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My first ejection!


ErichKeane
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In a tournament, 10U of all places.  In my 3rd (I think?) game of 6.  Last 4 were solo, 1st was BU, 2nd was PU in 2 man.

The tournament/site director encourages us to get the games moving, which, in part, is encouragement to get the games started early if possible.  My previous game ended at 1:45, and my next was scheduled for 2:30.  I grabbed a water, traded score cards, and got my new balls, then went to the field to see when we could start, roughly 1:50 at this point.  First team(who had just played) said they needed a 5 minute warning, otherwise were good.  Second team coach got combative pretty quickly (note paraphrased a bit? But general idea is here), and said "I was told the game started at 2:30, we haven't thrown (they were in the outfield doing hitting practices), and I need to get my pitcher warmed up, so I'm not ready yet."  I responded, "ok, I'd still like to get started early, when can you be ready?"  Coach: "We were told 2:30, we still need to throw and finish warming up".  So I said, "Ok, please start throwing and getting ready, so we can start early".

I alert the other team and stand on the sideline, the second team didn't make any move toward throwing, and continued as they were.  In retrospect, I should have told them a start-time here to press it.  About 15 mins later, they DID start throwing, and I saw a pitcher in the bullpen.  At 2:13, I tell coaches, "Plate meeting in 7".  Same team has a problem with this that they weren't ready, that their pitcher wasn't ready, etc, and that they didn't get time to warm up!  At this point I got a little short and said, "You've had 30 minutes to warm up.  Plate meeting in 7."..  Coach: "Well, then when are we getting started?"  Me: "Plate meeting is in 7, game starts at the end of that", and walked away.  Apparently at this point, they went and got a site-director and told him I was "rude and demanding" about the start time, and he came over to talk to me to keep the peace.  Plate meeting started in 2:30 as planned :) I was a little grumpy they went to the SD, but water-off-a-ducks-back and all that.

THEN, 2nd inning, stuff starts.  They have this catcher who keeps setting up WAY outside on a LH batter.  His glove 90% in the batters box.  The pitcher (these kids were SUPER good for 10U BTW...) keeps hitting the glove, and I don't give it to him, its off the plate a bunch.  Catcher asks twice, and I tell him, "yes, it hit your glove, but your glove is way outside".  The coach on the bench through all of this was doing a bunch of "come on blue, where's that?"  and "Thats a strike blue, what are you doing?" (no profanity, but obviously agitated.  At one point during this I turned and said, "we don't argue balls and strikes coach".

Top 3rd, Troublesome-Coach (TC) becomes 3BC and says a few more things, that I let go, as the other pitcher was throwing strikes on the outside part of the plate.  Despite being 10U, I called a VERY traditional zone, maybe an extra 1/3 of a ball inside, and nothing onthe outside, so these were clearly strikes.  I closed off rabbit ears on him for this half inning, as they were 'toned down', which was at least an improvement.

Bottom 3, his catcher does the SAME thing setting outside, and tries to frame an even further outside pitch, I call it a ball.  Coach yells, "Thats bullSH*# blue, what are you doing? "  I call time, and go to the bench and say, "Thats enough coach, we don't argue balls and strikes.  I don't want to hear another word, or you're done."  Coach says, "But those are strikes, you don't have to take it out on the kids? Call the game fair" (after talking to the SD after the fact, he apparently meant the pre-game stuff, which I'd long forgotten!). I responded, "I'm taking nothing out on your kids, I'm calling the game.  I don't want to hear another word." and walk away.

Top 4th: TC AGAIN becomes 3BC.  During a batter, I get a "come on blue" type thing, and just look down the line and shake my head, thinking I've shut it down.  IN reality, at this point i'd let it go way too far.  Later in the inning, I call a strike, outer 3rd of the plate, thigh high, for strike 3.  3BC/TC yells loudly, "WHAT?!", I stand up, call time, and tell him, "you're gone!".  He says, "All I said was what!".  I said, "And I said I didn't want to hear another word", "All I said was what!", "Which was another word, you're gone!".   He keeps screaming at me, so I turn to one of the other team's assistant coaches, and ask, "Can you please get the site director?"  TC says, "don't bother, I'm going to see him myself!  And then we'll see who is done for the game, it'll be you, not me!".

