[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Boone

Peter, with all do respect, I wouldn't ever want to work with a partner who lets players continually draw lines on him.

Apparently you are missing the point. After a player draws a line, I now ring him up on strikes in which he hasn't a prayer in hitting - that's called SENDING A MESSAGE meaning I do not tolerate such behavior, but to keep you in the game I'll send you ONE message. BTW this MESSAGE is sent to both teams as F2 knows what you are doing. If you don't get the message then you can have a nice day.

In addition I said, use only in select leagues meaning HS Varsity level and higher not a 14 yr. old teenager so IMO you need to re-read what I said.

Since you are not familiar with the concept of Sending a Message I'll give you a perfect example of how it works.

I was umpiring a mens game and F1 had a real good hook that day. I called strike one on B1 right on the outside corner. B1 was fooled but said and pointed with his bat, "I would need a tree trunk to hit that one"

F2 (remember this is a mens league), set out some 4-5 feet outside and F1 threw it there 2 more times for a called strike 3. At that level EVERYONE knew what I was doing and guess what Not a peep from anybody the rest of the way.

The next time this batter came up he said to me "Blue can we start over" and I said sure.

Perhaps you only umpire youth leagues which is why you answer the way you did. There are other ways an umpire can handle certain situations without using an ejection and not allowing a player to show them up - Just ask the PROS Joe West comes to mind.

Regardless of what you think there are other ways to get your point across without ejecting someone.

Pete Booth