[PeteBooth]

, Originally posted by Diamondgal

I just finished working a Legion District Tournament and I have to say "Thanks" to this forum. One of the teams participating had its usual obnoxious fans and then some. They were idiotically going crazy over things such as me not calling a balk on the pitcher's movement after I had granted the batter time. At times I felt myself getting annoyed.(Female hormones kicking in). Remembering an earlier thread where some of you stated that our job is inside the fence was something I kept repeating to myself. It helped me concentrate more on just that...the game inside of the fence.

IMO, you and other posters have the wrong idea about OUTSIDE the Fense.

The point about Outside the fence means that umpires do not ADDRESS the Fans, nor EJECT Fans.

If it's the normal "hoopla" then yes tune it out, but once fans start to be Obnoxious, throw things as in the case of one poster, then you cannot IGNORE.

If someone throws something, the game should be stopped immediately, the police called and have the fan spend a night "in the joint". People have to start getting "real" - It's a baseball GAME Plain and Simple.

if you cannot behave accordingly, then either stay home or you can spend a night in jail.

In a nutshell, IMO the wrong message was sent regarding things outside the diamond. In general, yes we ignore UNLESS, the FAN is OBNOXIOUS, starts to throw things or comes as close to the Fense as possible to start yelling profanity or unsportsmanlie gestures at you.

Remember, in MLB and high end NCAA games, there is all types of security to handle such things so the umpires do not have to worry, but for most of us amateurs other than a TD, there is no real security around.

Pete Booth