[IceGator8]

Worked an MSBL game last night on the bases. My partner is around fifty and has been officiating for quite a while. Unfortunately his mechanics have deteriorated to the point where his strike zone is suffering.

In the second inning he calls a high strike three. Batter and bench are all over him. Batter is openly hostile arguing toe to toe at the plate. Bench is going nuts. Plate ump allows the arguing. When I hear, "that's horse#$%" come from the bench I draw the line and tell them to knock it off. Being that I was the base ump I didn't want to be the one ejecting for arguing balls and strikes. However, had I been behind the plate I would have ejected the batter for sure and quite possibly the person in the dugout screaming about horse excrement.

Things simmer down a bit but three innings later a similar call sets the batter and his team off again. This time my partner finally gets around to warning them. Again, the arguing should have warranted an ejection.

Bottom of the ninth and the same team is trying to even up the score. Batter goes 0-2. Third pitch is a check swing. Partner comes to me and I signal out. All hell breaks loose. Batter comes down the line and I chuck him. Father of one of the players sitting behind home plate comes unglued (these players are all over 25) and starts screaming profanities and plate ump finally gets off his duff and tosses him. In the meantime I'm dealing with the bench threatening that one of them is next to go if they can't figure out how to be quiet. The result of another ejection would be a forfeit as they only had nine players left.

Anyway, the team calms down and ties the game. We go two more innings in this four hour marathon with the other team winning by one.

One of the problems with this league is that the same group of umps work the games year in and year out and become chummy with the teams. This makes it rough for some of the umps to dispense punishment when it's warranted. I believe that this is the case with what happened in the game. Plate ump, in an effort to be all things to all people, compromised his ability to do some of the less than pleasant functions of his job. His inability to nut it up in the second inning caused the huge problem in the bottom of the ninth and made it so I had to do his job for him.

What have we learned from this incident?

1. While it's ok for umps to be friendly with the teams this warm relationship should not compromise your ability to do your job.

2. By being too lax in your responsibiities you make it tough on the next group of officials who have a more normal view on rule enforcement and do not give the same lattitude.