Mad or Accept It?

[Guest Disgruntled]

Alright guys, looking for some advice on how you all would handle a situation I am currently experiencing.  I had a recent run in with a coach who disliked a call I made.  My call was 100% correct (as verified by numerous individuals).  Nothing was said when the call was made, but the coach complained to the director of the league apparently.  This also happens to be the same coach who I ejected earlier in the season for unsportsmanlike conduct.  It is now time for the playoffs to begin, and I found out today that I will not be assigned to any games as this coach threatened to not play if I was to umpire any of the games.  My UIC said it would just be easier for all parties if we take the high road.  What does everyone think about this?  Thanks.  

[Replacematt]

If I was the partner of a female umpire that was in this situation, I would not stand for it. Your game is your game.

However, changing how one calls the game because of what transpired is proving them right. I don't care what the beef is--they hold a grudge from the past, they hate your politics, they don't like that you have a vagina--officiate the game as it unfolds, without regard to who is on the receiving end of those calls.

[ricka56]

I think that either:
1. you have a weak UIC that doesn't back his umpires or
2. there are other issues that you are unaware of or aren't divulging.

If it is the former, you are an independent contractor. You can try to find work where the UIC will back his umpires or you can continue to accept assignments there and accept the weak UIC's spinelessness.

If it is the latter, don't be disgruntled (a useless emotion) ... you have work to do...we all do. Be happy for the guys that did get playoff assignments.

[Tksjewelry]

I'll say @ricka56 is correct but I'll also say the league leaders are weak kneed. Being a UIC in many cases is a business, sometimes a businessman has to decide if this is his Hill to die on or if making a concession in this instance is the right way to go. I'd be asking what the league has to say and how they are taking care of a problem coach. 

I had coaches last year that refused to take the field with a woman on it for state finals. The league told them to forfit or take the field. This year, they aren't allowed to coach in that league, the largest and almost only in our state. I took myself out of the next (and final) game to a male coworker, giving up a prime slot for myself, but my pulling myself out left those coaches nothing to challenge and allowed my UIC and state league rep to handle the problem without further complicating game and tournament management. At the end of the day, I'm the one on the field and they are ones relegated to the stands. I won the war by refusing to fight the battle. 

​Sometime taking the high road leads to the interstate and taking the low road leads to a dead end.

​Hopefully this is how it will work out for you but you should be asking more questions in order to find out. 

[BillKen]

Its BS, but it comes with the territory.  In HS ball in Texas, the coaches select the umpires they use in the playoffs...you make one mad (with a call that is 100% correct), and you don't go to the playoffs with that team...and they network with each other and tell their buddies that you are a rat too.  It is a perilous system.  Its why I prefer to go with neutral assignments or with a coach that I know has the integrity to see the big picture...that one call doesn't define an umpire...a season of good calls far overshadows one or two that don't go his way.

But...I'd rather work and try to be a part of the common good than sit at home or work part time at Wally World.  

 

[noumpere]

What level is this and what are your other options? (Are there other leagues / associations close by?)

 

Maybe the assigner can give you better games somewhere else -- we all want to work the playoffs, but they aren't always the "good" games.

[HokieUmp]

I'll say @ricka56 is correct but I'll also say the league leaders are weak kneed. Being a UIC in many cases is a business, sometimes a businessman has to decide if this is his Hill to die on or if making a concession in this instance is the right way to go. I'd be asking what the league has to say and how they are taking care of a problem coach. 

I had coaches last year that refused to take the field with a woman on it for state finals. The league told them to forfit or take the field. This year, they aren't allowed to coach in that league, the largest and almost only in our state. I took myself out of the next (and final) game to a male coworker, giving up a prime slot for myself, but my pulling myself out left those coaches nothing to challenge and allowed my UIC and state league rep to handle the problem without further complicating game and tournament management. At the end of the day, I'm the one on the field and they are ones relegated to the stands. I won the war by refusing to fight the battle. 

​Sometime taking the high road leads to the interstate and taking the low road leads to a dead end.

​Hopefully this is how it will work out for you but you should be asking more questions in order to find out. 

​All due respect, but if you earned the spot in that final game, you should have been on the field, and not given it to anyone else.  Any team refusing to take the field shouldn't even be "told" anything, except time of the plate meeting.  Then they decide to forfeit or not.  It's not on you to make the UIC's life easier in this case.

As to @Disgruntled:  the only advice I can offer is that you find another association/league to call for.  Your UIC is chickens--t, and will NEVER have your back in a dispute, as evidence clearly shows.  If you have no other place for whom to work, you may need to make some hard decisions.

Personally, if I EVER took an assignor's job, and a coach tried to blackball someone, that coach would see that umpire over and over again.

Edited May 2, 2015 by HokieUmp

[Guest Disgruntled]

Thanks for the comments everyone.  I did not know if I was over reacting or if this kind of stuff happens all the time.  I am somewhat new to umpiring and have not had anything like this happen to me before (this is my 4th year). 

The league in question is a middle school baseball league that is ran within the USSSA system. 

To give you all some background information, I will describe the call that he did not like.  There were runners on 1st and third and the runner on first attempts to steal second.  The batter hits a line drive to the short stop who then throws to first to attempt the double play.  The throw is wild and goes into the dugout.  I awarded the runner on third home, and the runner retreating to first third base.  This was confirmed by my partner on the field.  The ball went out of play before the runner made it back to first, but the kid did go back and retouch before going to third.  Again, nothing was said outside of a few grumblings from the fans.  Afterwards I find out that he called the director and complained about how horrible of a call it was and that I am holding a grudge against his team from earlier in the season.  He then tells the director that they refuse to play if I umpire. 