On his way by the fence, he keeps yelling through the fence, though I've tuned him out at that point.

 

Aftermath:

I went to the Ump-room/SD room, and talked it over. Apparently now his story was that "rude" ahead of the game was actually me swearing at him to get ready!  And that I was terrible, and that he needed my name because he was going to sue for defamation, etc.  The whole 9.  SD talked to some parents from the other team that he knew personally, and they all backed up my story.

BEST part, I see this team for the 630pm game(which started at 7pm, in part thanks to this mess, I didn't get home until after 11! :(), and the game goes cordially, and I get no complaints.  That catcher didn't play, and the other one caught a great game.  Also note, I'd switched from my Smitty MLB style black, to blue, as the black was 4 games in, and smelling RIPE like wet dog!).  After the game, I went to get the replacement-coaches signature, and he was busy, but his other-asst coach came over and said, "Oh, I can just sign it, our head coach is gone anyway... *sighs*, its a long story!".

 

Apparently during the last game, the TC had come to the SD and asked if he could come apologize to me for it all, but SD told him to keep it for another day.

Anyway, thats the story, best I can remember day after!  Hope it was entertaining.

 

 

 

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Something you might consider, which has become more accepted recently, is to let the bench know where those outside pitches are so they don't have to ask. An occasional "That's out" tells them what you see. Another tool at your disposal is to point out were F2 is setting up. Both can help derail any nonsense from the rats regardless of the level. It also might be in your best interest to stay at HP rather than approaching a dugout. This can be perceived as being aggressive and can make some more on edge.

I was taught the Ignore, Acknowledge, Warn, Eject (IAWE) approach to concerns on my strike zone. Your recollection does not include the acknowledging piece. My tool of choice is the STFU stare, which I hold uncomfortably long so I know the complainant sees my stare.

As others have said, you regret more ejections not made than those made. When they beg to have their ticket punched you should cordially oblige them every time. In any case, you have now discovered that your day becomes immeasurably more relaxing when the first monkey is shot. The rest typically fall in line.

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That's a good idea, I should have gone over between innings and explained it, I explained it 2x to F2, but should have passed it on myself. I WAS saying "ball outside" on them, but perhaps it wasn't clear.

I didn't get that training(my training was VERY minimal), but that is food advice! I'll keep it in mind.

I probably did skip A and did W about 4x :)

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36 minutes ago, ErichKeane said:

That's a good idea, I should have gone over between innings and explained it, I explained it 2x to F2, but should have passed it on myself. I WAS saying "ball outside" on them, but perhaps it wasn't clear.

I didn't get that training(my training was VERY minimal), but that is food advice! I'll keep it in mind.

I probably did skip A and did W about 4x :)

How about if the start time is 2:30 then start pre game at 2:25 and the game at 2:30.  You set the tone for the entire game with your pregame conduct.  You put that team on the defensive.

And open up the zone.  I call a ball off the plate, both sides, for all of my college and high school games.  Strikes and outs make the world go round.

And saying "what" is not a reason to eject a coach.  You made a dumb comment by saying "Don't say another word".  What if he had said "basketball"?  Basketball is a word. Glad to hear you didn't say another peep.  Dugout would have sounded like a bird cage and you would have to eject a bunch of people for saying peep peep peep.

 

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4 hours ago, umpstu said:

How about if the start time is 2:30 then start pre game at 2:25 and the game at 2:30.  You set the tone for the entire game with your pregame conduct.  You put that team on the defensive.

And open up the zone.  I call a ball off the plate, both sides, for all of my college and high school games.  Strikes and outs make the world go round.

And saying "what" is not a reason to eject a coach.  You made a dumb comment by saying "Don't say another word".  What if he had said "basketball"?  Basketball is a word. Glad to hear you didn't say another peep.  Dugout would have sounded like a bird cage and you would have to eject a bunch of people for saying peep peep peep.

 

I was trying to enforce tournament time rules which make it clear that start times change both directions based on the games before it. Based on discussion with the UIC and SD, I likely let myself be bullyed by giving him so much time after my first alert, so I perhaps needed to be stricter.

As far as the zone: 1- I'm not calling a ball in the batters box a strike, no way, no how. 2- my zone ended up in few walks, a decent amount of Ks, and a good amount of hits. I think I got the balance right.

