"Help" Plays

[BlueLawyer]

Originally Posted by mbyron

To answer an early question in this thread: when coach asks you "why can't he get help?" after you've told him that it's your partner's call (or yours, or whatever), tell him: "Coach, that's the two umpire system, and I don't have time to explain it to you right now. If you would like to read the manual, I can give you a reference after the game."

He might whine that it's not in the rulebook (which was likely where the original question was going anyway). You can tell him that there's a lot more to both umpiring and coaching than just knowing the rules.

The last time I tried to explain mechanics to a coach during a game, I almost had to dump him, so I have given up on that. I now quietly take the "You weren't in the right position to make that call" crap as long as it is brief and not personally disrespectful, tell the coach thank you, and go on about my business.

The two-man (no sexism intended) system is limited, and we all know that. I am going to miss some things in the two man system, period. It is amazing what another pair of eyes on the field does to improve the quality of umpiring for everybody. Hopefully, if you follow the Nauert/PBUC model, two sets of eyes will rarely be in the same place, especially after the ball is hit.

Strikes and outs!