[Rich Ives]

There's a difference between a coach that knows the rules and knows an ump may not (hands/bat in your example) because he will back off when called on it because he knows the ump is right. See, the sly coach knows when he's bluffing and will stop, and he won't try it with you again (and probably won't try other rule manipulations either). It's a test of how to deal with the umpire.

Contrast this with the coach that doesn't know who goes balistic when the ump says the hands ARE NOT part of the bat and ends up getting himself tossed, suspended,losing his protest/fee, and losing several hours sleep so he can find the rule and PROVE you were wrong. Then next game he's in he'll insist that a ball that hits the plate is foul and start the cycle again.

I think you, as an umpire, will quickly figure out who is which too. Who would you rather do a game for?


(You should have let restraint go and asked the JC coach the question.)


[Edited by Rich Ives on Apr 15th, 2004 at 01:32 PM]