I am sure it was clear that the "not another word" in context was clear to mean as complaints about the strike zone. Even then, I gave him way more leeway on that then his behavior dictated.

 

I took no joy in ejecting someone, and was proud of controlling stuff well enough in the past to not have to. (With 1 game of exception, where I should have thrown out a coach but didn't, due to not setting a firm "line" on arguments, and letting him get out of hand).

 

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6 hours ago, ErichKeane said:

Coach yells, "Thats bullSH*# blue, what are you doing? " 

This is when the ejection needed to happen. 10u there is no profanity, it's one of the 3 Ps.

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10 hours ago, umpstu said:

And open up the zone.  I call a ball off the plate, both sides, for all of my college and high school games.  Strikes and outs make the world go round

This.

11 hours ago, ErichKeane said:

Despite being 10U, I called a VERY traditional zone, maybe an extra 1/3 of a ball inside, and nothing onthe outside, so these were clearly strikes.

1/3 of the ball inside and nothing on the outside for 10u? That's way too tight for this level, and most other levels, too. If I called that zone in HS in my area, they'd bring out the pitchforks. Same with college summer league. Even pro school taught us a pretty generous zone, bigger than I even expected.

For 10u, you can easily give one ball inside and 2 outside. They're not professional pitchers. It's 10u.

11 hours ago, ErichKeane said:

I responded, "ok, I'd still like to get started early, when can you be ready?"  Coach: "We were told 2:30, we still need to throw and finish warming up".  So I said, "Ok, please start throwing and getting ready, so we can start early".

Unless the TD told the coach to start the game early, you can't blame him for wanting the game to start on time. You kind of started the game off on the wrong foot. Plate meeting at 2:25 would have been reasonable. If the coach says he's not ready at that time, then too bad. Game starts at 2:30.

As others have said, should have dumped sooner, but sometimes 10u games are nothing but a headache. It's just the nature of the beast with younger travel-ball. Give the coach a warning, and then dump. You'll be amazed at how much smoother the rest of the game goes. Agree with not ever saying "not another word."

6 games in one day, is that correct? 4 solo? That's a loooong day!

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Maybe I took this for granted when my kids played ... before I umpired I was a parent and a coach for a long time.  The standard was always "you should be ready 30 minutes before your game time" at any tournament (even other sports).  (First game of the day withstanding, of course.)

As an umpire, I hold that same rule and I've never had a tournament director say "no" to getting a field ahead of schedule.  They don't like being there till 11pm either.

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14 minutes ago, JonnyCat said:

This.

1/3 of the ball inside and nothing on the outside for 10u? That's way too tight for this level, and most other levels, too. If I called that zone in HS in my area, they'd bring out the pitchforks. Same with college summer league. Even pro school taught us a pretty generous zone, bigger than I even expected.

For 10u, you can easily give one ball inside and 2 outside. They're not professional pitchers. It's 10u.

Tyipcally I'd agree with you 100%. In my 'league' 10U games, I make a giant zone to get kids swinging.  These games were entirely different beasts.  Just about every pitcher could hit their zones pretty consistently.  WIth that strike zone, I saw maybe 6-7 walks/game between the two teams. 

 

14 minutes ago, JonnyCat said:

Unless the TD told the coach to start the game early, you can't blame him for wanting the game to start on time. You kind of started the game off on the wrong foot. Plate meeting at 2:25 would have been reasonable. If the coach says he's not ready at that time, then too bad. Game starts at 2:30.

The tourney policy is (as far as I've been told), that games start ASAP after the previous game ends, and teams are expected to be at their 1st game at least 1 hr early in case the previous one ends early.  MOST games get 10-15 minutes between them (unless of course a team finishing up a different game) and thats just the way this is.  Apparently this team has been playing in these all season, so they should be used to it.

They schedule games with a 2 hr 'no new inning' 2:15 apart, and 1:45 no-news 2 hrs apart, so we only finish before bed-time because of this aggressive schedule.

FWIW, I suspect in retrospect that a bunch of the attitude from the coach is his dislike for this policy, plus having been told at one point (I hear through the grape vine), that he cannot be practicing/warming up on the soccer fields (which the TD doesn't rent).

