On Field Pet Peeves

[blue32]

Pitchers that stand around and wait for all the balls to be thrown in before throwing his last warmup pitch.

[blue32]

Amen to that.

There is one field where the coaches put a ball rack hung on the fence by their dugout. I love it. Between innings I make sure I have 5 baseballs. I don't have to ask. I wish all schools would do this.

One of our high schools has one of those at their field. I agree, it's a nice feature.

[catoblue]

Teams that try to have defensive huddles before taking the field, and having to remind the coaches inning after inning to get a warm up catcher out there. I take warm up pitches away when I do that, but it still ticks me off to even have to do it.

I also hate when coaches lollygag getting substitutes in, and use every second of their trips to the mound, only to turn around and complain when the game is called for darkness or a time rule.

These are my pet peeves too!!!!! They drive me nuts!

[Stan W.]

I was working a game one day and I made a ruling on a local rule. The manager came out and said that was not the way the rule was written, he was a member of the BOD and knew the rule because he wrote it. I told him he may have written it but I was the one interpreting it and I called it the way I saw it. He allowed that was correct and went away.

"I told him he may have written it but I was the one interpreting it and I called it the way I saw it."

MST...got to love that line...........would have paid $$ to see the look on his face....:Horse:

[Dano]

Waiting for Courtesy Runner because the Coach hasn't got them ready.

[mstaylor]

I tell them it is a speed up rule, not a make us all wait rule. I have told managers to let me know when he is ready, I'll get back to them.

[ShinySideUp]

And a new one, from today's tournament games. PU, a former catcher (and otherwise a Very Good Ump) uses a hickey-style helmet. Between pitches, and sometimes even between innings, he doesn't hold the helmet -it's on his head, cocked back so the facemask is on his forehead.

With a quick nod, the helmet drops into place, and he's ready to go.

I dunno, I just think it's tacky.

[Astrosdawg07]

Ive seen pro guys do that as well.

[willv28]

Well, it's acceptable in hockey for a goalie. If you're pretending to be a goalie.... I dunno.

[Tyennie]

Okay i have a new one: When you have to tell your partner (who is PU) to hurry up because he is hanging out at the fence talking with spectators. Happened twice this past week. Both partners are rookie umps. Definitely need to have a session on game management with these two. Holy Balls!!

ty

[RWPatten]

How about this one: LL LHPs who can't break a pane of glass or throw a strike, but by goodness they have that pickoff to 1st base down. Works once or twice, then the runners quit leading off. Then the walk-a-thon begins.

[moblue]

How about those coaches that think their kid is the greatest pitcher in the world? Walk one batter and they aren't happy, two in a row and you're a terrible ump.

[Umpire in Chief]

Here's another pet peeve of mine...

When a team is up by some stupid amount (15, 20, 30) and they continue to steal, take multiple bases and even worse bitch when I find a strike. There comes a time when you have to realize the game is in the bag and just go station to station and give the defense an opportunity.

[blue32]

Here's another pet peeve of mine...

When a team is up by some stupid amount (15, 20, 30) and they continue to steal, take multiple bases and even worse bitch when I find a strike. There comes a time when you have to realize the game is in the bag and just go station to station and give the defense an opportunity.

On the same lines, you have a team that is up 10,12, 15 runs, going into the last bats in the 5th for the team that is down, and the team that is up trots out a kid that has no business being anywhere near a mound. Your hour and a half 10RR game has just become a 2.5 hour 7 inning game. :smachhead:

[ShinySideUp]

Here's another pet peeve of mine...

When a team is up by some stupid amount (15, 20, 30) and they continue to steal, take multiple bases and even worse bitch when I find a strike. There comes a time when you have to realize the game is in the bag and just go station to station and give the defense an opportunity.

Or, as I saw Saturday (I was BU), HT gets up by 6 in the first, 11 (total) in the second, and then STOPS stealing and running aggressively. Tourney rules say 15 after 3, 8 after 4 ... and because VT scores 4 in the 3rd, we went to 5 innings.

"Coach, I get paid the same either way, and I love to see kids play ball. But you just burned two innings from your pitcher's arm.Sure hope you don't need them tomorrow in the bracket round!"

[RWPatten]

To kind of illustrate my pet peeves: Things I want to tell , and sometimes do tell, coaches. I am a HS Basketball coach myself, so sometimes I feel it necessary:

1. Tell your players to take off the cloth necklaces. This is jewelry and needs to be removed.

2. Please stop having your batters cram right on the plate. I have watched so many kids cram right up on the plate, then they can't catch up to the pitch or can only foul it outside of 3rd. And you had better not gripe when I draw my own batters box.

3. There is no need to call pitches in 9 and under. If you have a kid that can throw that many different pitches or to that many spots in 9 and under, move him up. Calling pitches at this age just wastes time.

