Ejecting a fan

[Guest MFiltz]

So Im 17 and was Umping a 8u game at a rec League In softball. I was the home umpire and my partner had made a bad call but no coach had appealed so  I left it as it was . The parents of the team the call went against start to yell at me because of the call my partner made.I waited for a coach to appeal and they didn’t so I let the game continue. Two batters down the road the opposing team starts to shout at me that the girl that just hit a triple stepped out of the box. I had no way of seeing if the girl was in the box or not because the catcher had stood up and I couldn’t see around her. No coach had appealed to see what my partner saw so they play stood . A fan of the other team and many of their fans decide they need to scream at me and cuss me out. One mother in particular decided to come up to the fence and start screaming at me with profanity so I simply responded “if a coach wants to appeal they are free to appeal .I don’t talk to parents ,bye” I tossed her ,she grabbed her stuff and looked as if she was leaving.I continued play and later found out she had come back after I tossed her. So I guess my question is how can I better make sure a fan leave if they are ejected and is there anything else I could have done better.

[tjfairlie]

Don’t engage with fans.

Stop the game. Go to the coach and tell them to take care of the parent and the game can resume once its been handled.

[Replacematt]

39 minutes ago, Guest MFiltz said:

So Im 17 and was Umping a 8u game at a rec League In softball. I was the home umpire and my partner had made a bad call but no coach had appealed so  I left it as it was . The parents of the team the call went against start to yell at me because of the call my partner made.I waited for a coach to appeal and they didn’t so I let the game continue. Two batters down the road the opposing team starts to shout at me that the girl that just hit a triple stepped out of the box. I had no way of seeing if the girl was in the box or not because the catcher had stood up and I couldn’t see around her. No coach had appealed to see what my partner saw so they play stood . A fan of the other team and many of their fans decide they need to scream at me and cuss me out. One mother in particular decided to come up to the fence and start screaming at me with profanity so I simply responded “if a coach wants to appeal they are free to appeal .I don’t talk to parents ,bye” I tossed her ,she grabbed her stuff and looked as if she was leaving.I continued play and later found out she had come back after I tossed her. So I guess my question is how can I better make sure a fan leave if they are ejected and is there anything else I could have done better.

1. Don't deal with fans, period. I would make the assumption there's no outside game management there, but that's who you deal with in a situation where a fan needs to leave or the crowd needs to be controlled. In a case where there is none, I would have the crew confer with both coaches and inform them that the game is stopped until that fan leaves. They have no authority over fans, but they can spread the message. If that fan does not leave, the game does not continue.

2. Your comment about your partner's bad call implies you would have done something if a coach had asked. Any time there's an issue, they need to discuss it with the calling umpire (if they choose to entertain a discussion.) From that, that umpire can decide if they want assistance with that call. No umpire does anything about another umpires call at the request of a coach or player.

3. Don't go for help on a batter out of the box. Your partner can't see it.

[Guest MFiltz]

10 minutes ago, Matt said:

1. Don't deal with fans, period. I would make the assumption there's no outside game management there, but that's who you deal with in a situation where a fan needs to leave or the crowd needs to be controlled. In a case where there is none, I would have the crew confer with both coaches and inform them that the game is stopped until that fan leaves. They have no authority over fans, but they can spread the message. If that fan does not leave, the game does not continue.

2. Your comment about your partner's bad call implies you would have done something if a coach had asked. Any time there's an issue, they need to discuss it with the calling umpire (if they choose to entertain a discussion.) From that, that umpire can decide if they want assistance with that call. No umpire does anything about another umpires call at the request of a coach or player.

3. Don't go for help on a batter out of the box. Your partner can't see it.

Ok that makes a lot of sense thank you for the help. I’m new at this and want to do the right thing I’m just trying to figure it out as I go 

on the thing about the bad call I wasn’t really sure how that whole thing works .I’ve had umps in my highschool games make a bad call and a coach appeals .they talk and then sometimes they change the play and sometimes they don’t .but it’s always been the home plate guy that makes signals the outcome that they decided on .so I wasn’t sure and I really appreciate that I am glad that is something that won’t be an issue in the future

[Replacematt]

30 minutes ago, Guest MFiltz said:

Ok that makes a lot of sense thank you for the help. I’m new at this and want to do the right thing I’m just trying to figure it out as I go 

on the thing about the bad call I wasn’t really sure how that whole thing works .I’ve had umps in my highschool games make a bad call and a coach appeals .they talk and then sometimes they change the play and sometimes they don’t .but it’s always been the home plate guy that makes signals the outcome that they decided on .so I wasn’t sure and I really appreciate that I am glad that is something that won’t be an issue in the future

You're in the right place, and making more of an effort to learn than (sadly) probably the majority of youth-ball umpires out there.

[noumpere]

8 hours ago, tjfairlie said:

Don’t engage with fans.

Stop the game. Go to the coach and tell them to take care of the parent and the game can resume once its been handled.

In some places / leagues, it's "go to the site supervisor / league representative" -- and if one is available, that's likely to be more effective than going to the coach.

[Guest Mfiltz]

5 hours ago, noumpere said:

In some places / leagues, it's "go to the site supervisor / league representative" -- and if one is available, that's likely to be more effective than going to the coach.

I was finally able to contact the guy over the umpires in that league and he told me to do the same in that situation.

There’s a couple of travel teams that play in that league that have the mentality that every close call has to go their way or they raise hell and call the guy over the umps complaining about the umps or the call 

[aaluck]

17 hours ago, Guest MFiltz said:

So I guess my question is how can I better make sure a fan leave if they are ejected and is there anything else I could have done better.

If you worry about what fans are saying you will not last long as an umpire.  Not because you are not a good umpire but because it will become so unenjoyable you will not be to stand it.  My advice to you is deal with the HEAD COACH only and get into that habit right now.  If fans know you are listening they will not stop. As an umpire if you stopped the game to throw out every fan that needed it you would be there all day tossing folks.

Now there are exceptions to this and I have three I can think of. 1) If you have a dangerous condition created by a fan that must be addressed. 2) If you have a fan verbally attacking a player--especially a youth player, address that.  3) If the 'talking' turns into threats to you, address that. When I have these happen I first go to the HC and ask him to handle it or "I will".