14 minutes ago, JonnyCat said:

As others have said, should have dumped sooner, but sometimes 10u games are nothing but a headache. It's just the nature of the beast with younger travel-ball. Give the coach a warning, and then dump. You'll be amazed at how much smoother the rest of the game goes. Agree with not ever saying "not another word."

i've only got ~60 games under my belt now, but have generally had good luck!  The handful of times I've had problems with coaches screaming from dugouts/base coaches, a simple "Stop, we aren't doing that today" ends it, and the few that make it past that, end at the, "This is your last warning, I don't want to hear another word about balls/strikes today";  Perhaps I can find a better way to deal with the coach that gets that far,but I really don't want to be dumping a guy every 20 games or so, that seems way too often.

THOUGH, to be sure, I was at the fence for a game at this tourney a fwe weekends ago, and heard a coach tell his team, "You were safe, don't listen to that dumbass ump, he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about".  THAT sort of attitude teaches the kids the wrong thing (and causes the NEXT gen of umps even worse problems!), and I wish I'd had the guts to tell the TD on him about it.

In reality, I kinda got thrown in the deep end when I agreed to start umping, with little training.  The few times I've been observed, I've been commended on my demeanor, which is probably why I got solo games (and I often get 2-man with a younger guy to 'help out'). 

BUT I really wish I had more experience at 2 man games with umps more experienced with all this than me, so I could get some education on game management (which, I think is my biggest point in need of improvement).

14 minutes ago, JonnyCat said:

6 games in one day, is that correct? 4 solo? That's a loooong day!

Yep, 2 13U games that I was SUPPOSED to be base on, then 4 solo 10U.  My Partner in the 1st game had his kid's game to get to, so couldn't do the 2nd, and the guy who was supposed to be plate for the 2nd game got re-scheduled due to a sick ump on another field, and a cancellation.  So I ended up having one of the TD's teen-kids as my base ump. He caught some heat for 2 calls that I had to shut-down(its almost like the coaches could feel his inexperience and felt they could bully him over it :(), but it was otherwise uneventful.

Then, just 4 straight 10U games with no real break. I was there 715am until 930pm. 

 

16 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

Maybe I took this for granted when my kids played ... before I umpired I was a parent and a coach for a long time.  The standard was always "you should be ready 30 minutes before your game time" at any tournament (even other sports).  (First game of the day withstanding, of course.)

As an umpire, I hold that same rule and I've never had a tournament director say "no" to getting a field ahead of schedule.  They don't like being there till 11pm either.

Yeah, this tourney has a pretty aggressive schedule and says 'be ready 1 hr before in case the game before ends sooner', but leaves it to the umps to enforce.  _I_ get a little heat from the SD for being lax on them and giving them most of the warmup time they want (game before this one, the SD walked me back to the field to get it started early!), but I think coaches take advantage of what they can with us.  Though, this is the 1st time I got this much pushback.

 

One other 'funny' story from my last game of the night (which was troublesome-coaches team vs OTHER team).  I'm dead tired, and about 10 minutes from hitting my 'wall', as I'll soon find out.  By this point, my memory/brain is mush, and I'm working on pure fumes. 

First and 3rd, less than 2 outs.  Pitch comes in, and R1 steals, catcher pops and throws a dime, beating the runner by 20+ feet.  Runner turns back, and R3 breaks for the plate. 

I see the throw to 2B and get up to about the mound by the time the throw gets there (while watching for batter-inf of course!), then get back to the plate to make the call at HP, but as the runner gets near home the throw comes in, and we have a run-down.  I keep up with it for 4 throws, at which point, the runner scores.  Meantime, R1 has now made it to 2B and broken for 3rd.  Catcher throws from behind the plate to 3B, so I'm booking it down the line to make THAT call, and catch a quick tag up the baseline there (side note, OTHER team coach DID thank me after the out for hte hustle on the play, but less important ot the story).

By this point, I am completely wiped.  OTHER team coach(and in the field) asks me, "Blue, what did you have on that pitch?"  I look at my indicator, and realize I never clicked it over.  I tell him I don't remember, and I didn't click it, so I have to check the home-book (other team!). 

He says, "Well, it certainly looked like a strike to me!".  I chat with the home book, who says he had clicked a ball, though it is obviously in his best interest to say so.  On my way back, the batter said, "it was over my head!".  I tell OTHER team coach, that I had to go by what home-book had at that point, and he relents, though says, well, looked like a strike to me!

