Unejected a Coach

[BretMan]

In a fall league last week, I had both teams begging me to "uneject" a player!

One team was playing short-handed, with only eight players (FED rules). We were only in the third inning. A player for the short-handed team went down on a called third strike.

He took a few steps from the plate, let loose with a string of profanities, then brought his bat up overhead and heaved it about 30 feet in the general direction of his own dugout.

I didn't even hesitate on that one- "Number 11, you're ejected!".

Since they dropped down to seven players, the game became an automatic forfeit. His coaches pleaded for me to change my mind. The other team's coaches asked if I would reconsider. They wanted to play!

I held my ground, telling them, "If you still want to play, be my guest. You can play another ten innings if you want. But you won't be doing it with these two umpires present".

And with that one, well deserved "heave-ho", I now have the reputation as the hard-a$$ umpire that doesn't "care about the kids"!