Manager Acts Like a Dipstick, I'm Sorry to Say

[jkumpire]

Looking for a little help:

FED game, R1, 1 out bottom 1st.

LH R1, lifts non-pivot froot in set position, steps to home, throws to 1B.

Now, I know I'm not Carl Childress, Jim Evans, or anything, but I am 70-75% sure this is a balk.

After moving R1 to 2B, here comes the manager.

"What did he do wrong Blue?"
"He didn't step to 1B.
(Short aside to tell the asst. coach to get in the dugout and not put his .02 in.)
"Wait a minute, he lifted his foot straight in the air, put it down and threw to 1B. that's not a balk."
"Coach, he has to step at at least 45 deg. so he can show he's throwing to 1B.He stepped straight home."
"Well how can he throw to 2nd if he has to step like that."
"Coach, we are talking about 1B here, not 2B"
"Blue, that's terrible, and that's a terrible call."

Thank goodness he says that walking away, and back to his dugout.

Now he is heading to the 3B coaches box between innings.

"Blue, explain to me why he balked."
"Coach, he has to step towards 1B, which we define as at least inside a 45 deg. angle towards 1B."
"Blue, I looked in my rule book, and it says nothing about 45 deg, it says he has to step to the bag."
"Coach, that 45 deg angle has been used forever to decide if the pitcher steped to 1B, You can look it up, It is written somewhere in the Case Book or umpire manual. And in you kid's case, he put his foot in the air, then stepped right at home plate and threw to 1B."
"Okay Blue", and then we play.

Now I know this guy is going to give me a 1 on a scale of 5 on my evaluation, saying I don't know the rules. Shoot, his asst. coach yelled out that "It was the BU's call, you don't even know who is supposed to call the balk right." If I wasn't such a nice guy, that guy is walking to the parkling lot. How do you deal with such ignorance, when this guy has a part in deciding if I do tournament ball or not?

My questions:

1. Should I have not brought up the 45 deg bit in the first place, and just said, he has to step to 1B?

2. When he talked with me the second time between innings (which is okay by me, if he wants to waste my time during warm-ups to get educated, no problem if he is quiet about it), should I have just said, "Coach, I'm sorry, he was not close to stepping to 1B, and that's why he got it called on him."

3. Any other suggestions? I mean, the balk is so obvious a blind man could call it, and he has no clue. What do you do here?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[SAump]

On what others here have revealed.
Pitcher must demonstrate "distance and direction."
Step home is not a demonstration of either distance, nor direction.
In your case, F1 did neither correctly.

[jkumpire]

That phrasing came to mind as I was talking to him, but I didn't think he could grasp that concept. He was saying the kid picked his foot up then threw, so gaining ground wouldn't matter to him anyway, and that isn't in the rule book either () .

Still, it is something to think about.

[BigTex]

"Skip, he stepped more toward home than he did to first.....and tell your assistant to gather his $hit and go sit on the bus."

[DG]

Ignore assistant.

Shorten your explanation, it's a simple call. "He didn't step to 1B."

Questions:

1. "He didn't step to 1B."
2. "He didn't step to 1B."
3. "He didn't step to 1B."

Don't worry about future assignments.

[Daryl H. Long]

Balk: NF Rule 6-2-4b : failing to step with the non-pivot foot directly toward a base....when throwing or feinting there....

"Step directly toward" is defined in NF Case 6.2.4 Situation B: To comply with the requirement to step directly toward F1 must step to the first-base side of a 45-degree angle between center of pitcher's plate and between home and first base.

Coach, the pitcher is required to step directly toward 1st base to throw there. He failed to do that so it is a balk".

Answer to Q1: Just say he didn't step toward 1st. Make no mention of 45 degree stuff as it will take much too long to explain.

Answer to Q2: I have no problem talking to a coach between innings to answer a quick question. Since I am a strict adherant to only 1 minute between innings there is not a lot of time to fully explain the rule. Just say he didn't step toward 1st. Depending on coach I might politely tell him as umpires we are taught how to visually determine whether step was directly toward the base or not and we can discuss it after the game if he so wishes. In parting I would ask him to take care of his asst. coach so I don't have to next time. Let's play ball.

Answer to Q3: If balk was so blatant that a blind man could call it why did you say earlier in the post you were 70-75% sure it was a balk?

(JK: Isn't Ohio weather great. Glad you got your game in. Here in NW Ohio we started season with 78 degree days then last weekend...SNOW. I was at the Toledo Mud Hens game Saturday night which was suspended in the 4th inning due to snow.)

[UmpJM]

jkumpire,

I believe that DG has given you the best advice.

Keep it short & sweet.

I like to think I would have said,

(Q1) "No direct step, Coach."

(Q2) "That is a balk."

(Q3) Silence.

When you "overexplain", you just create the opportunity to get yourself in trouble.

One thing I have learned in my brief umpiring experience is that, on the rare occasion when you are not 100% certain of your call, if you make the call as if you are 110% certain, you tend not to get so much grief about it. If you externally exhibit any signs of doubt or uncertainty, you are almost sure to get some grief about it.

Also, as DG suggests, don't worry about the coach's evaluation; just focus on getting the calls right and properly managing the game. I'm sure this varies from one area to the next, but I have heard of cases where getting a bad evaluation from certain coaches can actually improve one's chances of getting post-season assignments.

JM

[mrm21711]

Originally Posted by CoachJM

jkumpire,

I believe that DG has given you the best advice.

Keep it short & sweet.

I like to think I would have said,

(Q1) "No direct step, Coach."

(Q2) "That is a balk."

(Q3) Silence.

When you "overexplain", you just create the opportunity to get yourself in trouble.

