I was asked to cover a game for a league which i usually dont do games for. It was the final game in the championship series. The players were 11-12 years old. I did the plate while the head of the umpires for this in-house organization did the bases.
The game was played on a private field. The attendance for this game was huge, there was a ton of people present. The game ran fine No complaints with coaches or players not a whisper from anyone until around the 3rd inning when with one out no one on the batter swings through on a 3rd strike but the catcher misses the ball and it hits me in my chest protector, the ball gets picked up by the catcher and throws out the batter. A parent thought the batter tiped the ball which he didnt both coaches and I knew he didnt.
At the end of that inning i walk over towards the fence where the parents are to get my drink and he screams out hey blue that was a foul tip on that last play. Now he is face to face with me but we are seperated by a fence he says again blue that was a tip i said no it wasnt the catcher totally missed the ball and it hit me in my chest, then he says "it was a tip now dont let me come over that fence" he said this in a harsh tone of voice, not joking in any way he totally meant what he said. My partner starts to laugh and says leave it alone the guy didnt mean it, i knew he totally did mean it. I wanted to have him taken off the feild and call the police cause the manner in which he said it made me feel totally threatened. In a close game like this and what is at stake i dont need to be threatened by a low class parent.
The best part was that the head of the feild who also ran the organization for the team that was playing said dont worry to the guy and also laughed. If i ever wanted to have this man escorted off the feild I would of had no backing and would of looked like a complete fool since my partner and the head of the feild wouldnt back me up. It showed low class by my partner and also showed to all the parents that I would take being threatened and take abuse and do nothing about it. It was a complete mockery. Last game I will ever do for that league.
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