4. Stop and think before you say an umpire doesn't know the rules. It looks pretty embarassing after you vehemently argue a call, tell an umpire that he doesn't know the rules, then have to apologize an inning later when you find out the umpire was right and that he knew the rule..

5. Stop appealing judgement calls, just because you don't agree with them.

6. The strike zone is not the exact same size for everyone. One kid is 6 feet tall, the next 4ft 9. Can't be the exact same size.

;)

[moblue]

A partner that likes to pull out his cell phone to write a quick text between innings... every half inning.

[Umpire in Chief]

A partner that likes to pull out his cell phone to write a quick text between innings... every half inning.

I had that once grrrr

[kwiggie]

F1 who needs to "Dig to China" during every warm-up play. I usually let them know that there is a shield about 3" down from bottom of rubber (field I work a lot), they usually smile and keep digging.

3 inches later: "How's that pivot foot digging in now?"

So we get to watch him fill it back in, tamp it down, etc.

Even worse is when F2 starts the game out by digging in two foot holes for him in the box, and proptly moves up a foot for the rest of the game... "Thanks for the trenches son!"

[treedog24]

A partner that likes to pull out his cell phone to write a quick text between innings... every half inning.

I fired a kid that did that.;)

[Stan W.]

Here are two from last night...

Even though the summer season just past the mid point the visiting team has packed the season in.....

Visiting Team:

Show up 15 minutes early and the visiting team is not going to take infield...head coach MIA until the 3rd....just going throught the motions...no emotion on the field or in the dugout...chatter...but not about baseball....laughing when they committed errors...

Home Team:

They knew the visiting team was a sham, and let them off the hook numerous times. they eventually ten runned the visitors, but not before they played merry go round with position players.....putting the 220 lb first baseman in at short....and a kid who never caught before behind the plate...

In my years, when a team does not "play to win"...thats when someone gets hurt....

even with the mismatch/player merry go round it was a ten run rule game in the 5th......but still took almost 2 hours....

[willv28]

When umpires handle the lightning situation correctly the first time. Then after that after a couple innings of play, keep pulling kids on and off the field after every bolt after only waiting 2-3 minutes. Then umpires from the other game showing up, pretty much take over looking over the rules and are on the field talking it over with that crew. Oh and one of these guys was the same guy that ran over me over last year.

Oh and I was just watching. And I was standing there in the rain, wanting to strike my vengeance down upon them. I was very upset.

Edited June 28, 2009 by willv28

[moblue]

When your games are near the Fourth of July, and there are fireworks going off during the night game that distract the players. ;)

[kwiggie]

I sat a couple of days on this one (late last week) and it still bugs me so here it is!

New partner (PU) shows up late, no time to pre-game confrence, got to hit the field. After the top half of the 1st inning he motions me in to go over a few things down the B1 line.

PU: "Ok, here is my IFF signal, I will cover this, you will cover that, etc. etc. and make sure that if you go out on a outfield fly YOU STAY OUT!"

3 innings later: from the "A" position I go out to cover a trouble ball down the right field line, no catch, I turn to the infield to see PU standing three strides up the 3B line with his mask on looking at me like... what?

Pet Peeve: PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH!

[BellevueUmp]

Tiny catchers in the majors with a hard thrower on the mound. Nearly impossible not to get hit about 20 times....

I'll add an "Amen" to that one! I was doing a fall rec league game last year after taking a hiatus from umpiring. Caliber of ball not exactly spectacular, but I'm on top of the calls and have shaken nearly all of the "rust" off, so I'm not having any confidence issues on the field.

Cut to the bottom of the 6th: this half of the inning started with the home team down by a couple of runs. Visitors put in a left-handed catcher and move a kid to pitch who looked like he belonged in the next higher age group (and he could definitely bring the heat). Long story short, if the pitch wasn't going directly into the mitt, the catcher wouldn't reach or otherwise try to move so he could catch the pitch. This kid had all the mobility of a department store mannequin. In fairness to him, he looked a couple of age groups younger than the pitcher, and I can't say I blamed him for being anxious about having to catch the bigger kid. Over the next couple of batters, if the pitch wasn't in the dirt or way overhead/outside, it found me. :clap:

I took a fastball off each thigh (thank goodness for the padded shorts) and one off each forearm. After the last shot to the arm, as the catcher steps back behind the plate, I tell him, "You need to be stopping those, dude. You gotta help me a little bit back here." I'd decided that if I got hit again, I was going to tell the manager to get a different catcher (not an EJ, just get someone else behind the plate & put this kid in the OF or something). Thankfully, the next pitch was a passed ball with R3 scoring to break the tie & end the game. :HD: