WORST THINGS YOU'VE SEEN AN UMPIRE DO

[jason181988]

I saw an umpire call an out after a foul ball ricocheted off the back screen and the catcher caught it.

[lds7199]

Game on a field with bases that were easily dislodged. Coach asks the umpire what his players needed to do if the base moved. The response "They better get on it." Coach, "What if it slides all the way to the fence?" Blue, "They better get on it." The sad thing is, the guy was serious.

[jicecone]

I had been officiating for about 5 years and was attending my son Varsity HS game.They were beating the first place team. Bott. of seventh. They had bases loaded with two outs. Ball is hit to F4 who is back peddling to make the catch in the air of a short fly ball. As F4 is about to catch the ball, he falls backwards, gloves the ball, hits the ground and drops the ball. BU rules that F4 had possession long enough for an out.

I very emphatically encouraged my son's team to get on the bus.

[akalsey]

Popup right over the plate. Umpire pulls his mask off by the harness with his right hand. The catcher catches the ball and when the ump hammers the out, his mask swings up and smacks him in the teeth.

[Macaroo]

PU getting frustrated that JV players weren't keeping shirts tucked in. He tells new batter to step back and tuck his shirt in. Then, he directs F1 to pitch while the kid is tucking in. Calls pitch a strike. Everyone else involved is dumbstruck, except for offensive manager who is loudly expressing his objection to this bush maneuver.

Well, he says, bet they'll keep their shirts in from now on. PU's windshield was shattered soon after by a foul ball. Priceless.

[Blue37]

I am fortunate that the fields I work do not have mirrors. I have done most of the worst things that have happened in my games, but at least I did not have to see myself do them.

I will share one of them. It was a regular season game between two private high schools who are always in contention for the State title. It was the 3rd game of a three game set, and they had split the two previous games. The winner got the Regional championship.

The visiting team was batting in the top of the 5th. They led 2 to 1 and had R1 with no outs. The runner broke for 2nd, the batter squared to bunt, and the pitcher threw a fastball high and tight. The batter bailed and the catcher missed the pitch. The backstop is bricked up about three feet, then is screened. I heard the ball hit brick. As I cleared the catcher, I glanced at the runner and saw him cruise into 2nd. The catcher turned and caught the ball as it rebounded back toward us. I could tell from the arc that the ball hit the edge of the bricks and was probably cut pretty bad. I called time and asked for the ball. The catcher looked at me as if I was an idiot (he was right), then fired the ball to 1st base in time for the 1st baseman to tag R1 who thought the ball had been popped up and was returning to 1st. In my haste to prove I was an umpire who was on top of things and was aware of the posibility of a cut ball, I deprived the defense of the opportunity to get an out.

The worst I have seen was in a HS regional last year. The home team was ranked #1 in the state and the visiting team was ranked in the top 10. The visiting team had runners at 1st and 3rd with one out. I'm at A. The runner from 1st went on a hit and run. The batter swung and missed and his momentum carried him across the plate where he hit the catcher so hard he almost fell. I waited for the interference call, but it never came. The coach came out and discussed the play with my partner, then returned to the dugout. The two runs eventually scored and the visiting team won the game. After the game, my partner explained he did not call interference because "you cannot have interference without a throw".

[tjones1]

Originally posted by Tim C
I had a partner once quit umpiring in the middle of a play.

No call. Just walked off the field.

Bad day?

Originally posted by Blue37

After the game, my partner explained he did not call interference because "you cannot have interference without a throw".

And you said??

[Daryl H. Long]

This is grusome but actually happened. It happened many years ago when many fences did not have the protective equipment on top of the chain link fences.

My partner, plate umpire made the call but I did talk him into reversing it, which he did so reluctantly. Maybe the threats of bodily harm coming from players of both team and the commissioner of the league had more to do with it than me.

