I copied this from the softball board. I summed it up below to see if people would handle this differently in baseball as opposed to softball. Here is the link if you want to see the whole thread. http://www.officialforum.com/thread/13992

I would not automatically eject an assistant for arguing a call. I treat anybody who come to me the same.

But back to your question; if my partner were double teamed by two coaches, what I would do depends on my partner. If he is a seasoned veteran I would expect him to handle it, and I would not intervene. If we was a new guy learning the ropes, I would come to his aid. It might take a moment or two for me to arrive because I want to see how he is going to handle it first. I am not going to come "charging in to the rescue" because you gotta learn sometime. He may handle it just fine and don't need my help. Or he may look at me when I arrive with that "help me" look, and I will.

I was thinking more than just arguing, in my mind I had the assistant coach up in my face yelling at me. If the manager was yelling at me, I would try to calm him down. But I would just eject the assistant if he were in the same spot.

Some of my fellow umpires feel the same way about assistants. I know this from previous posts. I treat them all like people and eject the ones that say the magic words.

Whoa, wait a minute!

You said the DEFENSIVE coaches were barking at you. That means they came out of the dugout, instead of the coaching boxes. One has to go no matter what. Two coaches coming out of a dugout to double team an umpire cannot be allowed. I'd point to one, and tell him to stay put, but if he insists he's gone.

If I'm on the bases in situation, I'll chase the non-manager stepping out of the dugout by whatever means needed. No way he's getting to my partner. No way.

Oh yeah, and nobody yells at me on a baseball field and stays in the game. Nobody.

The assistant coach's job is to retrieve equipment between innings, say "hum baby", and tell runners to turn left. I'm not having a prolonged conversation with an assistant just so I can repeat myself with the manger/head coach.

I expect my partners to pick one of the coaches (the assistant, most importantly) off if two were to doubleteam me. This is part of the job description. If you're going to leave two coaches with one umpire while you stand in the outfield and pick your nose, then I'd rather earn both checks and leave you at home.

I wouldn't be in the outfield and I would expect the PU to get rid of one or both of them pretty quickly. If he don't, like I said, I will be there to help. Your opinion of assistants is pretty consistent, and I don't share it.

[Edited by DG on Jun 6th, 2004 at 09:25 AM]

I can't imagine I'd ever let it get to that point. An umpire has got to be aware of the situation at hand. If this guy let two coaches approach him from the dugout and didn't have the presence of mind to stop both of them before they even got to him, he already has screwed the situation up.

I'd stop them before they even got to me, put up the stop sign and order the assistant back to dugout and the tone of my voice would leave no doubt I meant it. If the assistant continued to try and advance, he'd be restricted to the dugout immediately in NFHS or tossed otherwise. Then I would be happy to discuss it with the manager.

If I did get into situation you described above, I would say to the assistant, "YOU! Back to the dugout now or your gone, I'll discuss this with the manager." If he doesn't turn and walk away, he's gone.

My opinion is an overexaggeration, but intentionally so to prove a point. The head coach is the only one that is traditionally allowed to leave his position to discuss a call on the field. If an assistant starts, I'll simply say, "If the head guy wants to come out and talk, I'll be glad to talk to him." I'll be cordial and polite, but I will also eject an assistant coach (especially in summer ball) very quickly if he doesn't understand me and continues arguing.

Not all coaches are equal -- that's why there is one head coach and multiple assistants.

Something i pre-game with my partners...

When talking to a coach and u need help put ur hands on ur hips and and tug on ur belt and I'll be right over.

In my experience.
 

I have made this point very clear over the years. Assistants are to be seen and not heard. I do not respond to Asst. unless they are asking questions in a calm tone and demeanor or they are calling time out for their players. There job is to never argue directly with me. At least not in HS and college games. Most coaches understand this very well.

I had a situation earlier this year where a batter let the ball hit him (a very slow curve ball) so he could go to first. This happen about 2 other times and was very clear that this team was taught this. And after this situation, my partner said to me but I did not hear the kid, said the batter said, "they teach us to do that." But just as I ruled that the batter was to stay at home, I had both coaches start at me. I simply pointed to the Assistant Coach while looking at the Head Coach and said, "why is he talking?" The Assistant Coach got the message and went right back to where he was. The Head Coach continued to argue, which I had not problem with. He did make a comment to me that got him restricted to the dugout during that same conversation. But that was the only blow up and not another incident happen during the game. Now this was a Varsity game, so I am it is clear to me that the coaches understand this procedure or practice very well. This has nothing to do with treating them like human beings or not treating them like human beings. The coaches have a pecking order. And the rules back this up. Actually that is the case in all sports I officiate. The HC has rights that the Assistants never have. But it is very rare that I ever have assistants complain about anything. Mainly I see this is they understand their roles and understand how umpires are going to handle them when they start to complain.

Peace