Even in that strange hierarchy, he has no business approaching you in such a manner. However, you guys need an official UIC for the league.

His reasoning for berating you is pretty bad too - I would NEVER explain things to an angry bunch of fans. I will ALWAYS explain things - BETWEEN INNINGS - to a fan that approaches politely at the scorekeeper's table (typically in my area about 15 yards from the fan mob) with a question. But it's not a requirement, and you should not be reprimanded for not interacting with fans. Especially angry fans.

What exactly does the UIC do? Does he get all umpires for the league? Is he the only one to get umpires? I think we need to get my league set up like all the other leagues in the area.

Explaining your call to fans
 

DG -
I'm curious why you would offer any type of explanation to the fans.

I don't think that is good advice to any umpire at any level. Don't converse with spectators. If you do, you are either looking for a pat on the back or a kick in the pants.

Make your ruling and if the coach needs and explanation, provide it and resume play. You can bet that the coach isn't going to stop his duties to explain the play to the fan, why would you?

In my area the UIC (me) is responsible for organizing the umpires, ensuring certifications (if necessary) are in order, scheduling (some areas have separate schedulers), fielding questions, complaints, etc from other board members (in my case, 4 league presidents and 4 player reps (these PR's are the people that players can go to with ANY problem anonymously, whether with a coach, the league, umpires, whatever ... 1 per league), as well as the district director (soon to be me as well)). The UIC is also responsible for training their umpires and holding clinics. I'm sure there are other duties out there that other UIC's do (or some that I do that I may have forgotten about). I also attend the tournaments to rule immediately on any protests or rules problems.

The Umpire In Charge defends the umpires and their calls to all the coaches.

Yes he assigns all the games to the umpires and leads them in training AND when the crap hits the fan, the UIC is the common umpire's champion.

He squashes Little League Presidents.;)

Alright, I will add another duty for myself next year. Hire myself for all games. Done! J/K. I will bring it up to the board and see what they think. I would like to get an impartial party to be the UIC so it isn't somebody's friend so they get all the games (myself included, I am good friends with the 1/2 pint coach so I got most of his games)

Sounds to me like you need another hobby, something easy, like fishing. If you are going to be everything in this league, except the league president, then you need to learn how to squash his crap when he brings it.

Re: Explaining your call to fans
 

Well first of all, I am assuming we are not dealing with a higher level game, since we are discussing the actions of a league president, which implies to me we are discussing some kind of spring/summer ball, ie Babe Ruth, Little League, Dixie Youth, etc. The players are probably young and the parents/fans and many of the coaches (not all) unfamiliar with all the rules. I don't see anything wrong with explaining a few basic rules to the fans, especially between innings and especially if asked in a nice way. I see this as being somewhat a normal person with normal interpersonal skills, not a stone wall that nobody can talk to.

I had a very nice lady ask me between innings last year about a call that happened in another game. I had just called a 3rd strike on a batter who swung at the pitch, but the catcher did not catch it. The catcher threw to first for the out. She asked if on a third strike call like that, and the catcher did not catch, did it have to be a swinging strike? Of course I say no. She says an umpire last week said it had to be swinging strike. I say "he was wrong". Nice conversation, a fan is educated, it cost me 30 seconds, but no game time, the pitcher was warming up.

I like the game, I like the players, I like most of the coaches and most of the fans. I call em like I see em and I don't mind spending a few seconds between innnings with the fans, especially if they want to talk to me in a nice way. I also know when not to talk to fans, not be available, not be anywhere near them. It's a helluva game...

deviation
 

sorry to deviate but this has happened before.

in a texas AABC leauge leauge presidents team playing on my feild half way through the game he decided to start telling me how to call the game(ie: mostly in his favor) after requesting him to return to his dugout he stated " i am the leauge president and you will do as i say or i will fire you and you will never work a game again" to which i told him he could take a walk for unsportsmanslike behavior. the next saturday he came up to me and proceded to try to rip me apart in front of the association. the monday after my UIC(lol) his son called me asked what happend then told me that he couldn't assign me anymore games and the leauge had forfeited my pay for the games i had done.

after this fun event i have one recomandation UIC's should be a person who is part of the leauge but not under the leauges control. my current leauge is a new usssa group converted from AABC. the UIC is basicaly what ever sucker can be conned into it. this has given us a variation in UICs but never the kind of trouble i had in texas.
just wanted to add to everyones horror stories

Re: deviation
 

What do you mean by "the league had forfeited my pay for the games I had done"? Do you mean they would not pay you? If so, good luck getting umpires when the rest of them hear about this. Do you have a small claims court in Texas?