Definition of an Umpire

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Try no ejections in 5 years of umpiring, equalling about 270 games in total.

What this tells me is that you've passed your problems on to others.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Try no ejections in 5 years of umpiring, equalling [sic] about 270 games in total.

Just so a certain someone here won't continue to say I was just picking on him, here is the bottom line with this statement:

I sounds like you haven't been doing your job. When someone tells me that for 270 straight games, every single manager, coach, and player have been perfect little angels, and have never done one single thing to warrant an ejection, I call BULLSH!T!!! You are bound to have at least a couple of situations in which you should have tossed someone, because the nature of these rodents is to act like rodents.

It always sends up a red flag whenever I work with someone who brags about not running anybody. I know then that I'm most likely in for a long day at the ballyard.

[BBUMP99]

I have had over 500 games over the past three years...I am young, and the coaches here have tried to intimidate me and push me around, which has lead to what would probably be considered a high EJ/Game ratio...but I dont think that makes me any better or worse of an official...I think that a good official is determined by consistency, professionalism, game control, and overall prescence and mechanics on the field...I dont think that any one factor should determine if someone is regarded as good or not...I know some very good umpires who have quite a few EJs a season, I also know some very good umpires who have next to none...

[lawump]

Originally Posted by Tim C

I would state, with all due respect to all of you, that there is no "magic" percentage to evaluate ejections.

The NFHS really wants restriction (a "technical foul") before ejection. I work with college umpires that call BS on that . . . you either do or you don't.

I am talking here of ejections not DAN . . . different umpires have different requirements -- I have often talked of "elephant hunters" (umpires sent to "difficult games" by assignors to regain control of teams) and that can affect any % of ejections.

As with Garth, documented several times, I have ejected SEVEN players and coaches on one pitch . . . I was not "wrong" . . .

During my first 3,112 games I ejected 312 people. Math is pretty simple -- one ejection every ten games. Our "wannabe" MLB umpire on the boards said: "that's too many" . . . I would contend it might have been too few . . .

Different things affect different situations . . . I have had two ejections in the last five years . . . am I that much more mellow? Or is it that High School progams now get fined for ejections . . . or . . . am I better at "verbal judo" . . . or am I just so good I "never" miss a call.

See there are lots of reason why statistics don't tell the story.

Hey, Dan still suckls! He is a child that may never mature . . . but umpire ejections statistics are not how he should be evaluated.

Regards,

Might be the best post on this site I've seen since I started posting here.

Last year was the first year I ever went through a season without an EJ. It still surprises me (my nickname at umpire school after all was "Mr. Red A$$"). What was the reason? According to my own self-analysis:

(1) I'm more mellow (just the nature of growing older). I tend to employ the "let them talk for 10 seconds, before you respond" philosophy of handling "discussions" than I ever did in the past.

(2) I'm a veteran with multiple state championship assignments...which by its nature earns respect from coaches. (Frankly, the coaches propably even think, "even if we don't like him, we better get used to him because he's done x number of playoff games...). Being a veteran also means coaches no longer "test" me. (And they do "test" our new guys!)

(3) I have, on NUMEROUS occasions, had an on-field "discussion" over a rules interpretation with a coach in which the discussion ended with the coach convinced I was wrong. However, each time, the coach came up to me later in the game or after the game and said, "we looked it up in the rule book, and you were right." I've never had an argument with any of those coaches since. It is funny to me how many times this has happened to me.

(4) In my own self-evaluation of my work in 2006, I had my best balls-and-strikes year ever, period. (That's my own self-evaluation. I'm not comparing myself to anyone else. I'm not saying I'm God's gift to plate umpires. I'm just comparing myself in 2006 to myself in previous years).

(5) I'm very, very relaxed on the field (as opposed to prior years when I was more anxious/nervous). I have an attitude of, "don't worry. You've been doing this for so long now that you can handle anything that comes up." Being relaxed truly allows me to get more calls right...which leads to fewer "non-routine situations".

(6) I hustle. I've had several coaches say "we see you hustling," during the course of a game. They immediately have a level of respect for you.

(6) Luck. I had few third-world plays in 2006, and when I did have one, I was able to calm down the respective coach with a coherent rules explanation. They might not have left happy, but they left with an explanation they could grudgingly accept.

(7) Some more luck.

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Try no ejections in 5 years of umpiring, equalling about 270 games in total.

I agree with Garth and Steve. You've almost definitely simply let too much go by you, and some other umpire had to deal with too much later because of it. I suppose it's possible you simply work in the most gentlemanly league ever ... but no ejections in 5 years is quite surprising.

[bossman72]

Originally Posted by lawump

(6) I hustle. I've had several coaches say "we see you hustling," during the course of a game. They immediately have a level of respect for you.

A big AMEN, law. I'm a younger guy and i needed a way to convey some respect when i did varsity games for the first time this year- i hustled my butt off; and you are right, i've gotten tons of compliments about my hustle which brought some respect along with my solid rules knowledge. These helped me get some playoff games when the post season rolled around.

[canadaump6]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Just so a certain someone here won't continue to say I was just picking on him, here is the bottom line with this statement:

I sounds like you haven't been doing your job. When someone tells me that for 270 straight games, every single manager, coach, and player have been perfect little angels, and have never done one single thing to warrant an ejection, I call BULLSH!T!!! You are bound to have at least a couple of situations in which you should have tossed someone, because the nature of these rodents is to act like rodents.

It always sends up a red flag whenever I work with someone who brags about not running anybody. I know then that I'm most likely in for a long day at the ballyard.

Yep, I should have ejected a lot of people but didn't. Things are gonna change this year.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Yep, I should have ejected a lot of people but didn't. Things are gonna change this year.

But don't go from one extreme to the other, and go around looking for trouble. Just make sure to handle your "bidness" when trouble comes your way.