I felt bad about it for the rest of the half inning, so much so, I went over to apologize to Other team Coach, and tell him: "I didn't get it, and home-book is the official one, so I had to go with that, I'm sorry.". 

His response after all of that?  "Hey, no problem, I knew it was a ball, it was over the batters head.  I just knew you didn't get it and figured I could get away with it".  I appreciated the effort (don't hate the player :D ), and told him as much.

Seems stupid/silly, but definitely lightened the rest of the night for me.

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11 hours ago, ErichKeane said:

Bottom 3, his catcher does the SAME thing setting outside, and tries to frame an even further outside pitch, I call it a ball.  Coach yells, "Thats bullSH*# blue, what are you doing? " 

<DING> Ticket punched.

I call time, and go to the bench and say, "Thats enough coach, we don't argue balls and strikes.  I don't want to hear another word, or you're done."  Coach says, "But those are strikes, you don't have to take it out on the kids? Call the game fair"

<DING> Had it not been punched already, ticket punched.

The general guidelines are "Personal, Prolonged, and Profane."  Profane for the first DING, obviously, given it's 10U and shouted from the dugout.  Personal for the second, since he just accused you of cheating and/or bias.

I don't know what to tell you about the time issue.  I'd either have set him a time during the first convo - not ask "can you start getting ready?" since that gives him an out, which he immediately took.  Say "start warm-ups now, to be ready for a 2:15 plate meeting, and start after."  Or better yet - go to the SD, and tell him/her "look, WAY ahead of time, so go please tell the teams to be ready for an earlier start."  I guarantee, had the SD been the one to bring it up, minimal griping and moaning.

 

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2 minutes ago, HokieUmp said:

The general guidelines are "Personal, Prolonged, and Profane."  Profane for the first DING, obviously, given it's 10U and shouted from the dugout.  Personal for the second, since he just accused you of cheating and/or bias.

I don't know what to tell you about the time issue.  I'd either have set him a time during the first convo - not ask "can you start getting ready?" since that gives him an out, which he immediately took.  Say "start warm-ups now, to be ready for a 2:15 plate meeting, and start after."  Or better yet - go to the SD, and tell him/her "look, WAY ahead of time, so go please tell the teams to be ready for an earlier start."  I guarantee, had the SD been the one to bring it up, minimal griping and moaning.

 

THIS was actually the feedback I got from the SD after the fact, I should have just told him a start time, rather than ask him to get ready 'now' and try to give him the benefit to get ready.

I DO know a part of my 'game management' weakness is my long leash on some coaches.  I guess I spent way too much time as a player with teammates/coaches that got hot-under-the-collar to not have sympathy for them enough to warn way too many times.  I would love to spend more time in 2 man with a more experienced/much better ump to GM from, but I end up getting tossed as 'older/experienced ump' or solo almost every time unfortunately.

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Just now, ErichKeane said:

THIS was actually the feedback I got from the SD after the fact, I should have just told him a start time, rather than ask him to get ready 'now' and try to give him the benefit to get ready.

I DO know a part of my 'game management' weakness is my long leash on some coaches.  I guess I spent way too much time as a player with teammates/coaches that got hot-under-the-collar to not have sympathy for them enough to warn way too many times.  I would love to spend more time in 2 man with a more experienced/much better ump to GM from, but I end up getting tossed as 'older/experienced ump' or solo almost every time unfortunately.

Solo is bullSH*#.  I don't care if it's a 10U, and thus smaller, field.  Putting ANYone out there solo is just bullSH*#.  There HAVE to be people willing to umpire;  this feels like TDs trying to save money.

Come down to Texas, yo.  There's plenty of games, and plenty of guys.  I'd work with you, dude.  (Narrator:  "Easy for HokieUmp to say;  he's moving from Texas in 6-8 weeks!")

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1 minute ago, JonnyCat said:

What did the hourly rate turnout to be for those hours? Does that factor in drive time, too?

Not enough :D Left the house at 6am, got home about 1030pm, so 16 1/2 hrs.  $380 for the day as 1099, so ~$23/hr.  That said, I have been enjoying it so far, and do it more for the enjoyment/kids than money.  I basically spend all the money on gear anyway, so *shrug*.