Men's over 30 league. Bases loaded bottom of 7th inning,2 outs, with home team at bat down 5-2. Batter hits a towering fly ball toward left-center field. Center fielder runs to fence (10 ft high) and climbs up it. At the top he slips but the wires protruding up on top of the fence tear into his right bicep (also this is his glove hand) and he is just hanging there. The ball goes into the mitt. Another player had to climb up to raise him aff the fence so he could return to the ground.

My partner ruled that since the fielder was also touching the out of play side of the homerun fence that he was in dead ball area and awarded a home run.

Call was reversed to award the catch. Even the team that came out on the losing end afterward were in complete agreement it was a catch.

[Edited by Daryl H. Long on Mar 25th, 2005 at 01:32 AM]

[cowbyfan1]

The worst I have seen was a kid trying to steal third on a full count. Ball 4 calls the plate umpire. Catcher throws to 3rd. Out calls the field ump. The offensive team correctly comments that he should not be out as it was ball 4. The plate ump says since he was trying to steal he is out. After a little bit of time the plate ump realizes he is wrong but to correct it he said the batter that just walk will lead off the next inning.

Needless to say, that was the last game the plate ump worked for the league. The field ump was a teen just learning so he was given a lesson and a pass on it. He has turned into a pretty good ump since then.

[gobama84]

This happened when I was BU about a week ago. 2nd year PU. Bottom of 1st. No runners. No outs. Ball 4 is a wild pitch that goes to the backstop. As the batter-runner starts sprinting to 1st, the catcher asks PU for time which he grants. 1B Coach tells runner to go to 2nd and that PU can't call time with the ball at the backstop. I had to put the player back on 1st. I knew it was going to be a long day.

[my3sons]

The worst thing I have seen an umpire do is critize another official in public or in private for that matter. I think that far outways any mistake made on the field, because most of the mistake made on the field where learned from someone else.

[David B]

Originally posted by my3sons
The worst thing I have seen an umpire do is critize another official in public or in private for that matter. I think that far outways any mistake made on the field, because most of the mistake made on the field where learned from someone else.

Learned from someone else???

Don't think there's much merit there. I remember after playing ball for 12 years and starting to umpire - I learned that I didn't know a whole lot about the game.

But, that's why we have rule books.

After reading it I learned that I didn't know much about the game afer all.

I don't learn much from others mistakes unless it is discussed in a meeting or forum where the rules can be discussed, and then applied.

And then I'm not going to pay much attention to another umpire unless he's proven himself and has my respect as a fine umpire,

but I learn a lot from my OWN mistakes.

That makes me get in the book and read so I won't make the same mistake again.

Thanks
David

[ChrisSportsFan]

Please don't ask me why I did this but; no one on and no outs. Ground ball to 2nd baseman, I curled inside the bag so far that I had to duck the throw. Luckily the 2nd baseman made the throw and 1st baseman was able to make the catch.

[Tim C]

"The worst thing I have seen an umpire do is critize another official in public or in private for that matter. I think that far outways any mistake made on the field, because most of the mistake made on the field where learned from someone else."

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The general errors I see on the field (and also on sites such as this) are not learned behavior.

Most umpire errors come from failing to understand what is happening around them and how it can (does) impact the game.

The ONLY way an umpire can learn is to be criticized. Nothing is worth doing unless it is worth measuring. Evaluation and a critical review are parts of growing, it may not be trendy to disagree with you but I do.

[Lawrence_Dorsey]

I would agree with Tee. Rarely do I have a partner or a trusted observer come to me after a game with criticism, be it constructive or otherwise. Last year I was fortunate enough to work a couple of games with my UIC for American Legion in my area. He gave me several things to think about. The same thing occurred when I worked a Legion game with a NCAA umpire. I know that I improved in the areas they mentioned and I didn't take it the wrong way.

We all need input (call it criticism or advice) because none of us are as good as we could be. In other words, we should all be looking to get better and the input from partners can only help.

Lawrence