What I learned this week (Part 2)

[Tim C]

Everything in this post happened as described.

Over the years I have always intoned that not only does no umpire have the legal right to overrule a partner's call I have also questioned "what makes what YOU saw more correct than what your partner saw (called)?"

So Friday I had the following:

My plate umpire is working his final plate game of his 55 year career. Even though he is 70 years old he is in great condition and always gets ANYWHERE he is supposed to be . . . example, in the third inning I had a trouble ball and went out, when I turned to follow the flight of the ball back into the infield the PU was perched perfectly in the cut out at second waiting for the play.

So in two innings he made the following calls:

Team at bat down by 4 runs with the bases loaded and two out.

Count is 1 and 2 on the 4th place hitter.

F1 throws a curve that "looks" like it catches the heart of the plate and is a belt high from my vantage point in "C".

"Ball" is the call, F2's shoulders drops and F1 returns to the mound as he has walked about 5 steps towards the third base dugout.

I figger, "hmmm, I must have had a bad angle!"

Next pitch, same pitch, same location and same call.

"Ball".

This time there is an explosion in the visiting team dugout including a few "Jesus Christs, call the dam zone" and a few more strongly invective comments.

F1 toes the rubber, throws a straight fast ball which is pounded into oblivion about 425 feet away for a Grand Salamie . . . Game tied.

More screaming from the visitor bench.

Next batter steps in and doubles. I move into "C".

Next batter comes to the plate:

Slow curve ball is hanging inside (to a RH Hitter) and the batter turns his left should down and towards the plate. I hear what appears to be the ball nicking that lead shoulder (remember this position it becomes important).

PU yells "Time" -- that is a strike -- IT HIT THE BAT." Remember the position he was in --

Batter then doubles on the next pitch.

I admit I am now scratching my head as I move to "C".

NEXT BATTER -- lefthanded hitter and I watch as a ball sails in over his head. As he ducks he leaves the bat up and the ball appears to me to brush the bat.

As the PU's hands fly up I also throw my hands up before I can react he says "TAKE YOUR BASE" --

As the visiting coach comes flying out of the dugout the PU puts up the "STOP" sign and the coach retreats.

PU says, "it hit him on the top of the helmet!"

Now let's fast forward to the very next inning with the visitors at bat.

R2 and R3 . . . one out.

2 Ball and 2 Strike Count.

Curve ball in the dirt.

Batter appears to have a checked/unchecked swing issue (not really more to follow) and as the catcher blocks the ball and it rolls up the first base line the batter fails to run (actually he was looking for a sign from the coach at third base coaching box when the PU says",

"Yes, he went!"

Runner gets about two steps out of the box when F2 throws to first.

Then the visitor coach yells, "You gotta get help on that call!"

PU THEN GOES TO ME (yes, after calling it a strike) and the coach yells,

"Not NOW you idiot . . . you already called it a strike!"

So you might ask a few of questions:

On the two pitches he called "balls" what made my view from "C" better than his? -- can't answer that. I just know what I saw.

You might ask did I go in and offer help on the two calls of "Foul" and "HBP" -- well, I did get to a position and caught his eye. We don't have secret signals if I have more information and he didn't ask . . . so no, I didn't actually offer help.

You might also ask did I tell any bench peronel or coaches to quiet down when they went after my partner? . . . answer again is no. I have always been taught to let the umpire involved handle his own battles . . . the only time I get involved with pre-ejection activity is if a pitcher or infielder is going over-board in a criticism of my PU when I am in "B" or "C".

So there you have it . . .

I think I totally screwed up in letting my partner CONTINUE to make calls that appaeared to be incorrect . . . yet if I would have involved myself I would be posting that I stuck my nose where it didn't belong.

OK. I'm done feeling sorry for myself.


[Edited by Tim C on Apr 26th, 2005 at 03:02 PM]

[DownTownTonyBrown]

Originally posted by Tim C
...I think I totally screwed up in letting my partner CONTINUE to make calls that appaeared to be incorrect . . . yet if I would have involved myself I would be posting that I stuck my nose where it didn't belong.

I think you did just fine, Tim and wouldn't have expected anything else. They weren't your calls to correct. Despite catching his eye, your partner never asked for help. But because there was eye contact made, he should have known that you had additional information.

I refer to your earlier premises
...I have always intoned that not only does no umpire have the legal right to overrule a partner's call. I have also questioned "what makes what YOU saw more correct than what your partner saw (called)?"

If you had gotten involved in any different manner, there likely would have been two poor looking officials instead of just one... perhaps some ejections... perhaps that police escort.

In any call that is potentially controversial in my mind, and for which I'm not contentedly confident, my first act is to find my partner and make that very eye contact to which you spoke. If my partner is not looking at me, I'm on my own. If eye contact is made, I know in that brief tenth of a second that he has some information for me. Now I decide, ask him, or make the call.

Last game on the plate for this gentleman and what you describe as several blatantly wrong calls, perhaps he was just trying to make some final points to a certain coach. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

[mbyron]

Two comments:

1. If this had been a rookie doing exactly the same things, how would you have acted differently?

2. Perhaps this is a case of age turning a great umpire into a good umpire. Memento mori.

[Striker991]

WTF?

Everytime you get the hairs on the back of my neck to just about stand straight up (What I learned this week (Part 1)), you come up with a post like this and I have to respect you all over again.

1. You practice what you preach. When I work with a new umpire, I always mention in our private pre-game that I will NEVER overturn his calls, and he will NEVER overturn mine. We may meet and discuss new information provided by a partner, but the ump that started making the call, finishes making the call, period. And, help must be solicited and not offered, especially publicly on the field, without solicitation. Part of my training on this point has come directly from you and the sharing of your experiences.

2. You showed the utmost respect to a senior umpire that deserves it...maybe not this game, but because of his work during his long career in umpiring. That (I can't believe I'm saying this to Tee) took a lot of humility.

Striker