Most annoying thing heard

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by AAUA96

Reminds me of a story that I still get teased about. My second year of umpiring, assigned to the bases of my first championship game (a 10 yo tournament). Top of the first inning, I make a call at 1B, coach comes out of the 1B dugout, asks me a question about the call, to which I reply "Are you questioning my judgment?"

I wouldn't call it guts, be he didn't show great intelligence as he replied "Yes, I am." I dumped him.

I think this is a mistake. Sometimes, an umpire's judgment is incorrect: we make mistakes. Coaches often question judgment, for example by saying that a call is terrible. OK, maybe I made a terrible call.

But questioning the official's integrity is another matter. The expression "call it both ways" implies that the official is NOT calling it both ways, which implies favoritism and cheating. That's as much as saying that the official is terrible, not just the call. This is the comment that warrants ejection.

Note that I'm not condoning arguing over "judgment calls" such as safe/out, fair/foul, ball/strike. We all know that coaches cannot legally come out to argue judgment calls. My point is that if a coach complained about one of your judgment calls, and then you asked whether he was questioning your judgment, then the answer should be "yes," (or maybe "in this case, yes") and that this answer does not warrant an ejection.