The Most JV Thing...ever

[SeeingEyeDog]

Greetings brothers,

     At the plate meeting, my partner stated (paraphrasing), "Coaches, let's remember sportsmanship starts with us. If you have a question on a call, please go to the umpire who made the call and if we need to get together we will. Please then return to your dugout and we'll render final adjudication of the play."

     Top of the first ends and it's scoreless. Bottom of the 1st, 1 out and it's 3-0. We have R1 and he is going on the pitch. Line drive to F9 who makes the catch and throws it to 1B looking for the DP. The throw pulls F3 off the bag, he catches the ball, tries for the swipe tag and misses. My partner had closed a bit on 1B after the catch to take the back pick and had wonderful angle and distance on it. With R1 going, I stayed on the plate. My partner safes it at 1B and for what it's worth...I got nothing different. Nobody says a word and we resume the game. After the third out is made, my partner and I get together at the 3B-45 foot line and here comes the VT coach from the 1B dugout. He says (paraphrasing), "What was that? You guys cost me 6 runs in that inning! I'm in the dugout and I have him out! I would have said something at the time but, I didn't want to hold up the game..."

     There's a big huge pause as I am waiting for my partner to say something as it was his call and finally he says, "Coach, this is JV baseball so, I'm going to help you out here. We discussed at the plate meeting how to engage with an umpire when you have a question on a call. What you are doing here right now, is not the way to do it. That play is over. That play has been over for quite some time now. You lose the ability for the crew to get together on a call to discuss the play once we have the next pitch. The discussion of that play is now also over and if you continue you will be restricted to the dugout for the remainder of the game." Coach walked away in silence.

     And that was the end of that...I personally am NOT a fan of the, "If you have a question about a call..." speech. I know a lot of you do that and I am not going to tell you NOT to do that. It's just not what I do. But, I'm not unreasonable. If a coach genuinely asks from a place of wanting to learn how to engage the umpires, I will respond to him with the basics.

~Dawg

[Mudisfun]

In my neck O the woods, JV ball is typically solo, unless it is one of the Trinity (private) schools who run 2 man for JV. In the event I were to have a partner on what would typically be a solo game, I would include the verbiage since I know for a fact that the coaches are not going to have a clue on who to approach. Just from muscle memory, they would go to the plate guy or gal since that is typically all they have. Also do it for youth ball where the coaches are typically volunteers and may not really understand.

Varsity or other levels where they use to 2 or more? No, not getting into that speech. 

[Thatsnotyou]

I cringe if a partner does the “if you have a question about a call” speech during a high school or decent travel game. They should know it. Assume they do. If they don’t, you’ll figure it out at that time. I think it’s demeaning.  They don’t give us a sentence or two on how to umpire while at the plate meeting. 
 

It also essentially implies that you’ll have a discussion or two that game. Is that typical for this guy? When you need to argue today, here’s how to do it…

 

Yes, even at the varsity level they’ll mess it up, but it takes a few seconds to fix. As they approach me at the plate…nicely I say something like…”Chris made that call, do you want to ask him about it? Yes, go ahead” 

[MadMax]

I emphatically concur with you, @Thatsnotyou. 

8 hours ago, Thatsnotyou said:

They should know it. Assume they do. If they don’t, you’ll figure it out at that time.

Exactly. A well-regarded colleague disclosed, “There are two types of coaches, those that know (how to approach an umpire), and those that don’t. Those that do, you just insulted. Those that don’t, they’re not going to listen and change their ways anyway.” 

[BigBlue4u]

On 4/16/2024 at 6:15 PM, SeeingEyeDog said:

   And that was the end of that...I personally am NOT a fan of the, "If you have a question about a call..." speech. I know a lot of you do that and I am not going to tell you NOT to do that. It's just not what I do. But, I'm not unreasonable. If a coach genuinely asks from a place of wanting to learn how to engage the umpires, I will respond to him with the basics.

I agree it's not necessary to go into all that talk with coaches, for example, about what to do when they want to discuss a play situation.  As I have said countless times before, saying "Go to the umpire who made the call" to the coaches is an almost complete waste of time.  Will a coach go to the umpire who made the call? Maybe.  I'll guarantee who he will go to.  He'll go to the umpire he thinks can fix the problem.  Also, I have found it better to keep the pregame meeting short and done with the presumption that the coaches know what they are doing.  Do they always? Of course not.  I'll deal with that when and if the time comes.

[MadMax]

On 4/16/2024 at 6:15 PM, SeeingEyeDog said:

You guys cost me 6 runs in that inning!

🤔

 
How did you (two) possibly let this snarky gem go without a response in kind?? 

Umpire - “That’s not possible, Coach (drip contempt)… the most that can be scored on any one play is 4 runs.” 
Other Umpire – “Yeah, don’t you know baseball??” 

[The Man in Blue]

3 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

I agree it's not necessary to go into all that talk with coaches, for example, about what to do when they want to discuss a play situation.  As I have said countless times before, saying "Go to the umpire who made the call" to the coaches is an almost complete waste of time.  Will a coach go to the umpire who made the call? Maybe.  I'll guarantee who he will go to.  He'll go to the umpire he thinks can fix the problem.  Also, I have found it better to keep the pregame meeting short and done with the presumption that the coaches know what they are doing.  Do they always? Of course not.  I'll deal with that when and if the time comes.

 

That's a big presumption.  I better add it to my pregame.

Me: "Coach, are your players legally equipped?"

Coaches: "Yes."  "Yes."

Me: "Do we have an athletic trainer or professional medical personnel present?"

Home coach: "Trainer's here . . . he's bouncing back and forth between here and the track meet."

Me: "Where is your AED located?"

Home coach: "In the concession stand."

Me: "One last question: Coaches, do you know what you are doing?" 

[Velho]

14 hours ago, MadMax said:

There are two types of coaches, those that know (how to approach an umpire), and those that don’t. Those that do, you just insulted. Those that don’t, they’re not going to listen and change their ways anyway.” 

I like dealing with it real time vs pregame. I can gauge the way they're approaching it and steer things a bit if needed (I work with youth and inexperienced volunteers often). Also,

If they come storming out to me at Home Plate on a BU call I can start running their clock if necessary*

"Hey Bill. You want time? Yeah? Ok. TIME. Where were we? Ok. What you need? Oh, that call? Hey, while your here, that last batter needs to hang on to the bat. He really winged it that time. Huh? You want to talk about that call. Me? Bob made that call. Yes that means you need to talk to him. Hey, here take the bat. Your on deck guys are killing you huh? Yeah, go ahead and walk out there and you can ask him your question. You have a question, yeah? I'll take that bat for you since you're going out there. No problem, I got it. Yeah, go talk to Bob. You two can sort it out."

There is also a small chance of coach learning (and internalizing) the proper technique because we're imprinting the proper action in an emotional state with real time feedback loop vs esoteric discussion at the plate meeting.

* That anger can only last so long for the non-alcoholic, non-psychotic, non-sh*t bird coaches - trying to give them a moment to snap out of it and calm down.