Diffusing Parents

[BillKen]

Was working some 18U ball Sunday and I was in "B".  F1 attempts a pickoff and even though R1 was leaning the wrong way, he got his hand back into 1B in time bc F3 put the tag on his hip and not closer to the bag.  I give a pretty emphatic safe signal with an audible "He's Safe" call.  Parents on the 1B side go crazy..."ooooh Blue...he was picked like a booger!"

 

This happens again with the tag being on the hip and it is again close, but the runner is safe.  I go a little louder with my "SAFE" call.  Again the Lawn Chair Lunatics give me the business.  

 

At this point, I've decided my next move if there is another pickoff throw and I'm praying to God that I get another chance!  F1 delivers the 0-0 pitch and R1 stays put.  F1 takes his position on the rubber and throws over to F3 and once again R1 dives back in safely.  I yell out, "HE'S REALLY SAFE"!  They cracked up!  Never heard another word from them the rest of the afternoon.

 

Sometimes showing them that we are human and letting them know that they aren't stressing you out is a good thing.  I'd never do this in a HS game, but in this case, it was acceptable and it worked!  Use at your discretion!

[umpcoachfather]

I would have called time.  Walked over to where they were sitting.  Sat down next to them then would have had the ball put in play and made the call from there.  Casue evidently they had the better distance/angle. 

[Thunderheads]

I would have called time.  Walked over to where they were sitting.  Sat down next to them then would have had the ball put in play and made the call from there.  Casue evidently they had the better distance/angle. 

yeah ...........sure .................

[BigUmpire]

Was working some 18U ball Sunday and I was in "B". F1 attempts a pickoff and even though R1 was leaning the wrong way, he got his hand back into 1B in time bc F3 put the tag on his hip and not closer to the bag. I give a pretty emphatic safe signal with an audible "He's Safe" call. Parents on the 1B side go crazy..."ooooh Blue...he was picked like a booger!"

This happens again with the tag being on the hip and it is again close, but the runner is safe. I go a little louder with my "SAFE" call. Again the Lawn Chair Lunatics give me the business.

At this point, I've decided my next move if there is another pickoff throw and I'm praying to God that I get another chance! F1 delivers the 0-0 pitch and R1 stays put. F1 takes his position on the rubber and throws over to F3 and once again R1 dives back in safely. I yell out, "HE'S REALLY SAFE"! They cracked up! Never heard another word from them the rest of the afternoon.

Sometimes showing them that we are human and letting them know that they aren't stressing you out is a good thing. I'd never do this in a HS game, but in this case, it was acceptable and it worked! Use at your discretion!

"Lawn Chair Lunatics"

Now that is funny!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JaxRolo]

Hearing more and more complaints from umpires about parents lately. Must be the heat.

[SoCal Lurker]

What has struck me from sitting in the stands at travel tournaments is that the amount and volume of complaints from other teams seems to have no relationship to whether a call was missed -- or was even particularly close.  (My son's team is pretty mellow and really doesn't yell at y'all -- admitendly there are occaisonal exceptions, but even blown calls [from our perspective!] tend to end up as a quiet conversation in the stands not yelling.  As with many things, the coaches set the tone)

[SJA]

This is embarrassing to say the least, but last night at our board meeting we had to ban one of our best umpires from doing any further games including All Stars due to his behavior and conduct as a coach and a PARENT of one of the players in the last two games.  His conduct was unbelievable towards the umps who are HS and NCAA umps and opposing team mgr. and coaches during the games.

 

PS . . . this was 12U LL

 

Crazy $h1T!

[StrikeToWin]

I actually had a fan open the gate next to the dugout to yell at me and I addressed him very quickly and then told the head coach to get his fans under control.  The head coach then yelled at me "Why should I?  You made a terrible call.  They all saw it and are letting you know about it and now so am I."  I then dumped him and told him to take the fan with him to the parking lot.  Fan and coach then went to the parking lot and the game progressed with no further problems.  Maybe a quick uncalled for EJ, but it had the desired effect.

[BigUmpire]

Hearing more and more complaints from umpires about parents lately. Must be the heat.

Must be the parents!

[JaxRolo]

Problem is that the consequences (if any!) are minimal!

[Richvee]

Hearing more and more complaints from umpires about parents lately. Must be the heat.

I'm hearing it more from the stands this year than ever. balls/strikes, tags, bangers, you name the call, I'm hearing more crap from parents than ever before, and I like to think I'm doing a better job than I was 2-3 years ago...and not just boos, or "you missed that one, Blue", or "he slid under the tag" stuff. It's getting more personal.."you suck", "Homer call" (love that one when I don't know either team). Had a close tag play @3rd a few weeks ago. After the inning I'm heading to short RF as usual, and I hear Daddy Leather Lungs yell out, "That's right, keep walkin' Blue. You'll see 'em better out there" . Had to toss some Parents over the Memorial Day weekend. TD banned one dad from the park, and he came back the next day and stalked some umpires from the woods just to yell at them as they walked by.  Don't think it's the heat. Not sure what it is, but this year does seem to be worse. 

