Mike:
"If you cannot live with the thought of ejecting a youth player or coach, maybe you should consider another game to officiate"
I am not too proud to admit that I never want to kick a youth player out of the game. I have, but only in the case of gross malfeasance (ie., two football players masquerading as baseball players trying to take each other out at home plate.) Ive only benched one high school coach in my career. Not that I havent had reason, but that Ive managed to diffuse the situation and keep them in the game. (Now if you want to see my notches for Rec, Travel, or Adult games, that is a different story!
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As I said, ejection is a terrible penalty for a high school kid; its not reversible and we need to insure that it is only used when absolutely necessary.
A few years ago my then 14 yo freshman granddaughter moved up to pitch for the JV. She pitched the first game and was on the bench for the second of a DH. But in the 4th inning the coach wanted her bat and sent her in. Unfortunately the coach was distracted by something and failed to report the substitution. When protested by the defensive team, the umpire (wrongly) called her out and ejected her. Suddenly this big tough ballplayer is standing in front of me with tears streaming down her face. All she wanted to do was play ball, and she had no idea why she was being punished for a rule she didnt understand. I talked to the coach after the game and told her the correct rule; and I suggest that if the umpire failed to file an ejection report that she let the girl play the next game. (Pretty safe bet; if the umpire isnt smart enough to know the rules, he probably doesnt know how to file the report.)
Last spring one of our umpires ejected a player, and coaches and parents at a subsequent game that I was calling really verbally assaulted me. (They knew I was an officer in our association and they were ticked, to say the least.) Seems as though their star player, a 16 yo junior was coming home and the catcher was blocking the base path. The runner attempted to go around the catcher, but the throw pulled the catcher into the path of the runner. They collided violently, the catcher went down, the ball went away, and the runner fell over the catcher onto the plate. The umpire immediately called the runner out and ejected her. When the coach objected, the umpire said that he would not be responsible for a possible concussion and he was not going to allow any rough play.
Now when you make a bone-headed call and it costs the team an out, or even a run, it doesnt have long lasting consequences. But this girl lost four games; a significant part of the short Midwest high school playing season. All she was doing was following the rules and playing the game the way she had been taught.
Two bad calls by ASA umpires doing HS balls; two kids penalized. There are more appropriate ways to call youth games.
WMB