One thing I have learned in my brief umpiring experience is that, on the rare occasion when you are not 100% certain of your call, if you make the call as if you are 110% certain, you tend not to get so much grief about it. If you externally exhibit any signs of doubt or uncertainty, you are almost sure to get some grief about it.

Also, as DG suggests, don't worry about the coach's evaluation; just focus on getting the calls right and properly managing the game. I'm sure this varies from one area to the next, but I have heard of cases where getting a bad evaluation from certain coaches can actually improve one's chances of getting post-season assignments.

JM

I got in a bit of trouble by saying too much this past weekend myself...short, few word answers are perfect. When you end up repeating yourself, the coach will get the message. Hang in there!

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

Looking for a little help:

FED game, R1, 1 out bottom 1st.

LH R1, lifts non-pivot froot in set position, steps to home, throws to 1B.

Now, I know I'm not Carl Childress, Jim Evans, or anything, but I am 70-75% sure this is a balk.

I'm sure you meant F1. R1 has nothing to throw. But I digress. Yep, it's a balk.

After moving R1 to 2B, here comes the manager.

"What did he do wrong Blue?"
"He didn't step to 1B.
(Short aside to tell the asst. coach to get in the dugout and not put his .02 in.)
"Wait a minute, he lifted his foot straight in the air, put it down and threw to 1B. that's not a balk."
"Coach, he has to step at at least 45 deg. so he can show he's throwing to 1B.He stepped straight home."
"Well how can he throw to 2nd if he has to step like that."
"Coach, we are talking about 1B here, not 2B"
"Blue, that's terrible, and that's a terrible call."

(snip...)

"Blue, explain to me why he balked."
"Coach, he has to step towards 1B, which we define as at least inside a 45 deg. angle towards 1B."
"Blue, I looked in my rule book, and it says nothing about 45 deg, it says he has to step to the bag."
"Coach, that 45 deg angle has been used forever to decide if the pitcher steped to 1B, You can look it up, It is written somewhere in the Case Book or umpire manual. And in you kid's case, he put his foot in the air, then stepped right at home plate and threw to 1B."
"Okay Blue", and then we play.

(snip...)

My questions:

1. Should I have not brought up the 45 deg bit in the first place, and just said, he has to step to 1B?

2. When he talked with me the second time between innings (which is okay by me, if he wants to waste my time during warm-ups to get educated, no problem if he is quiet about it), should I have just said, "Coach, I'm sorry, he was not close to stepping to 1B, and that's why he got it called on him."

3. Any other suggestions? I mean, the balk is so obvious a blind man could call it, and he has no clue. What do you do here?

Thanks for your thoughts.

1. Don't be creative. The rule says he has to step toward the bag. Why invent new wording?

2. Don't be so talkative. Five words:

"What'd he do wrong blue?" Didn't step to the bag.

"Wait a minute, he lifted his foot straight in the air, put it down and threw to 1B. that's not a balk." Didn't step to the bag.

"Well how can he throw to 2nd if he has to step like that." That's not the issue.

3. What I do: (FED) "TIME! That's a balk...didn't step to the bag...You, second base."

BTW: Long time no see....how've you been?

[Rich]

21 innings today. 6.5 hours of fun in the sun.

I did call a balk, though. I've called my share this season, I gots to say.

LH pitcher. R1 takes off as soon as LHP lifts his leg. Magically, F1 put his foot right back in the same place that he lifted it from.

"He didn't gain distance."

The catcher asked me to check his footprints. That was funny, especially as F3 threw the (already dead once he caught it) ball into left field and R1 was now R2 regardless.

[lawump]

Umpire Schools teach umpires to keep it short and simple when explaining balks.

For example:

Umpire: "That's a balk! You second base (said to runner)."
Manager: "What did he do?"

Possible responses include:

Umpire: "No step."
Umpire: "He started and stopped."
Umpire: "No pause."
Umpire: "His leg crossed the rubber."

At higher levels (HS, NCAA, pro) this usually works. (Now they might come out and argue that your judgment was wrong (i.e. that he did pause) but at least they're not arguing the rule.)

If the coach/manager wants more of an explanation, listen to his question and answer only that.

For example, this following conversation (by coincidence) happened to me in my last high school game:

Head Coach (who has come out of the dugout): "What do you mean 'no step'?"
Umpire: "He didn't step toward first."
Head Coach: "He doesn't have to step toward first."
Umpire: "The rules require that he does, and he didn't."
Head Coach: "I've never heard that one before, huh."

The head coach left and we resumed the game. He came out between innings and I just said, "the rules require he step toward first, when throwing to first. You pitcher stepped toward home and threw across his body to first that's why it was a balk."

He said, "o.k., I got you." and left.

(edited for spelling error)

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by lawump

Umpire Schools teach umpires to keep it short and simple when explaining books.

For example:

Umpire: "That's a balk! You second base (said to runner)."

This year's attendees were taught to give the reason as part of the call instead of making the manager ask.

[jkumpire]

They taught us just to call the balk and move 'em along. But since I never got a pro job, esp. in HS Baseball I always tell kids what they did.

My call was last night: "THAT"S A BALK (Pointing at F1) TIME! (Hands UP) NO STEP TO 1B (pointing R1 to 2B)."

My partner did nothing, of course, but he is a 2nd year guy who mostly does SB. He did a decent job for a newbie.

[RPatrino]

Five words or less!!! They can't use what you DON'T SAY against you. And finally, "coach, that's enough"

[tibear]

Originally Posted by GarthB

3. What I do: (FED) "TIME! That's a balk...didn't step to the bag...You, second base."

Is FED different from OBR with regards to how to call a balk?

In Canada, we only use OBR so the proper procedure is not to call time when the balk takes place but wait for the play to end before calling time.