Umpire goes down, coaches call the game

[UmpIowa]

I was watching my son's 12U USSSA game.  There was only 1 Umpire working the game who was HS or college aged.  The PU was doing a great job from the beginning.  His mechanics were perfect and timing was good.  The young man was just about as good as I have seen.

Top of 2 and the VT is up by 8.  This is a regular season game with little or no importance to it.  A foul ball was hit and struck the PU straight in the mask.  This was not a grazing shot.  The ball hit him and fell straight down in front of him.  He fell back to a knee and ultimately sat down.  Both coaches were there almost immediately.  After a few minutes he got up and "shook it off" and started play again.

As play resumed his mechanics and timing were noticably different.  At first I wrote it off as just being a bit jumpy after the shot, but he then signaled a strike and called a ball.  Something just did not seem right with him.

I talked to the VTHC and asked him to just talk to PU and make sure all was well.  Both HTHC and VTHC stopped play and went to talk to the umpire.  The young man insisted he was ok and wanted the game to resume.  The coaches talked to the side and both agreed the umpire was in no condition to continue.  HTHC knew the kids family and called his parents and asked them to pick him up.  The umpire was getting upset that the game had not resumed and was looking to EJ the coaches for stalling.

Long story short the coaches both forfeited and the kid went home with his parents.  I found out later that he did have a concussion and it was good to get him off the field.  The coaches are now trying to convince the league to drop the forfeits and let them replay the game.

It was a bit touchy for awhile as the umpire was getting pretty upset at the coaches and thought they were trying to screw with him somehow, but it all worked out.  I have since talked to the young man and in a couple of weeks when he is cleared to work again we will be working an 18U game together, his first.  He did ask that I work the plate for that one.

[ricka56]

You might want to look at his mask and see if there is a problem with it. If he's getting concussed by a 12U F1, then he will have problems with a U18 F1. Perhaps he needs mask pads replaced...worth the money.

[maven]

Great story. If that board has any sense, they'll grant the request to rescind the forfeits and finish that game.

I'd recommend checking that mask for dents and breakage, not so much for pads. Pads are for comfort; protection comes from the mask absorbing the energy of a collision by spinning off. A straight-on shot transfers all of its energy no matter how much we pay for pads.

 

[ricka56]

I disagree on the padding. Bad pads could allow the energy to arrive at one point on the forehead (a nail). Good padding disperses the energy across a wider area (a 2x4). Total energy would be the same, but if I have to take that shot, I'd take the broader 2x4 over the nail. I do believe my team wendy pads were worth the $s.

[BillKen]

Team Wendy has ongoing conducting concussive force testing in their lab so that they are always innovating as it relates to concussion resistance padding for our military (their main thing).  They transfer that research into their other lines.  I don't wear TW pads because they are comfortable...doeskin is much nicer.  I wear TW pads because I completely believe that they give me a better chance when I take a shot (and it doesn't hurt that they are washable).

[Tksjewelry]

It's nice to hear about coaches preferring to forfeit a game for the health of an umpire, even a kid umpire. Your not going to see that everyday. I hope these guys get to replay their game, because they did the right thing the first time and, imo, that should be enough to warrant a replay.

[MadMax]

This is not a criticism of that particular umpire, so please do not read it as such... 

That guy had no business being on that field after that head shot, because that guy clearly was not himself any longer.

Modern warships have a Damage Control Coordination Station. A ship can take numerous hits, some are jarring, some are just topical, while others take big, gaping chunks of the hull out. These hits cause all the alarm bells and whistles to go off, and then are managed and mitigated by the DCCS. The ship stays seaworthy because the DCCS can process all those alarms and damage reports, and responds and reacts critically and appropriately.

What happens, though, if the DCCS is, itself, damaged or eliminated by a single hit? Chaos ensues, because the very thing that evaluates the extent and priority of damages is itself disabled. Any further hits the ship takes puts the ship in greater and greater peril.

