Stay home parents and watch the games on Zoom! Send the kids to the ballpark in an Uber! Alternatively...learn the rules! OR...fear and self-loathing on a foul tip

[SeeingEyeDog]

13U (it's fall so, I've got players, coaches and parents on the big field for mostly their first time...), FED and...did I mention I am solo?

We've got R2, no outs and the game is tied in the bottom of the 7th. The runner is going on the pitch. We have a foul tip at the plate and I give the foul-tip mechanic and point a silent strike. F2 throws down to 3B but, there's nobody there but R2 and the ball goes into the outfield. R2 scores and the game is over. Well, it's all over but the insanity and disrespect apparently...

The VT manager comes out of the dugout absolutely raging, his parents chiming in from the cheap seats, "No! Eff no! No! It's a foul ball, Blue! WTF, Blue?!?!? He doesn't get to advance and score there! That's a dead ball! C'mon, Blue! You need to learn the rules! You are screwing us out here!"

"Coach, it's a foul tip which by definition is a pitch sharply off the bat that is then caught by the catcher. It is by rule a strike and the ball remains live. The run scores and the game is over." Internally I'm thinking, "If it's a dead ball then why did your catcher come up throwing? Clearly, he knows the rule..." Off to my right, F2 (did I mention he's 12?) right on cue says, "Coach, the umpire got it right and I made a bad throw. That's a live ball. If it wasn't a live ball, he would've killed the play...as he has been doing all day out here." Coach keeps right on going and I eject him.

It's not the getting yelled at...we're never going to stop that. It's being 100% absolutely correct on a fundamentally simplistic rule...AND getting yelled at that I got it wrong. Look...a base award on an overthrow or some other nuance? I get people not knowing that. But, with these parents signing their kids up for 13U travel, this could not have been their first trip to the ballpark. A foul tip doesn't happen every game but, they happen frequently enough that it's hard to understand people not knowing this rule. And yet...it happened.

~Dawg

[love to ump]

gotta give some love to the catcher backing you up!...so many times in youth baseball, they are the sharpest baseball mind on the team

[love to ump]

my basic rule gripe....little Johnny, the bunting machine, who never swings, bunts one foul for strike three....and parents scream, "It was a foul ball"........YEAH , it was...

[Thunderheads]

Fall Ball ............yeah,....uhmmmmmm, NO!

[ArchAngel72]

Heh..

 

10U fall ball Friday night my 1st game of a double header..

 

3rd inning I notice in my line of sight as the pitcher is staring his wind up. F8 throws a large clod of grass.  call the pitch, call 2 more pitches and now F8 has MY attention as he has now thrown 3 chunks of grass .. No way is this just a large clod of discharge from a mower. He is now kicking the ground and pulling up 6x6 chunks of sod.  What the hell is this kid a landscaper.  "BALL- TIME"

 

take 2 steps towards defensive dugout... "Coach come here please"    

Coach "Whats up something wrong with the catchers gear '?"

Me "No coach check out your center fielder, he's out there pulling up the grass and well sorry I need to ask you to have him stop that please"

coach " ARRRRG" 

 after that half of the inning ended we both went out there to survey the damage and he was running from hole to hole and stomping down loose sod.

Coach  "Why did they give me all the trouble makers"

 

Me ( knowing already he is a cop ) " What do you do for work?"

Coach " I'm in law enforcement"

Me "Well I guess they knew YOU could handle them"

 

LOL... 

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

4 hours ago, Thunderheads said:

Fall Ball ............yeah,....uhmmmmmm, NO!

I dunno' in my market fall ball is more desirable. The weather is better and its mostly only the baseball diehards out there playing so, the games are a bit more competitive. This one here being an outlier, obviously...

~Dawg

[ousafe]

Our association is using 18u fall ball for 3-man training (we only do 3-man for HS playoffs & college, so not many reps).  Love the opportunity.

[beerguy55]

16 hours ago, love to ump said:

gotta give some love to the catcher backing you up!...so many times in youth baseball, they are the sharpest baseball mind on the team

My catchers were trained to understand that the umpire is your best friend, and you are to be the umpire's best friend.

[BigBlue4u]

20 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

The VT manager comes out of the dugout absolutely raging, his parents chiming in from the cheap seats, "No! Eff no! No! It's a foul ball, Blue! WTF, Blue?!?!? He doesn't get to advance and score there! That's a dead ball! C'mon, Blue! You need to learn the rules! You are screwing us out here!"

Or, you could have said, (calmly) "Coach, if you think I'm wrong, play the game under protest.  What do you want to do?" (You might have to repeat that a few times as he'll probably attempt to talk or yell over you). That saves you all the time spent trying to explain something to someone who either won't listen or won't believe what you are telling him.

[The Man in Blue]

21 hours ago, love to ump said:

my basic rule gripe....little Johnny, the bunting machine, who never swings, bunts one foul for strike three....and parents scream, "It was a foul ball"........YEAH , it was...