[UmpJM]

bobby,

I was taught that at the plate conference, the PU/UIC does all the talking. His partners confine themselves to introducing themselves and, after the PU has finished coverng ground rules, saying "No" when he asks them if they have any questions. So, that's pretty much what I do.

I'm curious why you didn't just bring this up with the PU prior to the coaches arriving at the plate for the plate conference and asking him to address it with them. Seems like a lot of this unpleasantness, unnecessary delay, and damage to the credibility of the crew's authority could have been avoided if you had.

Perhaps you didn't notice the buckets and coaches out of the dugout prior to the plate conference, maybe they waited to come out until you were already engaged in the conference, maybe your practice is different. For whatever reason, you find yourself in the situation where your partner has contradicted your legitimate instruction to the coach.

I think I would have gone to talk to my partner and asked him if he recalled the instruction given during the plate conference and if he realized I had just instructed the coach to get in the dugout. Then, I'd try to convince my partner that we needed to be on the same page and that the best page would be to get the coaches in the dugout like they're supposed to be by rule.

If he found me unpersuasive, I would drop it and take it up with the assignor after the game.

JM