[BigUmpire]

 

One reason is because more and more TDs perpetuate crap like this by NOT backing umpires up!

 

Bumper sticker:

 

“Keep running the malcontents until you have only happy, well behaved people around you.â€-Bigumpire

[PonyUmpire]

I actually had a fan open the gate next to the dugout to yell at me and I addressed him very quickly and then told the head coach to get his fans under control. The head coach then yelled at me "Why should I? You made a terrible call. They all saw it and are letting you know about it and now so am I." I then dumped him and told him to take the fan with him to the parking lot. Fan and coach then went to the parking lot and the game progressed with no further problems. Maybe a quick uncalled for EJ, but it had the desired effect.

Sounds like a spot on ej.

[Jocko]

I never hear anything but how great I am (thou art??) and sign autographs. If you guys would make a right call once in awhile........

[mrumpiresir]

I never hear anything but how great I am (thou art??) and sign autographs. If you guys would make a right call once in awhile........

That's funny. I LOL

[Jocko]

@mrumpiresir - what? I'm serious. :P

[tjwoelfel13]

 How long is it until you can move up from T-ball, Jocko?

[Jocko]

Gotta wait on those above me to move up or move out :D

[conbo61]

I actually had a fan open the gate next to the dugout to yell at me and I addressed him very quickly and then told the head coach to get his fans under control.  The head coach then yelled at me "Why should I?  You made a terrible call.  They all saw it and are letting you know about it and now so am I."  I then dumped him and told him to take the fan with him to the parking lot.  Fan and coach then went to the parking lot and the game progressed with no further problems.  Maybe a quick uncalled for EJ, but it had the desired effect.

 

Heck no.  He earned it.

Gotta wait on those above me to move up or move out

 

Big logjam at the machine pitch level?  

[conbo61]

 

Hearing more and more complaints from umpires about parents lately. Must be the heat.

I'm hearing it more from the stands this year than ever. balls/strikes, tags, bangers, you name the call, I'm hearing more crap from parents than ever before, and I like to think I'm doing a better job than I was 2-3 years ago...and not just boos, or "you missed that one, Blue", or "he slid under the tag" stuff. It's getting more personal.."you suck", "Homer call" (love that one when I don't know either team). Had a close tag play @3rd a few weeks ago. After the inning I'm heading to short RF as usual, and I hear Daddy Leather Lungs yell out, "That's right, keep walkin' Blue. You'll see 'em better out there" . Had to toss some Parents over the Memorial Day weekend. TD banned one dad from the park, and he came back the next day and stalked some umpires from the woods just to yell at them as they walked by.  Don't think it's the heat. Not sure what it is, but this year does seem to be worse. 

 

 

 

Was it this guy?

 

[charliej47]

I would have called time.  Walked over to where they were sitting.  Sat down next to them then would have had the ball put in play and made the call from there.  Casue evidently they had the better distance/angle. 

 

I was doing a HS varsity game about 15 yr ago and the PU was getting a lot of flack form a parent behind the backstop.

 

PU called time, took off his mask, walked behind the backstop and sat down by the patent.  Yell out "play ball".

 

At this point when F1 threw a pitch, PU looked at the dad and asked was it a strike or a ball?   Nobody said anything so he got back up and got back in position and the games resumed.

[Thunderheads]

 

I would have called time.  Walked over to where they were sitting.  Sat down next to them then would have had the ball put in play and made the call from there.  Casue evidently they had the better distance/angle. 

 

I was doing a HS varsity game about 15 yr ago and the PU was getting a lot of flack form a parent behind the backstop.

 

PU called time, took off his mask, walked behind the backstop and sat down by the patent.  Yell out "play ball".

 

At this point when F1 threw a pitch, PU looked at the dad and asked was it a strike or a ball?   Nobody said anything so he got back up and got back in position and the games resumed.

 

again .....this is the oldest umpire urban myth out there ..........although, I'd LOVE to do it!

[Richvee]

 

 

Hearing more and more complaints from umpires about parents lately. Must be the heat.

I'm hearing it more from the stands this year than ever. balls/strikes, tags, bangers, you name the call, I'm hearing more crap from parents than ever before, and I like to think I'm doing a better job than I was 2-3 years ago...and not just boos, or "you missed that one, Blue", or "he slid under the tag" stuff. It's getting more personal.."you suck", "Homer call" (love that one when I don't know either team). Had a close tag play @3rd a few weeks ago. After the inning I'm heading to short RF as usual, and I hear Daddy Leather Lungs yell out, "That's right, keep walkin' Blue. You'll see 'em better out there" . Had to toss some Parents over the Memorial Day weekend. TD banned one dad from the park, and he came back the next day and stalked some umpires from the woods just to yell at them as they walked by.  Don't think it's the heat. Not sure what it is, but this year does seem to be worse. 

 

 

 

Was it this guy?

 

 

No, but I'd guess their IQ's are similar.   Sad part is, one of them is not acting