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.

[mcrowder]

I have two. Not sure which was worse, probably the second of these.

#1 - Female partner, first time I'd ever worked with her, but I was told she taught clinics for both softball and baseball. Seemed very professional at first. At some point in the game, the pitch comes bouncing in on a swinging strike three, and the catcher fields it cleanly. Batter takes off. F2 throws it into right field, but PU is screaming "Batter's out, batter's OUT!!!"

Coach comes to me, and I direct him to her, but trail a bit - and keeping the assistant coach out of the discussion. Finally the coach says, "Well, then, I protest." PU says, "You can protest from the F'ing parking lot, cause you're gone!" So I step in, and pull partner aside. I start with explaining that we need to log the protest, or we could just correct this on the spot, since it was obviously a dropped third strike. She argues (with me, and loudly now) that since the catcher caught it cleanly, it wasn't "dropped". Then points at me and says, "Get your @$$ back to your position or I'll call the rest of this on my own."

Pretty bad - eventually had to replay the whole game over when all was said and done. Never saw her again.

2nd sitch:

Redneck moron know-it-all OOO on the bases. Game is tight, late, bases loaded, 2 outs. Pop up to F4. High enough that batter was almost to 2nd when it was about to be caught. Fans on that side all yell "DROP IT!!!", and F4 does. 4 runs score before the dust settles. BU then starts yelling for "Interference" on the offense, nullifying the run. As coach is arguing, I overhear that my partner is calling this "Fan Verbal Interference". OMG.

[jumpmaster]

Mcrowder - where are you located? You have now posted two examples of very third world plays that occurred in my association in the last 3 years.

[mcrowder]

I'm in Northwest Dallas.

[Blue37]

Originally Posted by orangeump

very well put!!!

I dont mind the insane plays as much as I mind the guys who want to gloat about a big game they work or about how they try to work with younger officials to mentor them (they do this by simply saying "I am working the bases with a second year ump" or "last year in a regional game, number one ranked team in the state against another top ten team, I had first.") Do they know for a fact that the people working these games dont read this?

I know I would love to wake up, come on here and see my partner for that game absolutely thrashing me and my horrible call. In fact the call was so bad that he called it the worst call he has ever seen!!

Dont tell me that "those guys will never know it was their game" most of you post your real names and the game situations are so specific and so absurd that it can only be a handful of games, EVER!

Thanks!

Orangeump,

The scream of pain you heard was me reacting to having my toes trampled. Sometimes I do get caught up in ego games and think I need to toot my own horn. Thanks for the reminder!!!

Also, thanks for pointing out that I should be more mindful of the feelings of others. I will be more careful with the details I provide, so the identities of those involved in any situation are not revealed.