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Late Season EJ


BobUmp
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16U "Charity Tournament" Fall Ball OBR rules, with some mixed in FED rules like fake to 3rd legal, FPSR, etc.. "Unpublished" type rules, told to us by the TD upon arrival, and regurgitated to the coaches by TD with us in attendance before our plate meeting.. blech

Anyhow, no issues in a tight game, except in hindsight the starter for the VT was frustrating the HT batters quite a bit because they were not squaring him up well - there were some thrown helmets and bats in the HT dugout after pop-ups with men on, or swinging strike threes. But generally, did not have to call many tough borderline pitches because both teams were up swinging.

Bottom 6, HT rallies against a clearly tired VT starter and ties the game up. At this point both teams and benches are loud, but not taunting or making noise for noise's sake, just into the game's drama.

Top 7, both sides still loud but clean, game stays tied and we hit the time limit, so now the game can end in a tie or walk-off for the HT - B7 will be the last half inning.

VT pitcher is replaced with Number 2, who immediately has control issues - HBP the first batter, who then gets caught stealing on a pitch in the turf that the catcher made a great block and throw down to 2nd on.

That batter walks on 5 pitches, and the place is really loud and rowdy. Next pitch is wild and he advances to 2nd. 1-0 on batter.

The HT bench turns their yelling into taunting: "Hey 2, you've got nothing" "2, the plates over here" and such. I turn and note a few numbers that seemed to be leading the taunts, one being a number 14 who was up also banging on the dugout fence.

I call time and call down the HC for HT from 3rd, meet him maybe 5 steps from the circle. I tell him I'm warning the bench. The cheers turned to taunting, and I have no problem with them cheering and being loud, but we need to shut down the taunting right now. He immediately go aggressive on me. The ole " what did they say" "you heard them wrong, they were talking to my batter" etc..

i tell him, "Bill, they were calling out number 2 specifically. You're batter is number 30, and you're runner is number 24, so no, i did NOT hear it wrong" i tell him that the bench is warned, that i will be forced to eject if they don't stop taunting or other unsportsmanlike conduct.

He turns to his bench, and half-assed says "Boys, don't taunt the other team" to a bunch of laughs and giggles and walks back to 3rd shaking his head.. Yeah, that's going to stop it...

NEXT PITCH, the HT bench starts right up again with the number 2 taunts. I turn, and spot Mr 14 leading the charge.. I yell in 'Hey! I just warned you about this! Number 14, you're ejected!"

The HC comes busting down with all sorts of how could I inject myself into a good game and such, and 'this is not golf"  and I let him go for about 5 seconds looking for any magic words, then tell him forcefully (maybe too forcefully) BILL you KNOW what I am talking about, and I TOLD you the bench was warned. YOU KNOW what is taunting and what is not taunting. 14 is gone, and if the bench does it again I'm tossing another."

He comes back with "Every game with you there's a problem. You go looking for these things, to get yourself into the game. You are unbelievable." 

Now, I don't know this team at all. IF i had them in the past it was one of the lower level travel leagues or town leagues, and i had ZERO instances of "problems" during the league games i had this year. I have no idea what he is talking about. I tell him "BILL, I have no idea what you are talking about. i could not pick you or your team out of a lineup. this conversation is over. Back to baseball" 

We get back, bench is quiet.Batter eventually bunts the runner over to third, but on a poor throw from the 3B he is safe at first. First pitch to the next batter, the catcher throws down to 3rd, which ends up in right field, and the HT walks off on a throwing error.

The kicker is my partner.. We just had this drama, and its 10:15 at night at a town field in the middle of nowhere. We are making our way off the field and he says, "i really have to go the bathroom" and takes off running towards the bathrooms, leaving me alone in the middle of the gaggle of parents, players and coaches. I must have had a face on, because one of the parents says to me "Hey Blue, some partner you have there, leaving you alone with the wolves!"

No issues, but still unreal...

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:sarcasm: 

1 hour ago, BobUmp said:

the catcher throws down to 3rd, which ends up in right field,

....and here I thought Strasburg had HIS curve ball working.......

 

Parting thought.  Since an ejection (at the unshaven levels) generally requires them to miss their next physically played game, does 14 have to sit his 1st game in the spring?

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19 hours ago, Aging_Arbiter said:

:sarcasm: 

....and here I thought Strasburg had HIS curve ball working.......

 

Parting thought.  Since an ejection (at the unshaven levels) generally requires them to miss their next physically played game, does 14 have to sit his 1st game in the spring?

It is tournament baseball... Every weekend is a new season. There is almost never any carry over of penalties. 

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One of the attitudes that is driving me the most nutty these days is the one about umpires “injecting themselves into the game” because we are forced to police the poor behavior of the offender.  That has just become a push-button with me that I am aware of and have to be consciously cautious with.
 

Nobody would know I am here if you (or your team) weren’t acting like a petulant 4-year old child, Coach.  You brought me into it, not me. My job is to put a stop to it.  Some of us will still be here afterwards, some of us won’t, but the behavior stops.

