I had the plate for a 13 year old Ruth game this year. There was this "fan" who did not heckle us the umpires but heckled players from BOTH teams. Finally around the 3rd inning I had enough. I called time, walked over to the stands (there was only stands on 1 side, so both teams fans were on the same side- another potential pblm) and I looked right at him and said "sir, These kids are here to learn, encouragement is fine, but stop what you are doing right now or I will stop this game and ask someone to call the local police and remove you from the stands". The others in the stands started clapping and the guy actually stopped. I have to admit that I was lucky and it could have gotten uglier, but sometimes it you let that out of control fan know that he/she is acting like a jerk, they MAY stop. What I still can't figure out is why nobody in the stands or either coach stood up for there sons and told this guy to shut up !
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