So ya had a bad day...
 

Anybody watching the Braves/Padres game. Quite entertaining. Bruce Dreckman has run Bruce Bochy and bench coach Tony Muser of the Padres, and Jeff Francour and Bobby Cox of the Braves.

If you didn't see it, be sure to watch Sports Center or Baseball Tonight, they'll show it.

Deservedly? Have they been giving him crap, or do we have an OOO?

Dreckman and Hickox screwed up a call big time. Obvious swing by Chipper Jones called a ball by Dreckman, appealed to Hickox at 3rd, who said no swing. Chipper had already started to the Braves dugout, knowing full well it was an obvious attempt (he nearly spun out of his shoes on the check swing attempt). Bochy and the bench justifiably erupted. It was a brutal call. I've never seen a worse 'no swing' call on a check swing.

Dreckman went ballistic, charging the Padres bench. He had his hat in his right hand, his mask in his left. He looked deranged and red-faced, nearly foaming at the mouth and screaming. Then he tossed Bochy with a sweeping left arm (mask in hand). Then Tony Muser got in his face, and he got tossed. Then Bochy got his money's worth, and Dreckman tossed him again. Darling came down to try to keep Bochy away from Dreckman, 'cuz I think Bochy might have decked him if he didn't.

Then the next inning, Francour did not hold up on a check swing for strike 3. Josh Bard, the Padres catcher pulled the ball out of his glove and showed it to Dreckman, who at the same time was signaling "Foul Tip." Francour questioned it, started to walk away, turned back and said something, then said something else, then Bang-Zoom, he gets chucked. Then the ejection leader among active managers came out and argued, threw down his batting order cards, and got tossed for that.

Dreckman had a weird zone the whole day as well. Calling strikes balls, balls strikes, just had a bad day all around.

Well, I didn't have as bad of day, but...

I failed to eat properly pregame or inbetween games, and just totally "bonked" the second game. It was hot, but I think I was just malnourished. Was working the bases, so it didn't help that I was having to run around.

Bad day all around I guess!

I just saw the replay....don't know what the problem was with Franceour....even if it wasn't a foul tip, he definitely didn't check the swing either.

And if you think Bruce had a bad day, check out the Tampa-Anaheim highlights and see what Marty Foster had to deal with.

Actually, I didn't give Bobby Cox proper billing. He is the third most ejected manager in baseball history, just behind John McGraw and Leo Durocher. It's hard to believe he's ahead of immortals like Weaver, Martin, and Pinella.

my car said it was 102 degrees before starting the second game of a 1-man double header. i probably shouldnt have even checked that before i headed back to the field.

I was doing the championship game of a AA(double-A) USSSA world series today. One of the coaches was a real prick and saying crap all game (just smart-a$$ stuff that pisses you off). I had finally heard enough about the strike zone in the 4th inning (they were getting beat 10-0...I guess it was my fault), so I told him that enough and I didn't want to hear any more. He ignored me and I said it again. Then he made a hand gesture by putting his hand on his hear being a smart-a$$ and acting like he wasn't hearing me. I dumped him, the crowd went nuts. It was one of those fields were the dads of lil Johnny can get right behind the backstop and act like they are umpires. They were literally screaming at me (nothing derogatory) calling me "Hollywood" and stupid $hit. I just ignored them...team loses 10-2 after 4 innings...1 hr. 10 min. I take it to the house, while the dads of the losing team came up to me when I was walking out telling me how much I sucked and stuff. I ignored them. Now, I know the professional thing to do is ignore the fans at all costs, but I know many guys who at youth stuff like this will actually acknowledge the fans and dump them just like they were coaches. Did I do the right thing by ignoring them? My thinking is if I acknowledge them, it will just get worse.

If you've got fans pulling this crap right behind the backstop you should suspend the game and have the tournament director deal with it. Get their butts moved away from the backstop if they can't act like civilized adults.


Tim.

if they are on the other side of the fence, i do not care who they are, what they are doing, etc...until it becomes a threat to the players or myself. ive read on here and some other forums about fans throwing chairs on the field and stuff like that, which cannot be tolerated. some knucklehead standing behind the dugout saying "that pitch is right there" on every pitch can be ignored. i think you did the right thing.

if you acknowledge them, then they got you. they know you are hearing what they are saying, and they know they are under your skin. you are right in most cases that it will only get worse

If this was a championship game, wasn't there anybody there supervising the game, such as a director? I would not let the daddies stand directly behind the backstop if there were no bleachers there. They can't just stand there and critique your zone all afternoon. They have bleachers available, so that's where I tell them to go. This is my only exception for dealing directly with the fans, when there isn't anyone in charge, and people are standing right behind the backstop being asses when there are no bleachers set up.

You did the right thing by walking past them to your car and not saying anything to them. If you just keep going, they will be less likely to try to follow you to the parking lot. All bets are off if they try that crap.

Brian:

I agree with you if the spectators are just being ugly in the stands where they belong. When they stand behind the backstop and start in then it becomes disruptive not only to us, but to the players as well. I'm not talking about a little innocuos comment or two, I'm talking about being seriously abused verbally. Stop the game and get them moved away from the backstop.


Tim.

I had my bad day earlier in the week. The resulting suspensions are as follows:

Player 1: 1 Game- Ejection in the last 2 innings
1 Game- 2nd ejection of the season
1 Game- Throwing ball out of the field of play.
1 Game- Not leaving field/spectators area immediately
3 Games- Verbal abuse and/or threats off the playing field.
10 Games- Abuse of umpire - intimidation.

Player 2: 1 Game- Ejection in the last 2 innings
1 Game- Not leaving field/spectators area immediately
3 Games- Verbal abuse and/or threats off the playing field

Player 3: 3 Games- Verbal abuse and/or threats off the playing field.