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4 hours ago, JSam21 said:

It is tournament baseball... Every weekend is a new season. There is almost never any carry over of penalties. 

Thats what is  so bad about travel ball. No real league oversight .  Thats why the behavior is so crappy.  I have gotten to the point i will not work the last day of any travel ball tourney, only the opening rounds. the absurd behavior  to win a 2 cent crap trophy is amazing

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On 10/30/2019 at 11:21 AM, BobUmp said:

He comes back with "Every game with you there's a problem. You go looking for these things, to get yourself into the game. You are unbelievable." 

Good-bye, coach, you can join #14.

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9 hours ago, mw94 said:

Thats what is  so bad about travel ball. No real league oversight .  Thats why the behavior is so crappy.  I have gotten to the point i will not work the last day of any travel ball tourney, only the opening rounds. the absurd behavior  to win a 2 cent crap trophy is amazing

So I'm not the only one that notices the last-game-itis of these teams.  Thought it was me. ;)

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2 hours ago, agdz59 said:

So I'm not the only one that notices the last-game-itis of these teams.  Thought it was me. ;)

I git my first ever ejection during the last game of the fall season. This had more to do with coaches not having a clue on how to interact with umpires than last gameness. Maybe I should write a post on it.

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He comes back with "Every game with you there's a problem. You go looking for these things, to get yourself into the game. You are unbelievable." 

Sure seems to warrant an ejection under Section 2 of the Primary Ejection Criteria (PEC) "Profane, Personal, Prolonged."

But, hey, that's just me.

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On 10/30/2019 at 12:39 PM, Aging_Arbiter said:

:sarcasm: 

....and here I thought Strasburg had HIS curve ball working.......

 

Parting thought.  Since an ejection (at the unshaven levels) generally requires them to miss their next physically played game, does 14 have to sit his 1st game in the spring?

Just a fall charity tournament - he sat out the final...

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12 hours ago, grayhawk said:

Yup.  NO WAY he stays after that comment.  Definitely a missed ejection there.

Yep, i could've tossed him. Should've tossed him.. I just really don't remember the coach or team from any other game at any time.. Threw me for a loop there. But my guess is he has "problems" with any umpire who addresses any conduct from his team, and just lumped me in that group. So again, should've tossed him

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30 minutes ago, BobUmp said:

But my guess is he has "problems" with any umpire who addresses any conduct from his team, and just lumped me in that group. So again, should've tossed him

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is a case where "y'all" and "all-ya'll" would have made his statement clearer.

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You would be better served not addressing the coach about the bench jockeying. It opened you up to him being able to counter you and catch crap like he did to you. Instead, when you hear it, announce time, point and firmly tell that dugout and coach, "that's bench jockeying, if it continues the next offender will be ejected". You can do this as a plate or base guy as soon as you hear it. The coach will most likely respond with some asinine statement about the other team doing it, but at least now you have firmly addressed it and everyone there, including the other team, knows what will happen if it continues.

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On 11/1/2019 at 9:35 AM, Forest Ump said:

You would be better served not addressing the coach about the bench jockeying. It opened you up to him be able to counter you and catch crap like he did to you. Instead, when you hear it, announce time, point and firmly tell that dugout and coach, "that's bench jockeying, if it continues the next offender will be ejected". You can do this as a plate or base guy as soon as you hear it. The coach will most likely respond with some asinine statement about the other team doing it, but at least now you have firmly addressed it and everyone there, including the other team, knows what will happen if it continues.

Yep, the old saying, 'no good deed goes unpunished'. We tried to do good and give the coach a chance to fix the problem instead of just warning, then tossing the offenders.  The thing I have learned over the years is, it's better to eject early then wait, because waiting only will make it worse. 

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  • 1 month later...

My only addition to this is:  you need to blacklist the [redacted] out of that partner.  If your group is on Arbiter, get on there, and mark him off for sure.  For me, the EJs and/or the ones you could have gotten are part of the biz - not putting it down, and I LOVE to read other people's stories - but the takeaway for ME is that guy is A Bad Partner, and must be put where all Bad Partners go:  into oblivion.

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21 hours ago, HokieUmp said:

My only addition to this is:  you need to blacklist the [redacted] out of that partner.  If your group is on Arbiter, get on there, and mark him off for sure.  For me, the EJs and/or the ones you could have gotten are part of the biz - not putting it down, and I LOVE to read other people's stories - but the takeaway for ME is that guy is A Bad Partner, and must be put where all Bad Partners go:  into oblivion.

Yeah, thanks. I am on Arbiter for this particular group and can exercise that option.. What I did not divulge in my first post was that the guy did a few other things that irked me, including not answering any texts, coming too late to get a pre-game in, and in the game prior (we had two, he was plate for Game 1), he missed every rotation he was supposed to make, just stuck himself in the vicinity of the plate all game, then blew off having a post-game between games (again, the bathroom excuse). So, yeah, good advice. 

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