What are my options
 

FED rules; high school varsity game.

Last week I had a road game. At game time, one umpire entered the field alone. The coach of the home team explained that only one umpire had shown up. He said that he had someone in the stands who helps them occasionally that he would be fair if I wanted him to help. My other option was to go with one umpire (who happened to be calling his first game ever). I was not comfortable with either of these options. What are my options in a situation like this? I will tell later what I chose and what happened.

Your options are whatever the league / conference / state says they are. It's not a FED rule.

Depends on what your state regulations are regarding the number of umpires required for a varsity game.

I know in my area that if only one umpire shows up that you have the option of rescheduling the game- that's in the summer at least. I'm not sure about HS.

The coach of the home team explained that only one umpire had shown up. He said that he had someone in the stands who helps them occasionally that he would be fair if I wanted him to help.

You said FED game. The others have given you answers as to what your options are.

However, if I was umpiring the game there would be only 1 Option - No help from the stands unless the individual is HS Certified him/her self AND has the proper uniform on hand. I wouldn't care what the Coach wants etc. When doing FED HS games NEVER take an individual from the stands (ala LL) to assist you unless:

the other Official is also HS Certified, An official has graduated PRO School or is a Certified Collegiate offical. In addition, they must also have the approved uniform of one's association. No jeans etc. allowed.

RE: In my area, we are not covered under the HS insurance policy when working games (during the HS season or Summer ball) with an uncertified Official.

Pete Booth

Why in the Wide World of Sports would there EVER be an umpire who's never worked a game in his whole life be assigned to a Varsity HS game?:eek: :confused:

Around here the game would have been worked solo. Our local HS association does not allow non-certified umpires to work the games, especially a varsity game.

Personally I would rather work alone than have a 'parent' or other fan pulled out of the stands to help me.

A new umpire working HS varsity for his first game? I bet it was quite the game.

Around these parts...
 

Around these parts...we don't play a high school varsity game without two umpires, period.

However, if its "fall ball" (over-glorified practice games with a player's dad (usually) serving as the head coach), then each team when on defense supplies an assistant coach to be the base umpire. (The team on defense supplies the umpire, because the team on offense uses both their coaches to coach the bases.)

Fall ball is so laid back that it is funny to watch a "dad" (assistant coach) blow a call and have his own players yell out "thanks for the gift" or the opposing coach yell out, "stick to coaching (John)".

Had it happen (partner no show) twice in three years of varsity fall ball.

I would NEVER EVER do this in a game that meant anything. We'll just have to play another day.

Too much research
 

Maybe the assignor read Pete Booth's article

I like that rule.

We always schedule 2 umpires for JV/Var games but there have been a couple of times when my partner was a 'no-show'. When there's a varsity no-show we pull one of the umpires off the JV game to work bases. The JV guy goes solo.

I hate to work any 90' field solo, especially a HS varsity game but I have done it.

That could happen in my area...but a varsity game must have 2.

In Wisconsin, ALL high school games (FR/JV/Varsity) *must* have 2 umpires, or there is no game.

Happens regularly where I used to work. The alternative would be to have games with NO umpires. Of course, the term "assigned to" doesn't really apply, either; umpires book their own games directly with the ADs.

Pete, I actually agree with you. (the sky is falling, the sky....)

Good point. It sounds like a "fall ball" or, as we call it here, "coaches league" game, which is very loosey-goosey, and nobody gets too upset with blown calls. We do a whole lot of these games, and sometimes they are one-man affairs. Much of the JV and all Frosh games here are one-man.

If this was a regular season Varsity game, though, I couldn't accept an umpire who had never worked a single game in his life working it.

This concepts of booking games directly thorough the schools, and any freelance umpiring sans association, are totally foreign to me. I would love to live in an area that allows that, because there would be much less politics involved in assignments. Working for assignors, you find yourself at the assignor's mercy when it comes to the games you have to work.

NFHS certified or MLB Certified... it matters not!
 

The by-laws of my HS association prohibit a member from working a game with someone not a member of the association. Yep, I could be working a 9-10 year old fall game alone and have Gerry Davis offer to help me out on the bases and I'd have to say, "Sorry Gerry, you're not a member of MY board." How goofy is that? :confused:

It's a scrimmage game. Play.
 

Coach gave you two options. Both sound reasonable to me. You're there, so you might as well take the first option. It's much better to have two umps. Allow the UIC to take all questions. It would be better for you to recognized what you may be dealing with in the future. He will be assigned to work your games sooner or later. :eek:

JV games only pay ONE fee, so I prefer to have someone other than me cover the bases. I may work alone if I know the game pay is fee and a half for solo ump. I still prefer the experienced VOLUNTEER on the field to take those long distance calls for me. ;)

If i remember correctly, i think Mr. Tee Christensen's first game was HS varsity, and i don't think he's worked lower than that since.