It sounds like Player 1 was having the big-time bad day!

One question: What is so special about the last 2 innings of a game that warrants a 1 game suspension?

There was a director there, but he was not the ideal director and had no balls. There were a couple of ejections and problems with rules throughout the tournament and the dude was nowhere to be found. There were bleachers on each side. Do you think it's best to get them moved from behind the backstop before the game starts? I mean, there are dads with chairs lined up before every game right behind the freakin backstop. This pisses me off and on a few occasions, I haven't ejected, but I have just simply moved them down the base lines because I was fed up with it. They weren't bad until I dumped the coach, and then every strike I called they were screaming bloody murder. I didn't get pissed, I was just laughing under my mask and not acknowledging a thing they said. Sometimes I think this pisses them off more than having them move or ejecting them. I just wish i had a veteran there working with me to see how he would have handled it.

I take great pride and pleasure from completely ignoring the fans. I also take great pride and pleasure in setting a dumb-a$$ coach straight early in the game, and if he doesn't get the clue dump him. I have never had a word to say to a dumb-a$$ fan after the game.

One mistake, you told him you did not want to hear any more, he ignored you and you warned again. There should be no such thing as two warnings, the first is a warning, the second is a dump, otherwise the first warning meant nothing.

I'm sorry, I typed it wrong. When I told the coach that it was enough and he ignored me, I meant that he didn't pay any attention to me when I said it so I repeated myself, and that's when he put his hand over his ear and I dumped him. I didn't mean he ignored me and kept saying crap about my strike zone. That's my fault, I should have made that more understandable.

Certainly, I believe their is a place and time to shut fans up. If you just stand there, sometimes other fans think that the offending fan's behavior is acceptable and will go unpunished. If the TD is there, I may give him a slight point in between innings if he is within sight of me. If he comes over, I'll tell him very nondiscretely (keeping my mask on).

If there is no TD, these fans, IMO, need to be shut up. I don't mind taking typical crap all game long, but sometimes when you just take the crap, it leads to worse things and actions from fans. I want to prevent that at all costs, for the sanctity of the game I am working.

I realize my authority lies on the field side of the fence. I don't get involved with fans. I have never seen a situation made better by an umpire getting involved with fans.

Varsity HS game, big rivalry between the 2 teams, student fans of home team start yelling increasingly obnoxious things to visiting defense, then at visiting teams parents. Said parents complaining, and slightly yelling back. Things are starting to boil over, so between innings, Pu partner and I talk to home coach, describe the 3 main student troublemakers, ask him to settle things down--that we werent going to stand for this kind of fan display-- he sends a parent to sit in the same student area--calms things down.
2 innings later, it starts up again(where was parent??). We explain to home coach that unless he had those 3 leave the field/park immediately, that the game was delayed, maybe a "possible" forfeit- coach was very angry at us, as his was a playoff level team vs a losing record team, but those 3 were soon gone, home team wins, and parents from both teams thank us as we head to cars.
Normally I ignore "ump" comments, but in this case....

It helps cut down on a player or manager taking a free shot at you if the game gets out of hand ie: team down by 5 with two outs in the 7th and *****ing about a ball/strike call knowing that even if he gets tossed all he gets is the chance to have a beer earlier than the rest (men's ball)

That is what I'm saying. Sometimes if you do nothing (or don't direct somebody like a TD or an AD to do something) it will just get worse and worse. To the point where you will have to do something. I would hate suspending play because of a couple of wackjobs in the bleachers.

If you can prevent it before it gets to that point (if you feel that it will continue to increse), why not do something? I'm not talking about your average chirping. I'm talking about blatant harrassment of any individual involved in the game.

Leave it to those who have the authority to deal with fans. You don't.

You remind me of the old story about the young bull and and the old bull. As they stand on hill looking down on a herd of cows, the young bull says "let's run down there and #@$% one of them cows." The old bull sighs and says, "No, let's WALK down there and #@$% all of them."


Calm down, young bull. Ace says you have talent. I'll take his word for it. But you will still learn from experience and time.

I don't know why but I have twice this year spoken to fans (breaking my 6 year drought). Not particularly proud of doing so I'll relay the storys so others may gain entertainment from my folly.

1. After ejected 2 coaches then 2 innings later having to repremand the remaining coach for talking to the original coach, I had put up with 4 innings of Fans screaming, they particularly enjoyed "Let the boys Play" I finally turned and said "The Boys are still playing!"

2. Was a little funnier. In a 9-10 yr old game, don't know if the do in the US but up here these kids seem to sing/cheer all game long. I have no issue with it apart from the headache, but 1 (so far only one I have heard) cheeer is expressly for the torment of the opposing pitcher. Like "This is the song that has no End" the continually repeat "We are slowly putting pressure ont he pitcher..." I find this unexceptable and unsportsmanlike for A diamond on which I work. So I always stop it. I call time and tell the team to Cheer for themselves or don't cheer. Anyhow, I do this and The coach says no one has ever told us not to before, I said well never been on my diamond before. Small nothing discussion, and a parent in a big group screams out I don't know this, Never happened before Where is that in the rule book. Everyone around him laughs and agrees, I turn my head and said 9.01 (d). The shut up and then he yell, what line, and he gets crickets too trys once more then nothing. It was funny. And not a single call I had in the rest of the game was questioned.

Now I know in both incidences I shouldn't have said anything, I'm not even sure Why I did. I will try to get back on my high horse and ignore the commoners as I did before. But at least in story B it was pretty funny.

I am tired and my typing has gone all to Hell. I hope you can understand my message above. Sorry.

10-4. Learning with every pitch.

This is why methinks Tuss has the makings of a great official.

Ace