Earlier in the season I ejected this coach for arguing balls and strikes.  His pitcher kept throwing a high breaking ball.  The catcher was catching the ball around the top of the belly button, but when the ball crossed the batter it would be up between the neck and letters.  After a few pitches I could hear him grumbling, then he started yelling out good pitch, then he yelled out to the kid to keep throwing it and that "the umpire will figure out it is a strike soon enough."  This is when I called time and told him that was enough and to cut it out.  The inning ends and nothing else is said from the dugout.  In between innings as he was on his way to the third base coaches box (they were in the first base dugout), he stops and tells me that his player is one of the best pitchers in the league and that his curve is one of his best pitches and that it is a strike.  I tell him to go to his box and that we are not going to discuss balls and strikes, to which he responds "well you need to realize that pitch is a strike and start calling it".  This is when I ejected him.  My UIC agreed with how I handled this, and the director made him sit out the required one game suspension.  I figured everything was good and never thought about it again (this was end of March).

So my UIC tells me that he had a conversation with the director and that the director felt that the best option would be to just assign a different umpire.  My UIC tells me that he hates this, but that he feels instead of arguing about it that it would be best if we just take the high road.  He said that he and the director agree that I have done nothing wrong, but that with the coaches attitude it would just be best if I stay clear of the game. 

It kind of hurts me a bit as I have done a lot of games in this league and I have sacrificed time at work to get to these games during the week.  My UIC tells me not to worry about it and that he promises to make it up to me (how I am not sure).  Regarding other games and associations, my association essentially has a dictatorship over all the games in the area.  The next closest group is 3 counties away.  I have always been treating fairly other than this situation.  I just feel as if I am being punished and a whiny coach is being rewarded.  Thanks you listening to my rant haha. 

 

[scrounge]

So my UIC tells me that he had a conversation with the director and that the director felt that the best option would be to just assign a different umpire.  My UIC tells me that he hates this, but that he feels instead of arguing about it that it would be best if we just take the high road.  He said that he and the director agree that I have done nothing wrong, but that with the coaches attitude it would just be best if I stay clear of the game.

 

 

​I have no idea what "high road" means in any of that, but the only road they're taking is Easy St...taking the easy way out and indulging the big baby. At least he says he'll try to make it up to you.

Sounds like chickens*** avenue to me.

[webspinnre]

Sounds like lazy scheduling to me. If the coach gets away with treating you like this, he'll treat any umpire like this, knowing he can get his way, and he'll never learn to behave. Unless their plan is to inform him in the offseason that he's done coaching, than the high road is simply the no-guts/no-respect road. What do you think the players are learning from this?

I'm UIC/scheduler for our small league, and had a coach ask if it was possible to not schedule a certain umpire for his games. I told him I'd take it under consideration, but no promises. If I have another well qualified umpire, it might happen, if not, he'll have to live with it. I'm not going to assign a less qualified umpire because he feels he doesn't get along with this umpire.

Edited May 3, 2015 by webspinnre

[Mudisfun]

As the UIC for my kids LL I assign for regular season and local playoffs. If a coach called me to demand that a specific umpire not work his game and that he would pull his team that conversation would go South on him really quickly. He would promptly find himself in front of the BOD explaining his actions and intentions and if his replies were not appropriate his team would removed as our BOD fully supports our umpire core. His former team would be playing with a new coach.

There is no way I would allow a coach to dictate who is assigned to their games unless that can demonstrate a true conflict of interest such as the umpire has a kid playing in that specific game. Don't like the calls? Don't like the zone? You were EJed? Too bad.

[indianaumpire15]

I'm still trying to figure out what beef the coach had wth the play as described?  And why your UIC nor anyone else has explained to him that complaining about a call that was correct by rule is unacceptable, especially one that is not a judgement call.

[bam]

I feel like I was listening to my teenage daughter tell me how unfair the world is.  I tell her to open up her world to other experiences.  I would tell you the same thing.  There are other leagues to work.  Be open to other possibilities

 

[Umpirechick1]

@‌Disgruntled - That's crap and I know exactly how you feel.  I was getting ready to do a plate meeting in an 11u travel game several years ago, and someone from the baseball board walked onto the field and told me that I needed to switch with my partner and do the field.  WHAT?  He said the VC didn't want to play with me on the field.  He said that was impossible, and the coach finally "agreed" to play if I did the field.   I immediately called my UIC and he was as pissed as I was, but there was nothing that I could do for that particular game.  I changed out and my partner was feeling really awkward, but I told him to deal with it, call the game, and I'd deal with it later.  I was on a roll that night, and you'd better believe that no close call went that coach's way that night.  He was a total douche bag, and he wasn't worth the dirt on the bottom of my shoes, but I still called the game.

Thankfully my UIC backed me up, and it didn't happen again.  Now, I'm still umpiring and have moved up to HS ball, that coach got suspended after that season, and is no longer coaching.

Make sure that you have a UIC who will back you up.  It makes all the difference in the world!

Edited May 7, 2015 by Umpirechick1

[Tksjewelry]

@Umpirechick1 that eerily similar to how my above pregame game unfolded. 

[Umpirechick1]

Yeah, but hey... the good news is that I'm still around the game, and he's not!  HA! 
But, if that happens to you again, I hope that you don't give up a spot in a game to another umpire (who just happens to be male) for some douchebag of a coach.