I did something very stupid and learned a valuable lesson

[ump570]

18/19U Travel Ball. It's an invitational tournament and they even call it a "national championship." Anyway, the baseball was very good.  I worked 15 games in 3 days and every game was decided by 4 runs or less and we had a few that were extra innings. It was a lot of fun.

 

Sunday we are playing semi-final game and I have the plate.  The game was going fine. No complaints about my zone. We end up in extra innings. Score is 5-5. VT has a big 8th inning where they manage to plate 4 runs. Score is 9-5.

 

Home team is batting. VT F1 has a nice breaking ball that starts at the batter and breaks across the strike zone. Nice tight rotation and HT was having trouble picking it up. We had a few ring ups on this pitch. Hitter would bail out, and the pitch would end up breaking across the plate. 8 th inning. HT batter takes first pitch which was the curve ball. It was knee high and hit the inside corner. I call, "One!" He ends up with 2 strikes after fouling a pitch off. Next pitch is the same breaking ball, and this one is almost belt high and crosses the inner third of the plate. Batter wouldn't know this cuz he's bailing thinking it's gonna hit him. "Three!" I ring him up. The batter jumps up in the air and with both hands slams the bat on the ground and says, "Blue, how can you call that a F*#King strike!" Boom. I run him. He then proceeds to go into the dugout and give me an earful about how much I suck yada yada yada. I tell him he needs to leave the dugout so we can get back to playing ball. He says a few more things, and I lost my temper and I say to the player, "We wouldn't even be having this conversation if you could hit a curveball." The coaches rightfully tell me to knock it off. Game ends with no further incident. As soon as I said it, I felt like an ass.

 

After the game, I approached the HT mgr. and I tell him, "Skip, I was out of line for saying that stuff to your player after the ejection. I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have said that." He graciously accepts, my apology and adds, "He's a hotheaded kid and he's been a pain in the ass all year."

 

As I'm walking to the car, the kid and his parents happen to be parked close to me, so I walked over to him and said, "Buddy, I just wanted to let you know that I was out of line saying that stuff to you after the ejection." Here's where things get ugly. The Dad hears me and comes running over and gets right in my face and tells me, "You are a horrible F&*^ng umpiire. You rang him up twice on balls. You're the worst yada yada yada. By now, I have him in front of me, his wife to my left yelling and screaming, and the kid to my right cursing and yelling. . I start backing up because I think he's trying to provoke me into bumping or hitting him. I'm really angry at this point, and the guy can see my hands are shaking, so he starts egging me on, "Come on tough guy, take your best shot. Hit me." He's baiting me,  but I don't say anything and the TD and my partner manage to get between us so I could get to my car.

 

I learned 2 valuable lessons from this experience. One. Don't engage after ejecting. And don't approach players in the parking lot after the game no matter what your intention. I feel so stupid today. I worked 15 games in 3 days and the baseball was great. My partners were great, and I think we did a great job, but I really screwed the pooch on this one.

[JaxRolo]

Yikes! Not a good idea!

[Thunderheads]

I think what you learned was correct.   That being said, I think your 'heart' and 'doing the right thing' bit you in the a$$.  Lesson learned.

[Stan W.]

"We wouldn't even be having this conversation if you could hit a curveball."

 I worked 15 games in 3 days....

 

painful lessons indeed.....

 

But I believe lesson 1 was brought on by number 2........15 games in 3 days....you got tired, your game slipped and you let slip something I believe you never would have said had it been a normal schedule.

 

I know its tourney time and there are lots of games to cover but 15 19U ball games is too much for one umpire to do well.........something is going to slip up.......on some umpires it may be the zone, or hustle or the legs, or patience......but its going to happen to all Umpires who do that many games in one day......its to what extent it happens is the only deciding factor...

 

 

.

[BigUmpire]

Dont let this discourage you from doing the right thing BUT when the coach said  "He's a hotheaded kid and he's been a pain in the ass all year." this should have been you indication to stay away.

 

You made it right with the coach.

 

Avoid hormone kings!

 

Remember:

 

• “Good judgment comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad judgment.†noumpere

 

Thanks @noumpere

[LMSANS]

"No good deed goes unpunished."

 

I don't know who said it originally, but credit to all who have learned it.

[ricka56]

 

Remember:

 

• “Good judgment comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad judgment.†noumpere

 

who are you crediting with that quote ?   

[BigUmpire]

 

 

Remember:

 

• “Good judgment comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad judgment.†noumpere

 

who are you crediting with that quote ?   

 

noumpere.

Mark Twain was an a$$&ole.

 

edited: Jack, really?

[ricka56]

 

Remember:

• “Good judgment comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad judgment.†noumpere

who are you crediting with that quote ?   

noumpere.

Mark Twain was asshole.

 

Really? Never heard that before.  Mark Twain wasn't a contempory of mine...I'll defer to the one who was.