[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by lawump

For what its worth, the pro school mechanic (as of 1997) is the following: If you know that the coach/manager is out at the mound solely to get an opportunity to "discuss" things with you, the plate umpire, should go out to the mound immediately and, in the words of Mills Lane, "get it on".

I don't mean that you go out there and initiate the arguing. But you do go out there immediately and "get it over with" and let him make his first comment to you. You then either (1) warn him or (2) eject him (depending on the severity of the first comment).

If you warn, then if he gives one more non-personal comment as he's heading back to the dugout (such as "bear down") then you let it go and get the game started. If he continues the discussion (especially if its about balls and strikes) and does not head back to the dugout then toss him.

One other comment: I NEVER start returning to the plate until the coach leaves the mound. Why? You're out there to break up a conference...you don't leave until the conference is broken up. Nothing looks more foolish than an umpire going out to the mound, and coming back to the plate area only to have the coach still talking to his pitcher.

In your case You should give him the warning and stay put. Don't be agressive, but don't back down by walking away. If he starts walking to his dugout, then you go back to the plate. If he then deviates from his course toward the dugout to come back and resume talking with you at the plate: toss him. If he continues to yell at you as he's walking to the dugout, toss him if appropriate. In otherwords, ANY time I go to break up a mound conference, I'm the last one to leave (except when a coach decides to bring in a new pitcher).

I agree with almost everything you say here. The one thing I'm not sure about is allowing the coach to tell you to "bear down." To me, depending on how audible this comment was, would be grounds for ejection. If it was said louder than under his breath, I would dump him. Steve Garvey earned his one and only ML ejection for telling Charlie Williams to "bear down." I don't know about you, but I never cared much for coaches who tried to tell me how to umpire.