Are you seeing the helmet tap?

[johnnyg08]

Those of you working NFHS baseball right now...are you seeing batter's tapping their helmets to "challenge" the pitch? 

How are you being instructed to handle these situations? 

Are you treating it like drawing a line? 

What state are you in? 

[DWDIII]

Have not seen but we got an email stating that this should be handled as a warning first (for the team) and then and ejection to the player after the warning. 

[UAME]

Had my first one yesterday.  We had been verbally instructed by a state regional director that we'd be justified in immediate ejection (same as drawing a line.)

However, the game was nearing completion and I chose to warn the head coach and let him handle it.  I doubt 90% of the people in attendance witnessed it (or understood it if they did see), as the batter was already about 3 steps from his dugout (after taking called strike 3) and was doing it for laughs from his teammates rather than showing me up at home plate.

[wolfe_man]

4 minutes ago, UAME said:

... as the batter was already about 3 steps from his dugout (after taking called strike 3) and was doing it for laughs from his teammates rather than showing me up at home plate.

I'm not coming at you, but curious how you saw him. 

On most of the fields I work, once they leave the dirt circle they're getting out of my direct line of sight as I tend to keep eyes forward towards the pitcher and the field.  I've found that I might get to see/hear more than I really need to/want to if I keep looking into/towards dugouts too often. 

You may have had a good reason to look over, so I'm not judging, but I would encourage you to be careful that you're not  looking over too often.  It can lead to paths that we would prefer not to go down.

[MadMax]

8 hours ago, wolfe_man said:

On most of the fields I work, once they leave the dirt circle they're getting out of my direct line of sight as I tend to keep eyes forward towards the pitcher and the field.

Until you work that game with Assigner's Best Buddy Billy, and he gives you his post-game "evaluation", saying that you "missed them (the kid(s)) mocking you and showing you up" and that you're not "taking care of business". 🙄 

"Hey, he (assigner) made it a point of emphasis at the meeting, we have to do something about it." – and this is where we get umpires seeking it out, and our game management skills suffer.  

[StatsUmp]

Umpires in my association didn't receive any guidance nor did the subject come up. With that in mind... If a player did it in a manner described by @UAME, a simple, "Don't do that," or friendly warning may suffice. Conversely, someone doing it in an egregious manner to show up the PU likely deserves nothing less than ejection.

This may also be something to pregame with partners to see how they handled any instances of it. If nothing else, pregame it try to be on the same page that day.

[johnnyg08]

5 minutes ago, StatsUmp said:

Umpires in my association didn't receive any guidance nor did the subject come up. With that in mind... If a player did it in a manner described by @UAME, a simple, "Don't do that," or friendly warning may suffice. Conversely, someone doing it in an egregious manner to show up the PU likely deserves nothing less than ejection.

This may also be something to pregame with partners to see how they handled any instances of it. If nothing else, pregame it try to be on the same page that day.

I do think there are times where this could be handled differently as you describe. 

[The Man in Blue]

Hell, I apparently can't see the pitch, how am I supposed to see this?!

[SeeingEyeDog]

This is just totally mindboggling to me...do we think players are doing this:

A) Because they see MLB players doing this and have no clue

B) Because they see MLB players doing this AND have a clue

C) They think they are being "sneaky-passive-aggressive-not-really-sneaky-more-like-active-aggressive"

D) They legit think ALL OF THE BASEBALL UNIVERSE now has ABS

E) Their buddy dared them to do it

F) The village bicycle dared them to do it with the promise of a ride with her later

Absent direction from my association, assignors and or the state athletic association, I am doing the following:

     Calling the batter and their coach together near the dirt circle and giving the kid the benefit of the doubt and simply asking him, "Why are you tapping your helmet after the pitch?" and seeing where that leads me. If they say, "Yeah, I disagreed with your call...", then I am issuing a warning and giving it to the coach from there. Pretty much anything else I'm saying, "Ok, let's not do that again, please. If it continues, you will be ejected."

     I want to learn their motivations so I understand the situation better so I can understand if this is something to be concerned about...or simply a punk child who wasn't raised right and or has sub-optimal baseball IQ and life skills. I also am not there to conduct a rules and etiquette clinic and want to get home at a decent hour.

~Dawg

[johnnyg08]

8 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

This is just totally mindboggling to me...do we think players are doing this:

A) Because they see MLB players doing this and have no clue

B) Because they see MLB players doing this AND have a clue

C) They think they are being "sneaky-passive-aggressive-not-really-sneaky-more-like-active-aggressive"

D) They legit think ALL OF THE BASEBALL UNIVERSE now has ABS

E) Their buddy dared them to do it

F) The village bicycle dared them to do it with the promise of a ride with her later

Absent direction from my association, assignors and or the state athletic association, I am doing the following:

I think it's mainly B & E. 

[MadMax]

10 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

 I want to learn their motivations so I understand the situation better so I can understand if this is something to be concerned about..

Option G. 
Because our culture has transfigured (mutated) Views & Likes into some f#€ked up form of currency or social credit, today’s generations have been doing everything possible to cash in on it. You better believe that video clips from any of the half-to-full dozen cameras lashed to the backstop are going to make their way to social media mere moments after the game concludes, not only to show off to recruiters, scouts, or coaches, but more inanely to fuel some kids’ social credit card in the form of Views & Likes. 

(In)famously, this trend even hit me. I had a kid walk up to the plate with a camera on the bill of his batting helmet, during a PG tournament. None of the dozen-or-so PG staffers ever approached me ahead of time to tell me that they’re putting said camera there, and since there were no less than 4 PG staffers floating around the three conjoined fields with cameras in their hands, I prohibited the batter using it, and dismissed him to remove the camera and come back to bat. No further penalty. 
Just that interaction alone got me posted on multiple SoMed streams, and all the non-umpires made me out to be the killjoy. 🙄

They’re doing it for Views & Likes. 

[WIUMP]

Saw a helmet tap in a men's league tournament today, playing not umpiring.. All in good fun. We were up by two touchdowns. Plate, dressed in an untucked black shirt, navy ball bags, and base pants glued to his shin guards, got a kick out of it.

[The Man in Blue]

I’m guessing he didn’t have a partner to check with.  😉

[beerguy55]

I agree 100% that a helmet tap is like drawing the line and would warrant an immediate ejection.

But please be certain...drawing a line with your bat is something that just can't be mistaken for anything else.

A helmet tap...well, make sure that's what it is and not just a post pitch habit, or an adjustment for comfort/vision.

I'll also note that as a third base coach I instructed my batters, and baserunners, to give me a signal that they saw the signs I gave (whether I was actually calling a play or nothing at all) and said signal was, of course, tapping their helmet.

[Velho]

1 hour ago, beerguy55 said:

But please be certain...drawing a line with your bat is something that just can't be mistaken for anything else.

What if my ear is itchy?