What would you do in this situation?

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by LLPA13UmpDan

11-12 Baseball. 2 man crew. Im BU. R1 & R2 on 2nd & 3rd, so im in C position. winning team is batting. Ground ball is hit, PU is watching third, so im making the call at first. I call "Safe, hes off the bag". I hear the defensive (losing) teams coach say "oh come on", then asks the other coach "did he call him safe?, oh no way!" He then walks out of the dugout and yells to me from beside the dugout "get help on that, blue" I'm thinking no-way. I seen what i saw, the first baseman was clearly off the bag i tell him. He then proceeds to come out of the dugout and go toward my partner. I calmly say "no coach, he's off the bag". He ignores me, and i throw him out. he then says "you have to give me a warning a first." im then like "no, there is no warnings on judgement calls" He then walks out. After the inning was over, PU tells me he saw nothing, he was doing his duties with third. After the game, league pres. tells me "the coach has the right to go to the other umpire" Im like no. What do you know about umpiring??? and that was the end of it. Do you think i was too harsh, or did i do the right thing by sticking to my call? Now ive heard of the offensive coach coming to argue that a runner was safe, but not the defensive coach to argue that the runner is out.

Smarties Dave & LMan aside, you did a couple of things wrong:

1) You should have told the coach not to go to your partner, not just repeat what you saw on the play. That would be the proper warning. Something like: "Coach, if you continue out to my partner, you're going to be ejected. I had the call all the way and don't have to ask for help."

As it was, the coach still thought he was within his rights to go over your head and ask your partner to overrule you. You should have made it clear that doing such was a no-no. You don't just toss the coach and tell him there are no warnings on judgment calls. He needs to know the real reason why you are about to run him.

2) After any controversy or ejection, you should never get together at that half-inning break to converse with your partner. At the end of that inning, you should have trotted on out to short right-center and stood there.

The league president in this case is wrong, the coach has absolutely no business going to your partner. If you are unsure, it's you that must go to your partner, who in this case was pickin' daisies or something. He should have been watching for a pulled foot or swipe tag. What the hell does he need to watch the baserunners for anyway? Nothing can happen without the baseball, and to use watching the runners as an excuse is total BS. It sounds like your partner is as inexperienced as you are.

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Something like: "Coach, if you continue out to my partner, you're going to be ejected. I had the call all the way and don't have to ask for help."

You should NEVER EVER EVER tell a coach, "Coach if you do (or don't do) X, you're going to be ejected." NEVER.

[LakeErieUmp]

Agreed! The very few times I have had a coach wishing jump out of a dugout a simple "don't come out here" usually gets the point across without the threat.