2 minutes ago, HokieUmp said:

Solo is bullSH*#.  I don't care if it's a 10U, and thus smaller, field.  Putting ANYone out there solo is just bullSH*#.  There HAVE to be people willing to umpire;  this feels like TDs trying to save money.

Come down to Texas, yo.  There's plenty of games, and plenty of guys.  I'd work with you, dude.  (Narrator:  "Easy for HokieUmp to say;  he's moving from Texas in 6-8 weeks!")

:D Yeah, solo kinda sucks.  BUT, I started this so I could do my local towns games, and do tourneys for the experience + paying off the equipment!  Apparently they are hit pretty hard by the ump shortage, and 10 U tends to be 1 man all the time (they at least do 2 man for the older kids, which I can't say for league, where I'm doing 14U solo on 90ft bases this week!).

I'd love the chance to do games with most of the folks here, but alas, travelling 1 hr each way to the city gets me a side-eye from the wife, I can't imagine a 5 hr plane ride!

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You have gotten some good advice in this thread, but one I would add, which may have been stated and I missed: Not my job to get teams ready 30-45 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Once you said hi to the coach and he gave you push back, let the TD handle the issue. He runs the tournament, so let him be the bad guy as your pre-game interaction set up this team to already be on edge. Not saying you actually did anything wrong, but perception is reality, and the reality to this team is you were pushing them.

Had a coach set his catcher way out in a TB game a while back. Pitch went straight to the glove, no movement. Called it a ball, even vocalized the 'that's out' to make sure they got it. Coach whined 'he didn't even move his glove!' My smart ass retort? You're right! I'll call that a strike when you are up to bat, okay? Shocking... not another word about ball calls in the batter box...

IAWE - Ignore, Acknowledge, Warn, Eject

Ignore - You ignored way too many ball/strike complaints. Miss the first one, but then move on to:
Acknowledge - let the coach know you heard him. How you respond is on you. If they are just chirping, I find a "I hear you coach" fixes the issue quite often. Others use the stop sign or that's enough, I don't wat to hear any more. When they move past this:
Warn - Coach, we are done arguing balls and strike, or judgement or whatever. This is your warning. If you continue, you will be ejected from the game.
Eject - He went past warning, now time to hit the showers.

This coach hit the eject button long before you even got to the profanity in the 3rd inning. Nip their arguing early or send them away. You said the next game you had them, they were quiet... I wonder why? 

 

I have a short leash in tournament ball, especially when I watch other umpires not handle their business and then I get stuck having these coaches in the next game. End it fast or your day will be ruined.

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1 hour ago, Mudisfun said:

Had a coach set his catcher way out in a TB game a while back. Pitch went straight to the glove, no movement. Called it a ball, even vocalized the 'that's out' to make sure they got it. Coach whined 'he didn't even move his glove!' My smart ass retort? You're right! I'll call that a strike when you are up to bat, okay? Shocking... not another word about ball calls in the batter box...

 

I wonder why coaches would get the impression this should be a strike?  [side-eyes a previous thread]

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2 hours ago, Mudisfun said:

You have gotten some good advice in this thread, but one I would add, which may have been stated and I missed: Not my job to get teams ready 30-45 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Once you said hi to the coach and he gave you push back, let the TD handle the issue. He runs the tournament, so let him be the bad guy as your pre-game interaction set up this team to already be on edge. Not saying you actually did anything wrong, but perception is reality, and the reality to this team is you were pushing them.

Had a coach set his catcher way out in a TB game a while back. Pitch went straight to the glove, no movement. Called it a ball, even vocalized the 'that's out' to make sure they got it. Coach whined 'he didn't even move his glove!' My smart ass retort? You're right! I'll call that a strike when you are up to bat, okay? Shocking... not another word about ball calls in the batter box...

IAWE - Ignore, Acknowledge, Warn, Eject

Ignore - You ignored way too many ball/strike complaints. Miss the first one, but then move on to:
Acknowledge - let the coach know you heard him. How you respond is on you. If they are just chirping, I find a "I hear you coach" fixes the issue quite often. Others use the stop sign or that's enough, I don't wat to hear any more. When they move past this:
Warn - Coach, we are done arguing balls and strike, or judgement or whatever. This is your warning. If you continue, you will be ejected from the game.
Eject - He went past warning, now time to hit the showers.

