Scary Moment... and a Rat
 

Kid squares to bunt fully around, and gets drilled directly in the chest. I thought it hit right on his heart and was pretty much ready to get on my knees immediately and start CPR.

Kid just shook it off and jogged immediately to first, and the Rat defensive coach started whining about how the player didn't pull the bat back. I walked a ball out to the mound slowly to give the kid some time, slowly walked back and brushed off the plate, still hearing it from the manager. Exchange was something like this.

Coach: (repeatedly) That should be a strike. He never pulled the bat back. Blah blah blah blah. I'm a rat. I smell. Blah.

Me: Coach, he did not make a strike at the ball. There was no attempt to hit the ball, he gets first base. (now putting my mask on and walking behind the plate.

Coach: That should be a strike

Me: (taking mask off and now taking a couple steps towards the dugout and giving him the stop sign). Do you want to argue balls and strikes?

Coach: I'm argueing your interpretation of the rule.

Me: There's no interpretation, that's the rule. Now lets play (and ignored everything else and put the ball back into play).

Didn't hear anything more after I put the ball back into play.

Thoughts on how I handled this?

I would have gone to my partner, and asked if the batter attempted to strike at the ball. You're gonna have a bad angle on it from the behind the dish. You're (hopefully) tracking the ball, and not the bat. I'd find it hard to believe that the batter didn't try to defend himself with the bat.

If you were driving solo, just tell the manager what you did/didn't see.

But don't take off the mask and walk toward the dugout. Yes, we see the showboaters on TV do it all the time, but that still doesn't make it right. We aren't in the entertainment business like they are.

First of all a batter never has to pull the bat back. If the bat never moves then by rule it is not an attempt. I might have said that to the coach but it would depend on the proximity of where the coach is and how angry that coach is. Other than that I have no problem with the way you handled the situation.

Peace

This is a serious question, how do you handle coaches in the dugout that are continually complaining about balls and strikes or a judgment call?

I can't tell what age group you are talking about, but when you say "kid" I think small bases. So, if you are getting complaints from the dugout about balls and strikes warn the coach, get your notebook out and write it down, then if he does it again toss him.

It wasn't my sitch so I don't know what age group either, I was asking a more general game management question.

Nothing showboating about it. When it's serious enough, the mask comes off and when the mask comes off, somebody is leaving.

Easy.

The hand goes up, then "That's enough".

Anything else gets an ejection. Quite simple, actually. It's only happened to me once in eight years that someone didn't get it.

What I won't do is go looking for it. I won't take my mask off and walk over to the dugout. No need. I can make my point without it. I'm with Garth though. When the mask comes off someone's going home. Someone has just run the stop sign.

Excellent. You warned as necessary and the chirping stopped.

TussAgee11,
You did just fine.

Try this next chance:

"Coach, he never offered."

:)

Tuss, remember, 5 words or less does the trick everytime. Anymore than that and you are having a discussion and that is not what you want to do.

And following this 5 words rule, perhaps: "No attempt. He gets first."

And then maybe expand to 6 words for: "Are you arguing balls and strikes?"

I don't ask them if they want to argue balls and strikes, because this gives an opportunity to say "yes," and continue arguing, since they were asked if they wanted to argue. If you ask "Are you arguing balls and strikes," they have only three possible choices. 1) Say no, and shut their pie holes, 2) Say nothing and slink back into their rat holes, or 3) Say yes and get run for arguing balls and strikes.

Handled it Well
 

First of all, he doesnt have to pull the bat back. As previously stated, he can't offer at it. If he does, he stays right there. I do not allow coaches to yell from the dugout. Tell them if they want to discuss anything, to see the umpire who called the play. This will stop his ability to get the fans riled up and start on you, and now he has to talk to you face to face, in a professional manner. Also you can politely tell him to know what the hell he is talking about before he wastes anymore of your time. When you talk face to face, it takes out 90% of the theatrics they use to take the focus off of the play and players, and put it on the umpires. If he doesn't heed your warning, dump him.

A few years back, in a legion game, I had a kid square to bunt on a breaking pitch. He offered at the ball, which he missed, and which then caught him in his manhood.

I called time and a deadball strike.

He dropped like a sack of potatoes and puked in the dirt.

After they cleaned him up, he started walking to first. I motioned him back and informed him that he had another opportunity to get a hit. Didn't have to eject anyone, but the on-site legion adminstrator had to escort his mom from the field.

Had the exact same situation with a 10 year old the other day where the pitch was coming straight at him and his defense mechanism was to try to hit the ball towards his dugout, he missed and it hit him square in the chest. I yell "Time. Strike Two".

Kid is crying, coach is yelling that the pitch hit him and the kid's mom is running from her lawnchair to check out little Jimmy.

