New Umpire - HELP

[wobster]

OK guys, I need some serious help here. I am in charge of LL Majors and Minors leagues. I umpire ALL majors games, and my BU is pretty decent, but unsure of his calls.

My minors umpires are a different story. I watched 2 games that they umpired last night, and counted about 5 or 6 missed calls, not counting the 5 or 6 runners that missed home plate they did not see. Also had a call where the UIC had a great view of a play at second (we use a pitching machine for minors), called the kid out, only to have the BU overturn the UIC's call! These kids are 15 YO babe ruth kids who know the rules, but just don't seem to do a real good job.

I am a pretty good umpire (or so I am told), but I have no idea how to teach other umpires. My question is this: How can I teach these kids to be better, know what to watch and when, etc without coming off like an prick?

[jxt127]

We do a training for ALL the umpires. Doesn't matter who you are and what your certification level is. Two and half days class and a day on the field. No it's not enough but it's better than heading out there without a clue.

The first year it's kept pretty simple. A few of signals and the basic responsibilities of PU and BU. Second and subsequent years more about positioning and more complex rules are introduced.

I'd say mid-season treat them as team players. AFTER a game and in a quiet place away from the participants use the + - + approach. The good, the improvements needed and why, some more good.

[jicecone]

Originally posted by wobster
OK guys, I need some serious help here. I am in charge of LL Majors and Minors leagues. I umpire ALL majors games, and my BU is pretty decent, but unsure of his calls.

My minors umpires are a different story. I watched 2 games that they umpired last night, and counted about 5 or 6 missed calls, not counting the 5 or 6 runners that missed home plate they did not see. Also had a call where the UIC had a great view of a play at second (we use a pitching machine for minors), called the kid out, only to have the BU overturn the UIC's call! These kids are 15 YO babe ruth kids who know the rules, but just don't seem to do a real good job.

I am a pretty good umpire (or so I am told), but I have no idea how to teach other umpires. My question is this: How can I teach these kids to be better, know what to watch and when, etc without coming off like an prick?

You are dealing with 15 yr old kids that you THINK, know the rules. Their experience level is probably counted in months. Do they suck? YES. We ALL suck at umpiring when we first start off. How can you help?

1. Lighten up about their mistakes and concentrate more on what they are doing right.

2. If you can't buy or have the league buy some manuals, buy one and make copies to hand out. Or make one up, copy it and hand it out. Even if it just includes what you already know.

3. Make a list of what you see is wrong and have a meeting to go over how to do it right.

4. Give them some direction and things to work on. You may think they are perfect because they have a title of umpire however, No training and No direction will get you NO GOOD UMPIRE.

5. Take some time away from umpiring the majors and spend it with the minor umpires, so you can show them the proper mechanics.

6. Have a meeting to go over the rules. Not as player, but as an umpire. I know Umpires that still don't know the rules , so don't be so fast to get down on the kids.

Just remember, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM and support in all situations where coaches or parents try to belittle your staff will get you a lot further in developing a staff. Your the Coach of the third team on that field. If they stink, well mabey your not doing your job.

Finally, you need patience, patience and patience.

[wobster]

It is not really possible to have class time for our umpires. We would have no place to have it, and most of the umpires in the area would blow me off anyway, as I am only in charge of one city, not the whole county.

The field would be a good idea. Just take them around the field, explaining whose responsibility is what, and proper positioning.

Jicecone - yes, I realize they will suck for a while. I sucked, my brothers who umpire sucked. I didn't really have anyone show me how to get better, I just gradually got better over the last 4 years. I would like to make the learning curve as short as possible.

The list is a good idea. I will start doing that.

I have tried to get the league to buy rule books and manuals, but they will not. The only rule book in the whole league is my personal copy.

I got a handle on the support thing. Once I walk over to the coach and ask if there is a problem, they always shut right up and I never get too much of a chance to back up their calls.

[wadeintothem]

probably an odd suggestion which I would put in the "in addition to the real training" posted above.. but find out if they have internet and send them to this forum. I have been helped by this forum in Softball and reviewed the baseball forum here at least 10 pages or so back to make sure i'm up to speed now that I am doing LL.

Or, in the alternative, if you want to keep this forum away from them, prepare scenarios on paper from stuff you see here and hand them to them and have them give you the answer. Get them thinking about the game and what they might see.

[DG]

I'm sorry, but this forum will only bewilder and confuse most new umpires, especially the hardly interested variety. For doing minor league ball, with a pitching machine, about 2 hours should be adequate, and about all a 15 year old, hardly interested new umpire is going to be able to absorb. In about 45 minutes you should be able to go over basic mechanics (do you need plate mechanics for pitching machine league?) for the small field, about 30 minutes for the 40 Myths of Baseball, 15 minutes on how to dress for games (ie look the part), about 15 minutes on how to handle coach/fan complaints, and then 15 minutes on Q&A of anything that was covered, or not covered in the first 105 minutes. Do all field demos on the field. Have all discusssion in the bleachers.

