[PeteBooth]

If you umpire to appeal to the participants, you are never going to succeed, because half of them are going to hate your every call.

We should probably start a new thread because the responses have gone "off topic" on Davids original post (Rebuttal)

Your above statement IMO is totally invalid and you need look no further than MLB.

Some time ago, Major league Umpires were instructed to be more stringent in calling balks. I cannot remember the exact time period, but in 1/2 of that season alone, more balks were called then in all of the previous season.

Guess what!

The Players Union got involved and basically said I will paraphrase "You will go back to the way things were if you want to umpire here" Therefore, in the second half of the season things were back to normal.

The best advice that I received from not only my mentor but other knowledgeable umpires is that the game is NOT about us IT IS about the participants. You do not have to kiss their you know what, but if they want the game called a certain way and you want work in that League you will abide.

I will give a couple of examples without making this response too lengthly.

I was working this one particular league who had a "house rule" that superceded the rule book. DBT was only about 3-4 feet on either side of first / third base, meaning just about any over-throw would go into DBT. Therefore, on this one particular field, the award was one base from a throw anywhere.

The strike zone issue. After I "paid my dues" doing Modified/Freshman/JV HS ball I got to do my first CBL (Collegiate Wood bat League) game behind the dish. I was terrible in my first game from the standpoint of calling balls/strikes.

It wasn't that I was inconsistent but because I was NOT calling the zone the way they were accustomed to it being called. After calling out a batter on strike three, the comment was "Hey Blue this isn't JV anymore" I had my mentor watch me a couple of games, received constructive criticism and starting calling the zone that they wanted me to call. That doesn't mean a "postage" or not calling out a batter on strike three, but calling it the way they felt comfortable.

I could go on and on, but the point is The game is ABOUT the PARTICIPENTS and not US.

Pete Booth