We are not allowed to do any HS Varsity games with one umpire. We can do JV, Frosh, and MS games solo if an umpire no shows, but all of these games are assigned 2 umpires.

I am interested to know, "who are you with respect to this situation, and why is it your decision as to what to do ?"

As was stated elsewhere, in our area, if one umpire shows up, one umpire works the game. No one is allowed to work a game if they are not part of the association for liability reasons.

Who am I?
 

I am the head coach of the visiting team. I did not have an administrator in attendance to help me with the decision. This is a FED sactioned game. Our conference plays both Fall and Spring baseball. The conference champion is determined by a combination of Fall and Spring conference records. This was a conference game.

I chose to have the volunteer help with the game. The second batter in the bottom of the first inning, attempted to steal second base. He was out by a considerable margin. Volunteer called him safe. I didn't say a word to him, I just questioned the coach about what he said before the game about how fair this guy would be. As it turned out, the other umpire arrived in the second inning and replaced the volunteer.

I may have mispoken in my original post. The lone umpire was working his first ever varsity game. I don't know for sure what other levels he had worked. I do know that when he was working the bases from the C position in the JV game, he had a close play at third on a steal attempt. He stood there with his hands in his pockets and waited for his partner to make the call.

I think if I had the same predicament in the future, I would load up the bus, take the hour and fifteen minute drive home and reschedule the game.

Thanks for all of the input.

Maybe yes, maybe no.

I know of several who work this way and some of their experiences differ from what you suppose.

Some have found that dealing with AD's and coaches to get games involve even more politics and good ol' boy networking than dealing with assigners. Those new to the area had even more difficulty breaking in.

Others have told me that AD's and coaches know little about what makes a good umpire and a lot more about who works "their" way. One was permanently banned from a school after a game ending call that kept the home team from the play-offs.

That said, I also know that Rich Fronheiser works this way and seems to enjoy it.

This probably is of no help in an amateur situation, but in professional ball, if umpires are not available __say for travel problems__ the managers can agree to appoint coaches or even players to umpire. It has happened in the American League. On several occasions, when time permitted, local amateur umpires have been recruited.


This cannot happen, of course, when a strike or work stoppage is in effect.

I enjoy it only because I am willing to put in the work necessary to build three (football, basketball, baseball) schedules this way. I'm in control. And I spread my work out enough so that I'm not dependent on one assignor. If I have a bad experience at a school, I cross them off the list of schools whose AD's I approach.

I work more games than I would in an association system where I would have to deal with one assigner trying to make it fair for all the members at my level. I take games on the days I want and don't take games on the days I want off, which is important cause I travel for a living.

And yet, it's not all peaches and cream. I got blackballed from a conference here because I threw a couple of (deserved) technicals during basketball games. One the one hand, I haven't gotten any games for that conference. On the other hand, he's only one of a dozen conference assigners I work for and the closest school he assigns is 80 miles away. Maybe it is a good thing.

At the end of the day, you have to be able to point at your body of work and feel good about it. I won't hesitate to punish bad behavior and I work hard at what I do. My crews are some of the highest rated in some conferences in all the sports I work (the commissioners have told me this) -- however there's one conference that won't hire us in basketball cause "he has enough officials." Another probably won't hire us after this year cause I didn't go to his camp. Oh well. I'll never have a shortage of games as long as I have 12-14 people assigning me plus all the schools with their nonconference dates.

*rimshot* Good one, Ma'am! ;)

In my area there are NO high school sanctioned (ie high school pays all expenses) baseball games in the fall. There ARE high school players playing on high school fields with non-high school coaches. It's "club" ball meaning paid for by players, or more likely their parents. The coaches arrange the umpires with people they know. It is very laid back, no pressure on anybody, just an opportunity to play, for the ones who are not playing football. They are usually double headers, and usually 5 inning double headers.

Now if I showed up for games and no partner shows up I would be more likely to suggest that I just work alone than accept a volunteer I know nothing about, who may be working in flip flops for all I know. I don't like working alone but I can do it.

Blown Call
 

If this was the worse thing to happen, no big deal. A lot of time and money is spent preparing for that ONE GAME. Hedging your bet for a better opportunity to play ball sounds impractical. You shouldn't inconvenience so many other people a second time. Winning should not depend on the quality of the umpire available to work the game. Perhaps I don't fully understand the stakes. It wouldn't be the 1st time an umpire is blamed for losing a game. I want to know why you insist on blaming the umpire for the rest of the season, before the games are ever played. So are you going to avoid this person the rest of the season?