This coach hit the eject button long before you even got to the profanity in the 3rd inning. Nip their arguing early or send them away. You said the next game you had them, they were quiet... I wonder why? 

 

I have a short leash in tournament ball, especially when I watch other umpires not handle their business and then I get stuck having these coaches in the next game. End it fast or your day will be ruined.

You're absolutely right about pushing them to start early, I should have just shrugged and had a sandwich or something. The tourney SD does push us to get things moving, but I should put him to work on it instead! I think they like not being the bad guys (they ARE good to umps otherwise...).

I AM really bad at that level of game management, I'd love to work with folks that are good at it to learn, as I spend too much time at ignore and warn.

The team itself was well behaved beyond the coach anyway, but the coaches behavior made the SD/TD kick him for the day, so we didn't see him again

 

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On 6/19/2022 at 10:53 PM, JonnyCat said:

Where are you going?

Off to the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The population will be less - MUCH less - than San Antonio and Bexar County.  The Mexican food will ..... also be less.

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14 minutes ago, HokieUmp said:
On 6/19/2022 at 8:53 PM, JonnyCat said:

Where are you going?

Off to the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Seems like you've been moving around a lot (at least to someone who has been in the same place for 30 years). You on the run from the law or what?

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3 minutes ago, Velho said:

Seems like you've been moving around a lot (at least to someone who has been in the same place for 30 years). You on the run from the law or what?

I sort-of wish my life were THAT exciting!

In a way, I WAS the law.  I spent my working career in - as they say on TV when they don't want to look like advertising or endorsing - "a major Department of Defense."  A mere civilian, but worked for The Man, anyway.  I could have spent my career in the same place, but on the second day, during our "Death By Briefing," the office that handled the change of station process gave their talk.  When they told us "oh, the places you'll go!", I was hooked.

The first move for the govt was in 1992.  Counting that one, I've moved eight times.  THIS move is the first one I've paid for since I moved out of my folk's place in 1991.  Turns out, that SH*# is expensive.

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Be firmer. Grab that ejection earlier. Absent other direction, avoid taking the field with any more time prior to the plate meeting than you absolutely have to. Stand near an entrance so people know you are there and ready to take the field but, stay outside the fences until the last possible moment. Early start times can sometimes require us to take the field early...

As for start times (unless you receive different direction from your TD, assignor and or association leadership) ask both managers, "Our scheduled start time is 'ABC'. What time can you be ready to play?" Once you have gathered this information from both managers, set a plate meeting time in your head and then go back to both managers and simply state, "The plate meeting for this game will be at 'XYZ'. Get the TD involved where you need to with this...

It's been said above, it bears repeating...personal, profane and prolonged. You had all of that and you had it early so...address it early. When we let stuff go we send a message to both teams on the field that it's ok to do and say what they are doing. It's not us ejecting them. They eject themselves with their actions and words. Avoid, "Coach, I don't want to hear another word..." Try cool and calm, "Coach, if you continue...you will be ejected..." Now maybe he'll have a verbal warning, written warning, and or a dugout restriction prior to the ejection. That's up to your rulebook and you. Write the ejection report in your head as things are said and done. Take notes of important information. If you can substantiate the ejection to your superiors then you shouldn't have any problems. If there is a problem and for some reason your association is unable or unwilling to back you on a substantiated ejection...find a new association to work for.

~Dawg

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Here is thoughts

- If TD wants a game started early they need to go address that with the coaches, I have and will always refuse to do it. 
 

- It is your plate and zone. The key word is consistency. 
 

- I may get flack but I do not announce where a pitch missed. It was a ball, coach knows where it missed and the only reason they ask is to make you look stupid. When I get a coach say “where did that miss blue?” I say the strike zone. I am not justifying my zone on every pitch.

- 10u he gets ejected as soon as he cussed. Absolutely no exceptions. 
 

- Remember the 3 P’s for ejections. Profane, prolonged and personal. 
 

- I like solo myself because I seem to stay more focused. Solo in this heat and several games and I am calling balls and strikes from behind the pitcher. 

 

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11 hours ago, HokieUmp said:

Off to the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The population will be less - MUCH less - than San Antonio and Bexar County.  The Mexican food will ..... also be less.

There is nothing like real Mexican food.  I live in SoCal and it is incredible.  I will dearly miss it and always being able to umpire ball year round.

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