You/I have a close play at first and call the B/R out. Here comes the Coach with a strange look on his face. It has always made me wonder what the coach was really after when the first words out of his mouth are:

“What did you see Blu?”

You/I think to yourself …. what did I see? … the same thing he saw … a close play at first …. my judgment said he was out so I whacked him ……

I always get an uneasy feeling in my stomach when the “what did you see” line comes out. What is it that he really wants to hear? Often, no matter what is said the coach seems to be looking for a word or words from you that he can argue over.

On a pure judgement call, what do you think the coach is really after when he uses the “what did you see line”?

What reaction should you/I have when we honestly say … “we had a close play at first and in my judgment … he was out ” isn’t good enough.

What else is there to say ????

This is a setup - don't bite! Answer with "You know what I saw skip - what did YOU see?"

Let him talk for 20 seconds or so, then decide how to finish the conversation.

Rule 1 of Game Management: The person asking questions is in control. socal handled it well. I usually tell them what I saw and then ask the question, because it never hurts to tell them something they didn't know. "Skip, your boy was off the bag. Did you see him come down and miss the base?"

I close my eyes and imagine Don Knotts as an umpire making a whacker call and then having a coach come out to argue. Man would that be a funny scene!

He would no doubt tell the coach to "nip it, nip it in the bud!!! Take a lock!!!"

From Barney to Limpit to Furley, we will all miss you, Don:(

First, RIP Barney Fife.

Next, I work both sides of the aisle, so as a manager I ALWAYS ask the umpire what he had on this play. ALWAYS. It's courteous, not confrontational and informative.

I encourage managers to do the same with me. I've got no problem telling anyone what I saw. 9 times out of 10 it will end a conversation right there.

"I had the perfect angle to see the ball picked up just before your runner hit the bag. Anything else?"

Generally, "what did you see?" is the first thing I ask a coach when they come out. I don't have a problem answering that question, it's either, "I saw him out", or "I saw him safe".

You'd be surprised how many times you can ask the coach what he saw and find out he didn't even see the play. Which makes for a very quick conversation, our ultimate goal.

Bob P.

<b>Don Knotts has passed away today.</b>

Yes. Don Knotts and two other appealing actors, Dennis Weaver and Darren McGavin, died over the past few days, all three at age 81.

Once a batter hit a roller about 5 feet up the 1B line, and the catcher picked it up 6 inches foul. "Foul," I call. As I'm getting back to my position, the coach, who was in the 3B box, asked, "Blue! Was that ball on the foul side of the line?"

I almost answered, "Yes," but instead I did something out of character and said, "No, coach. It was on the fair side of the line. I just felt like calling it foul."

The opposing coach said, loud enough for me but not the 3B coach to hear, "Gotta love ya, Blue."

An oldie but a goodie!:D

<b>Hey hey Hugh Hugh get off McCloud.</b>

You are hereby sentenced to death.

Hugh Hefner will be 81 in April 2007. Hmmmm.

[Edited by greymule on Feb 28th, 2006 at 03:18 PM]