to tell him that I had heard enough and he wasn't going to argue any judgment calls by me or my partner. He didn't like that too much and blew up with "You don't even know what you're doing. You don't have a clue where to stand." Before he even got the second "you" in that statement out I dumped him and said "coach you're done.

You are good to that point. Once you started about going to his place of work........then you are wrong. Now if he wants to then say you are a kid and he was an adult, then certainly tell him you are the umpire and as such he is now ejected. DO NOT further engage him. Even as a young umpire you need to take the high road, very tough to do. You have to be the adult when when the adult is doing it. 

[BT_Blue]

I agree. The place of work comment was unneed and a cheap shot. Beyond that, good ejection.

As for the OP. Good ejection. I wouldnt recommend continuing to stand toe-to-toe with the coach. Once you eject, try to walk away like @Platejob29 did. Also, the two women were correct. At no time is it proper for an adult to lay a hand on a minor. The Authorities MUST be called either by you or the league. (Especially by the league as it seems to me that if they do not, the could possibly be held liable for the actions of this coach since he is coaching under their league.)

[Pete Peterson Sr]

Blew the call ? Maybe, but maybe not.If you did, trust me, it won't be your last, no matter how good you are. But even the fact that you yourself KNOW you screwed the pooch on a call does not give a coach license to show his ass. No missed call is worthy of a coach using profanities toward you, and certainly not worthy of laying a finger on you. Chew on you a bit ? Sure, as long as it is in a controlled manner, and doesn't get personal. Every veteran on this board has stories about coaches coming out to chew on them after an allegedly missed call. That will happen. Things such as what you have told us, should never happen. Good job on the ejection, but keep your focus on managing the game, which also means managing yourself. Never say anything to a coach that would raise your ire, if said to you. You are young, and experience will make subsequent situations easier. Keep your head up, and umpire on..