Batter's hands

[aceholleran]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

The catcher can set up for an outside curve ball and the pitcher can throw a high fast ball.

Do you think it's OK for an umpire to impose his personal point of view on the game? If so, why?

Varitek swings his bat while the catcher is giving signs. Thome points his. Manny does a Statue of Liberty imitation. NO ONE CARES! Why should you?

I coach. I have to see it from both the offensive and defensive perspective. It's not a one-sided view.

A LL kid bleeding for a walk ain't the same as an MLB primadonna. It's absolutely okay in my book to grant a borderline strike here.

In HS, I might say "Knock it off."

Above that, let 'em posture all they want.

And you'll break my stones here, RI, but I believe there are times when an umpire MUST impose his personal point of view into the goings-on.

Harrumph.

Ace

[TussAgee11]

There are absolutely times when your personality and point of view will be imposed.

Last weekend I DQ'd a kid for striking out swinging and throwing his bat as hard as he could into the ground, along with the helmet. I viewed it as a safety concern, and removed him from the game. That was my personal point of view of the happenings. I choose not to mess around when it comes to actions like this because that is one part of my job I take VERY seriously; safety.

Others may have warned him, others may have walked the other way because it wasn't directed at the umpire. Personal choice I guess.

[ozzy6900]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

There are absolutely times when your personality and point of view will be imposed.

Last weekend I DQ'd a kid for striking out swinging and throwing his bat as hard as he could into the ground, along with the helmet. I viewed it as a safety concern, and removed him from the game. That was my personal point of view of the happenings. I choose not to mess around when it comes to actions like this because that is one part of my job I take VERY seriously; safety.

Others may have warned him, others may have walked the other way because it wasn't directed at the umpire. Personal choice I guess.

Just curious, what did the player's coach do when you ejected him?

[TussAgee11]

Ozzy, what you would expect him to do...

I tried to keep him in, but it just wouldn't stop. At first, the coach yelled at his kid, when informed of the ejection, he wouldn't stop saying "how about a warning, you've got to be kidding". He approached me and I told him it was a safety concern in my judgment. He kept trying to reason and get the kid "unejected."

Finally I just heard enough of this subdued talk, probably even entertained him too much (between 45 seconds and a minute), and told the coach, "Coach, the player is disqualified. In my judgment he endangered the safety of all participants. Now lets get back to baseball." I gave him so much time because it was the 2nd game I had with him and had no previous problems. Tried to give him the benefit of the doubt I guess.

I turned and walked away... with an open ear. I heard a loud "BULL****", and turned back around. Coach had turned back to his dugout and his hat was off about 10 feet away. No doubt the words came from him.

Well heck, I tried to keep him in the game...

Of course TD didn't back either of the ejections up with a game suspension... pretty typical but there's nothing I can do about it and no other games that I can do with my school schedule.

Partner (25 years exp) said I had no choice in either of them... and the TD was full of ****. He doesn't do USSSA much for this reason, only when his HS schedule tapers off.

Next day I get to the field, same TD, and he tells me, "try not to eject anyone today."

My reply: "I don't eject people, they eject themselves."

Freaking TDs... a real struggle around here.

[TussAgee11]

Did I mention the ejection of the kid who threw the bat as hard as he could into the ground (I mean wound up and SLAMMED, like he was spiking it) was accompanied by a very loud "F***"?

Just want to get all the facts across before judgment is passed

[DG]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

Did I mention the ejection of the kid who threw the bat as hard as he could into the ground (I mean wound up and SLAMMED, like he was spiking it) was accompanied by a very loud "F***"?

Just want to get all the facts across before judgment is passed

Don't know much about USSSA baseball, but according to the rules on their website:

11.04 Throwing of equipment will be an automatic ejection.

You don't need to explain yourself (safety concerns). It's a rule.

12.01 If a coach is ejected from a game, he must sit out the remainder of the game. Additional penalties may be assessed as deemed by the League/Tournament Director.

