Xtopher_66,
Do NOT bring your rulebook onto the field! You are showing up the umpire by doing so, and now that you know that, you would deserve to be ejected from the game if you did so.
If you feel that the umpire made a call that:
1. involved a misapplication of the rules
AND
2. materially disadvantaged your team,
then, when the continuous action of the play has relaxed, ask for time.
When it is granted, politely ask the umpire who made the call for a clarification of his call. Personally, I would never ask an umpire "how he arrived at his call". Ultimately, it is none of your business, he has no obligation to tell you, and there's a good chance you'll piss him off just by asking.
There are really two things you need to know:
1. What the umpire's call really was (I have learned from personal experience that what I thought the umpire called is not always what he really did call).
2. What the umpire saw.
If the umpire saw something different than what you saw (for example, you saw a collision between the F6 & the F2, but the umpire didn't; or you thought the ball was still in front of the F6 at the time of the collision, but the umpire thought the ball was already past the F6) and it makes your rules issue invalid, then you simply drop it and return to the dugout.
If the umpire called what you thought AND saw pretty much the same thing you did, simply state in plain language, to the best of your ability, why you think he may have misapplied the rules in making his call. You don't have to know the rule number & you don't have to recite the rule verbatim. And neither he nor you needs to read the rule out of the book. In many (if not most) cases, you would need to read multiple rules, possibly refer to an interpretation manual, and figure out how they all fit together to "prove" the proper application.
It ain't gonna happen in the middle of a baseball game, and it shouldn't.
If you've stated your case to the best of your ability and the umpire finds you unpersuasive, simply do as SD Steve suggests, and "Just protest the ruling, don't try to show the umpire anything." Then return to your dugout.
A couple of other things...
LilLeaguer has a pretty good read on my motivation for participating on this board. I come here primarily to learn and thereby become a better coach. I'm interested in learning:
1. The rules and their proper application in real game situations.
2. Umpires' perspectives on how to call games and deal with situations.
3. How to be more effective in persuading an umpire to reverse his call when I believe he has misapplied the rules in making the call in a way that disadvantaged my team.
I am also happy to share with others, who may not be as far along the learning curve as I am, what I have learned from those who have shared their knowledge with me.
In case you haven't noticed, I also kind of enjoy arguing with umpires. Since I can't really indulge this unfortunate character flaw of mine during games without serious repercussions, I do it in venues such as this. But, I do my best to not argue for the sake of arguing, but rather to arrive at a better understanding of the rules and their proper application. When I am shown to be wrong, and I believe my history on this board attests to this, I am man enough to admit it.
I have other unfortunate tendencies (e.g. long-windedness, uncalled for sarcasm, etc.), but I never believed a condescending attitude to be among them. In fairness, this is probably a difficult thing for one to objectively judge about oneself, so I could be wrong. If I am, I apologize and will try to do better in the future.
A subject of interest to me that was raised on this thread is the fine line between "judgement calls" and "rules misapplications"; so, I started a new thread with a poll to elicit additional commentary and opinion on that specific question. Please share your thoughts & opinions if you are so inclined.
Now for some reason that remains a mystery to me, SanDiegoSteve has chosen to try to "jump down my throat" a couple of times on this thread. So, I would just like to say the following...
[CONDESCENSION ON]
Steve, you ignorant slut,
I find your self-documenting proclivity to initiate and prolong puerile "pissing contests" on this board both annoying and inconsiderate to the membership - not to mention destructive of the purpose.
In my experience, individuals who feel a need to brag about their experience and accomplishments, when no one has expressed the slightest interest in them, generally have a grossly exaggerated sense of their expertise and competence.
For example, how is it that an umpire who has officiated over 3,000 games, some number of them perfectly, I might add, doesn't even know that 7.09(d) only applies to a batter, not a batter-runner? Perhaps the distinction is to fine for someone of your mental capacity (no offense intended toward the developmentally disabled). And, of course, a person would actually have to know how to read, which, based on your comments in this thread, is obviously not a strong suit of yours. I mean, everbody else on this thread understood what dacodee meant when he said, "My partner and I botched that one.", and you didn't.
I am neither intimidated nor impressed by your laughably juvenile attempts to bully and discredit me ("Mommy, mommy, CoachJM repeated somebody's grammar mistake on another thread..." (My apologies to the offended party; that was uncalled for on my part, and uncharitable at best)).
Have you gone off your meds again?
[/CONDESCENSION]
I could go on, but I've probably already taken up too much of everyone's time with this already. I do feel that Steve made a couple of valid points on this thread, which I believe I acknowledged. I have also seen him make good contributions on other threads on this board. I'm not sure what "set him off" on this thread, and I really don't give a flying f*^k.
And that's all the pissing I'm going to do in this contest.
JM
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