Almost Tossed Him

[834k3r]

LL league play, R2, 2 outs.

Batter (son of the HC) struck out looking on a ball at the top of the zone to end the inning. As he walked off, he said "that wasn't a strike, dude!" I stared at him as he walked to and entered the dugout. His dad talked to him outside the dugout, told the player it was a strike, and was a strike all game.

After the HC met with his team before they took the field defensively, I walked up to the coach and opened my lineup card holder (to make it look like we were discussing the lineup) and told him that his son could get tossed in the future. The HC said "you should have." I said I didn't because he didn't cross any "red lines" (the 3 Ps:  personal, profane, prolonged). Rest of the game proceeded without incident. In fact, the HC had his son catch the next inning; player came up to me and apologized.

Had the game been FED I probably wouldn't have reacted at all, but I thought it was important to nip the behavior in the bud.

[SeeingEyeDog]

1 hour ago, 834k3r said:

...I walked up to the coach and opened my lineup card holder (to make it look like we were discussing the lineup) 

Man, Beeks...I just love this move so much. So much! Pro move there, brother...

I would have loved to have been spectating or working this game. When I first read it, my thought was you should have ejected...but, as I read it several more times, I believe given the level of play you handled this 100% appropriately.

Essentially, he got a LIFE WARNING there because if he ever does that again (whether you are the umpire or not...) and he does get ejected, he will either figure out for himself why he was ejected OR his father will explain it to him. It will by no means be a surprise...

~Dawg

[Velho]

22 minutes ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

I would have loved to have been spectating or working this game. When I first read it, my thought was you should have ejected...but, as I read it several more times, I believe given the level of play you handled this 100% appropriately.

I like @834k3r's actions here as well. In the non-no-brainer EJs situations, I look to the coaches actions as a consideration. In this situation they were on it.

It does remind me of one of my UICs EJ stories: player did whatever (similar to OP or slammed bat, etc.), PU looks at coach , coach gives a little EJ sign flick with his hand, PU ejects the player. The coach had done all he could. An EJ was the next step in trying to reach the player.

That's all in the frame of saying these are 8-12 years olds inside the LL structure (as opposed to travel ball). We should try to work together with the coaches to manage the game and achieve our mission to teach life lessons that build stronger individuals and communities.