So remainder of the game sitout is all that is required by rule.

12.02 A player ejected must sit out the remainder of the game.

So remainder of the game sitout is all that is required by rule.

Don't fret about TD's. The teams at the tournament paid to be there and his only concern is that they pay to come back some day. It's not in his best interest to assess additional penalties. A good one would have a discussion with offenders though.

I suggest giving TD's the same attention you give assistant coaches.

[mbyron]

I had a minor bat throwing incident in FED game last week. Before I could say a word, here comes coach from the 3B box, asking for time as he goes by me (behind the plate), to yell at his player. I thanked him for taking care of it.

[DG]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I had a minor bat throwing incident in FED game last week. Before I could say a word, here comes coach from the 3B box, asking for time as he goes by me (behind the plate), to yell at his player. I thanked him for taking care of it.

That's what we would all expect a coach to do, not throw a fit after his batter is tossed (for a more serious infraction) and get himself tossed.

[aceholleran]

I was reffing a semi-formal HS-hoops summer league once (yes, there is an analogy to the dimwitted TD here) here, and one team was just a bunch of whiney-a$$ moaners. No coaches, but there were adults on clock and book.

After a while, during a dead ball period, a I addressed the entire team with a brief "look, knock off the crying and just play" philippic. The guy on the book (who would be paying me) then chastised me for "yelling at the kids." I said nothing to him.

My pard, by the way, was useless.

So, I decided to simply ignore the whiners, turning my back on protesting players. This simply increased the amount of babysh!t. Toward the end of the game, the same simpleton on the book told me that "you're losing control of the game."

After the game in the locker room with no one else around, he continued with this as he gave me my check. I said, "Look, do you want the game officiated properly, or do you you want to let these kids run loose?"

All I got back was a bunch of stammering. I knew I was one of the better refs in the circuit, simply because they were hiring a lot of newbies and lifetime jayvee guys. So I ended with, "And if you want to jump into my blankety-blank game again and act like a pantywaist motherfletcher, I'm gone."

Never heard another peep from the guy.

Ace in CT

[lawump]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I had a minor bat throwing incident in FED game last week. Before I could say a word, here comes coach from the 3B box, asking for time as he goes by me (behind the plate), to yell at his player. I thanked him for taking care of it.

I'll beat you with one even better: I CALLED a batter out on strikes in the minors. He took his helmet and spiked it on the plate (he didn't say a word).

Good-bye!!

The first base coach came sprinting down the line screaming, "what did he do? What did he do? You can't toss him."

I was about to toss the assistant coach...when the third base coach/manager got down the line. I was bracing for an argument with the manager when he looked at his first base coach and said, "he spiked his helmet on home plate and stuck it up his (my) a$$."

The manager then promptly went into the dugout and chewed out his player stating that, "this organization doesn't tolerate that type of bush league stuff."

The first base coach came out the next half inning and stopped and told me, "sorry blue, I didn't see the spiked helmet."

It was hilarious. I was bracing for an argument with two base coaches, and rather watched the manager tell his assistant coach to cool down and then chewed out his player in the dugout before he hit the showers.

By the way, I was in no hurry to insist that the ejected player leave the dugout.

[MichaelVA2000]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

Next day I get to the field, same TD, and he tells me, "try not to eject anyone today."

My reply: "I don't eject people, they eject themselves."

Freaking TDs... a real struggle around here.

Similiar situation with a TD saying the same thing,

My reply: Ask the coaches to maintain behavior that won't allow them to eject themselves.

[bluezebra]

Originally Posted by TwoBits

They are passed from father to son. I've been hearing the "hands are part of the bat" argument for 20 years now. That's one full generation.

Only 20 years? OVER 60 years for me. And in all that time, checking hundreds of sporting goods stores from Chicago to Southern California, I NEVER found a bat with hands attached.

Bob