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Originally Posted by JRutledge
I personally do not care what other umpires do. I let the batter's know to stay in the box and they listen. I think it is a lame excuse to worry about what others might do. I do not have that kind of energy. The rule is there for a purpose, enforce it. If a coach has a problem, you have the rules to back you up. It is really that simple.
Peace
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That would be great if life was that simple. I wish it were as you say. But it is not!
When there exists a hardened tradition within a certain region - an umpire defies that tradition at his own peril.
If you strictly enforced this rule as you have described in this area ... sure, you could show the coaches the rule and ... sure, you'd be technically correct. And when you turned your back there would be a lot of eye-rolling. And one of those set of eyes that will be rolling would be your partner's. And, if this practice of yours continued you will rapidly become quite famous amongst the coaches. You will be known as the "pissy umpire." They'll talk about you behind your back and you will get absolutely no support from other members of the umpire organization as they attempt to distance themselves from you. Your stock will rapidly plummet and it will almost certainly manifest itself in some way that you will almost certainly find disagreeable.
Unfair? Probably.
Reality? Absolutely!
Choices have to be made in an umpire's career. In
this area, this would be one of the choices you would be forced to make in your umpiring style. You can adopt the, "My way or the highway" style -or- you can bend a little in order to maintain the general order and harmony.
And, it's not like you would be compromising your moral values or cheating. My gosh - it's a SILLY RULE that, in the final analysis, doesn't amount to a hill of beans. I've long since decided that it's not a "war" worth fighting. So I bend.
I'm not suggesting that everybody should ignore this rule. I think you should do whatever
works. In this area, enforcing it
doesn't work. Oh, sure, they'll do what you say ... but that's not what I mean by "working."
David Emerling
Memphis, TN