You are not so much the victim of unknowing ball players and coaches as much as you are of unknowing umpires. If every umpire enforced deadball/liveball action the team would have known better.
Many umpires follow the practice the coach whined about, the pitcher makes the ball alive when he touches the rubber. In fact, in some areas and/or associations, it is the acceptable practice.
Very few umpires actually put the ball in play after each and every deadball situation. After playing games under those conditions, teams get used to those procedures.
I am one of those who insists on putting the ball in play after every single deadball. I cover that in my plate conference with the coaches so I get very few complaints when negating action that took place during a deadball.
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