If you can't get a 15 year old, Babe Ruth baseball player, who will be getting paid to do games (I assume) to attend a mandatory clinic then tell them they will get no games if they don't attend the clinics and improve their skills and go hire some more responsible 15 year old girl softball players to attend the clinics and do the games.

[wobster]

wadeintothem -> I agree that this forum would probably confuse them. Especially since there aren't many mechanics set up for pitching machine. I have my own mechanics set up that work very well.

DG -> Good idea about the different aspects. I talked to one of them last night. He already has most of the things covered, except for the look. I still have more to teach him, but he is not too bad. The other one, not so much. As a BU he is constantly trying to overrule the UIC. He has the mechanics down pretty good, but he doesn't wait to make his calls. They just don't really know what to watch for and why/when.

[DG]

Why are there two umpires in a pitching machine league? I would not think there is a need to call balls and strikes so why the need for 2 umpires?

[mick]

Originally posted by DG
Why are there two umpires in a pitching machine league? I would not think there is a need to call balls and strikes so why the need for 2 umpires?

DG,
How 'bout 1st base coach and 3rd base coach?
mick

[DG]

Originally posted by mick

DG,
How 'bout 1st base coach and 3rd base coach?
mick

How 'bout 'em? In pitching machine league you need all the coaches you can get, all over the place, otherwise the little Johnnies will run wild and not have a clue what to do next. When I was involved in a pitching machine league, we let the defensive coach feed the pitching machine, so there is a coach in the middle of the infield to help the infielders. The "pitcher" would position him/herself next to the pitching machine. The only umpire would be in the middle of the field, behind the coach feeding the machine.

[mick]

Originally posted by DG

How 'bout 'em? In pitching machine league you need all the coaches you can get, all over the place, otherwise the little Johnnies will run wild and not have a clue what to do next. When I was involved in a pitching machine league, we let the defensive coach feed the pitching machine, so there is a coach in the middle of the infield to help the infielders. The "pitcher" would position him/herself next to the pitching machine. The only umpire would be in the middle of the field, behind the coach feeding the machine.

DG,
That's sorta what I was talking about, coach participation.
Maybe the league only uses the offensive coaches as umpires in lieu of any other umpire.
mick

[wobster]

The way we do it, is usually 1 umpire. We have 2 kids who like to split pay and do it with 2. Pay is 10/game no matter how you split it.

We have halfway lines, so the UIC watches plays at second and third, and when pitcher has ball, decides whether to send kid to first or second. BU watches plays at 1st and home and halfway between second and third and third and home. Works pretty well.

If there are runners on base, BU will watch the play at first, and wander down first base line to watch for a play at home, and he has perfect view of his two halfway lines. The UIC watches for any catch/no catch, play at second and third, and makes the call when the pitcher has the ball. With good umpires, we have never had a complaint about the umpires being out of position.

[DG]

Originally posted by wobster
The way we do it, is usually 1 umpire. We have 2 kids who like to split pay and do it with 2. Pay is 10/game no matter how you split it.

We have halfway lines, so the UIC watches plays at second and third, and when pitcher has ball, decides whether to send kid to first or second. BU watches plays at 1st and home and halfway between second and third and third and home. Works pretty well.

If there are runners on base, BU will watch the play at first, and wander down first base line to watch for a play at home, and he has perfect view of his two halfway lines. The UIC watches for any catch/no catch, play at second and third, and makes the call when the pitcher has the ball. With good umpires, we have never had a complaint about the umpires being out of position.

There's the rub. For $10 a game you are not going to get umpires who have studied anything.

[wobster]

Last year, we had a couple really good umpires doing it for the same money. If they had come back, they would have probably got more.

It is not about the money for most people that are asking to umpire in this league for us. They are simply wanting to help out. The money is just a little added bonus.

[jicecone]

Originally posted by wobster
It is not about the money for most people that are asking to umpire in this league for us. They are simply wanting to help out. The money is just a little added bonus.

As a former UIC of LL and a ex-assignor for pony ball and above, I can emphatically say that when the money was there, the umpires came out of the woodwork. MOST young people are doing it during the season to earn a couple of extra bucks. When I had the prices increased, I had plenty of umpires and was able to work with the one's interested and weed out the others.

For the most part, YOU WILL NOT GET better officiating unless the league spends a little more. One or two bad games for a young umpire and he is doubting wether or not to continue. One or two bad games at those prices, and he's leaving for Micky D's.