Had to explain to all three that if the player tries to hit the ball it doesn't matter if he gets hit it is a deadball and a strike. Needless to say none of them were too impressed.

Here's where some of you are going to jump all over me. The next time this little guy came up he was the first up in the inning so I walked over to him and asked him if his coaches had ever taught him how to react when the ball is coming straight at him. He said no so I continued and explained to him how to always turn away from pitch and bend over so as to "protect" the bat and himself from getting hit somewhere where you don't want to get hit.

Two of the coaches overheard the conversation and immediately started to explain this to the other kids on the bench.

A 20 second discussion that hopefully helped the kids learn to protect themselves.

At the end of the game, the little guy, his mom and one of the coaches came over and thanked me for further explaining the call and what he should have done differently.

TA11..
I think you handled it very well. Were you prepared to dump him after you took off your mask and showed him the dreaded stop sign? IMO after the mask comes off, any more chirping is a ticket to the parking lot.

Thanks for all the responses.

I've noticed some things wrong, and want to ask a few more questions

Things to learn: a) keep the words concise b) ask a leading question (are you going to argue balls and strikes? vs. do you want to argue balls and strikes).

Now one more question.

I had taken off my mask to check on the player and also clean the plate. The mask was already off during all the chirping. Should it have stayed on through this whole process?

And then when I take it off, thats a good warning to the coach?

Thanks.

Tuss, my feeling is that anytime you are going to talk to someone, take your mask off. Of course, if you think punches will be thrown, leave it on.

You would hope that any coach who's been around longer than 5 minutes would understand that if the umpire has his mask off and is heading in his direction that something bad is about to happen. Ya Right!!

If you didnt have to dump the rat and didn't leave a mess for someone else then perfect!

Most rats won't recognize removing the mask or a stare as a warning.
Loudly verbalizing, "You're not arguing strikes?" or "that's all!" tells everyone what he's doing and if he continues, of course he will get dumped. If the rat is too stubborn to shut up then he deserves his fate.

Read Garth's latest: it's perfect. http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=35116

I have received plaques, certificates, and thank yous at these lower levels for taking the time to show a youngster the right way to do something.

Many times at this level, the coaching is nothing more than some dads with little coaching experience. Even with several coaches on a team, they often don't have the time to teach certain fundamentals, and I have found that at this level, the coaches do appreciate any help you can give. Just don't hold up the game to put on a clinic, and there should be no problem in giving some advice.

Sometimes after a knotty problem or some rules interpretation in which the participants are confused, between innings I will take the time to explain the "why" behind the ruling. This seems to help educate the younger players, especially when it comes to interference and obstruction rules, which are two of the most abused rules at the lower levels.

I agree entirely. At any level below HS (except permanent travel teams), I have no problem explaining a rule to either a player or a coach. Our 13-14 league pitchers get one balk warning each. Many times I have explained what they are doing wrong and how to correct it. I always get thanks from the coaches.

Don't let it become "continually".
Ignore, Warn, Eject.

10U is a different animal, and while I will NOT coach at anything higher (EVER!), I've found myself doing so at 10U on occasion. One thing I would recommend though - make SURE the coach knows you're doing it and is ok with it. Depending on where you cross that coaching line, some might get offended that you're giving a player opposite instructions to something they have told them (right or wrong).

I don't teach them the mechanics of pitching. Usually it's something simple like he's in the set position and his hands are together, then he goes into a windup motion. I just tell him once his hands are together he must either pitch, take his pivot foot off, or make a play. Considering the level of coaches we have, the majority of the time, both coaches benefit.

When I give a balk warning, I ask the pitcher if he knows what he did. I have had a couple of occasions when for whatever reason the pitcher didn't seem to get it right. Believe me I am aware of crossing the line. I have enough issues coaching my son's team.;)

Not jumping all over you but there was a time when I was a LL coach. As most LL coaches do I had to deal with some kids who were not quite as good as the best. They were my own little projects, usually it took a while but eventually they got a solid single, or made a good play in the field, or whatever.

Anyway...this one kid took a pitch off his chest as he "swung", just as in your play. The ump, a 15 year old trainee doing his first game behind the plate called a strike, just like you did. I bet he felt pretty good about it too.

There wasn't any yelling and no one jumped up out of their lawn chair. But I did walk out to ask what was going on and bit my tongue when told my number 9 hitting right fielder did not earn first base for his pains.

That kid quit right there on the spot. He never had his next at bat.

Still bothers me to this day.

Well that's usually what I do, but the warning involves the mask coming off, me walking part of the way over to the dug out and telling them to knock it off. Should this warning be issued from the plate while the mask stays on?

Do that which is comfortable.
Personally, I try not to be dramatic, ...or loud, although it has happened from time to time.