An additional factor here is the age/experience of the umpire, solely as it relates to this hit. When we're young, we think/feel ourselves invincible. If we're also of a competitive nature, we take on the reaction "No way is that hit going to put me down!" Ron Wolfley had a career in the NFL, most notably as a special teams hammer with the Arizona Cardinals. There's a story of him being concussed, yet believing he was still capable of playing in the game. The team staff hid his helmet from him so he couldn't participate, yet he still ran onto the field to take up his position on the kickoff without it. Several teammates had to guide him off the field, and then they had to have a backup, 300+ lb. OL sit on him, on the bench for the duration of the game. As we get older and more experienced, we begin to realize our limitations, especially when in the midst of an injury of this nature.

Now, in regards to the mask frame and pads, not every wearer is the same. Maybe the umpire here had a slack jaw when it hit him, or mask is aluminum with paltry pads... We don't know. Heck, it could have been a HSM! We don't know (unless @UmpIowa can give us some more info).

[woodiemiller]

I was watching my son's 12U USSSA game.  There was only 1 Umpire working the game who was HS or college aged.  The PU was doing a great job from the beginning.  His mechanics were perfect and timing was good.  The young man was just about as good as I have seen.

Top of 2 and the VT is up by 8.  This is a regular season game with little or no importance to it.  A foul ball was hit and struck the PU straight in the mask.  This was not a grazing shot.  The ball hit him and fell straight down in front of him.  He fell back to a knee and ultimately sat down.  Both coaches were there almost immediately.  After a few minutes he got up and "shook it off" and started play again.

As play resumed his mechanics and timing were noticably different.  At first I wrote it off as just being a bit jumpy after the shot, but he then signaled a strike and called a ball.  Something just did not seem right with him.

I talked to the VTHC and asked him to just talk to PU and make sure all was well.  Both HTHC and VTHC stopped play and went to talk to the umpire.  The young man insisted he was ok and wanted the game to resume.  The coaches talked to the side and both agreed the umpire was in no condition to continue.  HTHC knew the kids family and called his parents and asked them to pick him up.  The umpire was getting upset that the game had not resumed and was looking to EJ the coaches for stalling.

Long story short the coaches both forfeited and the kid went home with his parents.  I found out later that he did have a concussion and it was good to get him off the field.  The coaches are now trying to convince the league to drop the forfeits and let them replay the game.

It was a bit touchy for awhile as the umpire was getting pretty upset at the coaches and thought they were trying to screw with him somehow, but it all worked out.  I have since talked to the young man and in a couple of weeks when he is cleared to work again we will be working an 18U game together, his first.  He did ask that I work the plate for that one.

​Thats why I wear my mask a little "loosey goosey" so foul balls hit the mask, the mask absorbs most of the force & usually gets knocked off. Wearing a mask tight, will cause ones neck, chin, forehead & jaw to take a fair amount of unnecessary force.

[webspinnre]

Good on the coaches for ensuring the safety of their umpire.

[rpumpire]

This shouldn't be a forfeit situation.  Rule 1.01 states that the game is played "under jurisdiction of one or more umpires."  Once that condition is not met, it is not a game.  Why would it become a forfeit for either or both teams?

Edited May 26, 2015 by rpumpire

[UmpIowa]

The umpires mask was a mask bought at a second hand sports store so the integrity of the mask is not completely known.  For all he or I know that mask may have had several bad hits in it and was junk.  Not to mention it is not the most high quality mask to begin with.  The umpire did in fact have a concussion, but thought he was fine and had no idea he was hurt.  He really wasn't listening to reason at the time.  As far as he knew the coaches were trying to pull one over on him.  The coaches forfeited at the time as it was the only way that the umpire would let the game end.  Again, he thought all systems were go and the coaches were trying to "Umpire shop" or something.  As someone that has experienced concussions in the past, football not baseball, I can say that I honestly thought I was fine and I was good.  When people would tell me to sit down or sit out I thought they were full of crap and needed their head examined.  I guess that is what the brain can do to us when we are out of it.

[stl_ump]

Hey... I need to use that strategy when I've got a few minutes left in my 1:45 game and I need to kill some time.

[LRZ]

UmpIowa, if you learn how this plays out, I'd be interested to know what the league decides.