View Single Post
  #45 (permalink)  
Old Sat Sep 04, 2004, 03:12am
Bfair Bfair is offline
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Posts: 813
Quote:
Originally posted by jumpmaster
I had an in depth discussion with one of the umpires in our association today regarding ejections.

This was his premise -
In amatuer baseball, mental mistakes by the umpire result in more ejections than player/coach snafus. i.e. An umpire makes a bang, bang call - in amatuer ball - he will probably get the call wrong. An umpire's gross miss on a pitch will bring the coach out to argue, resulting in an ejection. Granted things like BR dropping a shoulder into F3 to break up a play will also result in ejections, but these are the exception rather than the rule.
I think most umpires I know have greater patience with a complaining coach if they are uncertain of their call. If they have greater certainty of their call, they'll listen to the coach's complaint, then explain what they saw, why they called what they did, accept a reasonable disagreement, and then tell the coach the game is ready to proceed. Any further "argument" or unreasonable comment may be cause for warning or ejection.

I disagree with Peter in using quick ejections, but wouldn't disagree with quick warnings. I like to think I wouldn't eject without warning unless the participant's action was flagrant, and therefore, an obviously justifiable ejection. I also think that there are too many marshmallows out there that endure too much continued sniping regarding past decisions without putting a stop to it.

Like Rich, I incur significant ej's in summer ball where all the players want to be the coaches. I've called HS ball since 1980 and have had only one EJ, and can recall only one instance where I likely should have dumped but didn't (he asked me if I could spell "scratch" to which I replied "not in this game, I can't"---end of that converstation).

Regarding the coachs' selection of playoff officials.......
I believe much has to do with who the association shows to the teams during the season, who the association best promotes (which they do), and who the association partners you with----all of which is certainly impacted by the buddy system within the organization. I totally agree with Peter that there are many fine officials not selected for playoffs, and add that many of those not selected may indeed be better than those that have been promoted by the association through their regular season assignments. I've also seen many not so fine officials---including homers---as accepted by the coaches involved in the contest.

To Sal I'd say......I'd enjoy calling with ya.......
And to David B. I'd say......I enjoyed calling with you at Arlington High although I doubt if you recall it....


Freix

Reply With Quote