Game Management
 

All things being equal eg. good knowledge of rules, mechanics, judgement, proper uniform, arriving on time, etc. what distinguishes the competent official from the exceptional one is game management. An exceptional official whom I respect said "it's knowing what to say and when to say it and I can't teach you this". What are your views on this?

He may be an exceptional official, but he's not a good teacher. There are plenty of ways to teach game management. Examples, videos, role playing, etc. I even have managers come in when I teach this at my clinics.

I get what he's saying, but if I can teach a twelve year old kid to send a 55 year old manager with a LL World Series under his belt, back to the dugout, it CAN be taught.

Game management requires good judgment. Good judgment has many broad guidelines which can be taught, for instance "be polite," "be firm," "don't put up with too much crap," etc.

The problem is that broad guidelines have exceptions. What cannot even in principle be taught is the recognition of (a) when an exceptional case has occurred, and (b) what to do in it.

This cannot possibly be taught, because to teach it, it would have to be part of the rule. And in that case, it's not an exception.

The good news is that good judgment comes to most people, to some degree, with experience. The truly great officials, like the truly great human beings, somehow learn more from experience than everyone else.

I believe that several basics of developing good game management skills can, indeed, be taught, but there may be some aspects that cannot. For example, I often believe one's individual temperament plays a role in game management. If one tends to be by nature a hothead or quick-tempered, being a good game manager may be more difficult or impossible. One's temperament is not really something that can be taught per se. After all, how does one "teach" a certain personality? Of course, it may be possible to teach how to control or mitigate such a potentially negative personality.

You can "teach" all the management skills that you want. The student can watch all the videos and games he/she can but it still doesn't do anything until the student is put into the position. That is why in the MLB schools, the role playing is one of the most important parts of the education.

I am considered by many to have good game management skills and this is one of the things that I try to instill on students. Well, last weekend, I was having an issue with my zone, the damn hernia tore even more and I barked at 2 different coaches for absolutely no reason!

Game management will change with every situation, every ounce of pain, every inning! It is not a fully "teachable" item nor is it something that can be "learned". It is something that needs to be experienced and controlled. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it is not and sometimes, you are your own worst enemy (like I was).

Regards

Fwiw
 

I think Game Management Skills increase with wisdom.

While most anyone can be taught to remember rules, situation control and the like, every facet of communication (verbal, non-verbal) has a large impact on how your game management skills are perceived by others.

In short, an "Exceptional Official" will be one [everything else being equal] who has a thorough understanding of communications skills and has extensive practice in their execution.
A "Good Official" will be one [everything else being equal] that has effective communication skills but has limited experience executing those.

My $.02

[QUOTE]I diagree with the aforementioned.

When it comes to game management is akin "to sitting on the bench and observing"

A QB in football can look at all the video, take in all the knowledge from the verteran QB etc. but it's not until he is "put in the line of fire" that he will "sink or swim".

Also, we all have different personalities and you cannot "teach" a personality.

I will give you an example. One of my partners kicked the s**t out of a call. The manager requested time and was livid. My partner listened for a while and then "out of the blue (no pun intended) said to the manager "skip, here have a life-saver it will make you feel better".

The manager didn't know what to say and simply started laughing and went back to his dugout.

This type of "method" will not work all the time but it did in that occasion. You can't "teach" that.

Yes you can "pick someone's brain" and learn how to control certain situations but for the most part Game mangement is not "taught" it is learned through both Experience and a persons make-up

Pete Booth

I posted this last year, and it fits with game management. The best game managers I've worked with are all AWARE of what's going on and then deal with things accordingly.

AWARENESS. I've been fortunate enough to be able to watch some excellent college umpires, and this is the one thing that seems to keep manifesting itself with the cream of the crop. They know what's going on, where the crap is coming from, where it's liable to come from, who doesn't like whom, past history, who the "players" are, who the "rats" are, who they can talk with and who they can go to to get things done. They know what the score is, who is frustrated (coaches AND players), which partners need "guidance", when to listen and when to raise their voice, when to warn and when to dump. They know the direction the game is headed at any given moment. They pay attention to "message" pitches, chirping, bench-jockeying, and even "eye-balling". They watch the weather, the fans, and they know where security and game management is. If you ask them, they can even tell you where the bathroom is, and the best hot dog in the league, the most economical hotel, and the best local steakhouse.

Along the lines of what Pete had to say, I don't believe it's 'one size fits all'. What works for one may not work for another. I've seen some officials say things to a coach or manager that I'd never dream of saying. Some people have a knack of defusing a situation with humor. For others a stern warning is what's needed. You have to know your abilities and have to be able to read the situation.

Nah, you're missing something
 

Men,

Game management is a set of three principles:

1. Treat other people the way you want to be treated, the Golden Rule always applies.
2. Learn to ignore/deal with pressure, as the old golf saying goes, "put a man on the golf course and you find out in three holes who he truly is." When you learn how to deal with pressure, you can handle any situation, or any manger, because you are the one with a cool head.
3. By experience, "Learn what is fair and right in baseball culture/language." Young umpires need to learn the right language and wrong language to use when a manager is either complaining, or ejecting himself. You need to know in OBR when to to ignore a HBP, and when to stomp on F1. In FED, you need to learn the nuances of enforcing the rules to make the game go smoother.

Master these, and you have good game management skills.

Simple Boardectomy
 

Notwithstanding some of the good points being made, may I offer this truism?

The key to IMPROVING Game Management Skills of many individual umpires is to have them find a way to remove the 2x4 from their Asses. (can I say that.. if not, replace with Butts)... but not nearly as effective.

If your Contractor agrees to a few simple game management rules for his coaches, game management becomes a non issue regardless of the age, experience or level of baseball.

WHAT, THIS IS A TOTAL NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

But I do it too :D

Absolutely. Game management is not doing HAHAHAs over life savers, it is a strict set of rules, conversation, warnings and action.

Do you actually do games at age levels where they shave?

The more important question: does he actually teach at clinics???