Screaming coach - WHAT?

[Umpirechick1]

Championship 12U AAA game, R2 and I'm in C.  Sharp hit ball to SS and F6 throws it to 1B, but throw pulls F3 off the bag at the very end.  I loudly call and signal "SAFE - OFF THE BAG!"  1B coach sees the signal, but for some reason, the runner turns and heads back down towards home, going to his dugout thinking he's out.  The 1B coach initially says nothing, and by now the ball has been thrown back to F1.  Defense realizes it and starts yelling "Throw to 1st!" and he does, meanwhile OHC is yelling "GO BACK!" and he does but he gets tagged out and I call him out.  The OHC goes ballistic screaming at me from across the field (never a good idea) telling me "That's not the rule, that's not the rule!" WHAT?  I said "Coach, I made the safe call and signal, he went back to the dugout on his own, so now he's off the base and he's out."  He keeps yelling, so I retreat towards A while he's yelling since R2 scored, and coach is still screaming "You need to know the rules!"  I say "Coach, he's out..." he yells again and I said "He's still out!" Coach said "It's your job to judge whether he's making an effort to advance to 2nd."  I worked hard not to laugh as I said "Coach, 2nd base is THAT way" as I'm pointing towards 2nd, and I said "I never said he was advancing to 2nd - I simply called him out for being off the bag after he'd safely reached 1B." 
Just when I think I've heard it all, something new comes up. 

[maven]

Good call.

Don't let coaches yell: the head coach may ask for an explanation, and anyone may address a respectful question. But:

[Umpirechick1]

True!  He was working hard to intimidate me, but it didn't work - never does. And I have no respect for a jackwagon who wants to yell across the field. He was definitely the one looking like a fool shouting nonsense. 

[blue23ll]

No yelling across the field, period. The coach can yell at me all he wants, but will get no response.If he wants to talk to me he can come out to me and conduct a conversation, not a yelling match. If you participate in the yelling you are contributing to their bad habits, and they will yell at me next. 

[Tksjewelry]

I had to laugh at one of these jackwagons yesterday. He starts going ballistic about a kid legally avoiding a tag and not sliding into home. "but he has to slide, he has to slide, how is he safe, he didn't slide?!" I kept my mask on as I was laughing to hard and made my partner take care of the coach. This wasn't the first ridiculous comment like that he had made that game. He was full of them. 

[Umpirechick1]

@Tksjewelry, I worked with a guy a few weeks ago who actually said those words out loud when the runner didn't slide.  He said "Runner is out - he didn't slide!"  Uggh!

Sometimes, it's just hard to hide the laughs and the disbelief. 

[blue23ll]

Believe it or not, there might be a few local leagues who have "must slide" local rules in place. Hard to believe but true.

[Dbellyflop]

Had a "conversation" with a little league manager this last weekend about the same thing. i asked if he had ever read the rule book because it actually says "There is no "must slide rule""........

[scrounge]

Believe it or not, there might be a few local leagues who have "must slide" local rules in place. Hard to believe but true.

​Indeed. Here is the rule added a couple years ago in our local rec league (no, I didn't write it):

16.  Any player attempting to score MUST slide if the catcher is in a defensive position AND receiving the ball.  If the catcher is NOT in position to make the out or the ball is NOT being thrown to the catcher, then the player is NOT required to slide.    If the catcher is in a defensive position and receiving the ball in an attempt to make the out and the player does NOT slide, it is an automatic out for the offensive team.  The main thing is to avoid malicious contact. ( Added 5/26/2013 )

[Umpirechick1]

True, but we don't - never have. So if my partner makes the call and verbalizes it, that's not a good thing. And now we have an umpire quoting a rule that's not a rule. 

[ZebraStripes]

I despise it when coaches have their kids slide into home in all situations.  Even had a situation this past week where R1 slid into R2 at the plate since both of them had slid.

[ricka56]

I despise it when coaches have their kids slide into home in all situations.  Even had a situation this past week where R1 slid into R2 at the plate since both of them had slid.

​Why despise it ? That's a strong emotion. So we have to sweep the plate. So what. That's what we get when we accept assignment for games like this....that'd be on me.

step, step, sweep, sweep, sweep, step, step, PLAY.

[ElkOil]

​Why despise it ? That's a strong emotion. So we have to sweep the plate. So what. That's what we get when we accept assignment for games like this....that'd be on me.

step, step, sweep, sweep, sweep, step, step, PLAY.

​I'm more of a step, steppity, step-step, sweepity-sweep-sweep, steppy-step-step kind of guy.  But whichever works.  There's no wrong way.

[Mick]

Believe it or not, there might be a few local leagues who have "must slide" local rules in place. Hard to believe but true.

​Had a game once where that was the league rule, and they covered that at the pre-game.  I said, "So if he doesn't slide at home, you want to to call him out?"  They were quiet for a moment, but then said, "yup".  I replied that I didn't like the rule, but I would enforce it.

Guess what.  Runner's coming in from third, and there was a play on.  I'm not there to define the word "close".  It was a play.  The kid doesn't slide.  I call him out.  The coach goes crazy.  I gave him a little rope, but then told him (quietly) if he said another thing about it, he was gone.  Stupid rule, stupid coach.

[ZebraStripes]

​Why despise it ? That's a strong emotion. So we have to sweep the plate. So what. That's what we get when we accept assignment for games like this....that'd be on me.

step, step, sweep, sweep, sweep, step, step, PLAY.

​I despise it because these jackwagons aren't even coaching them on how to slide.  More than once I have had the kid get hurt on a slide into home...and the ball is in the outfield.