Was this too much?
 

I'm bringing this situation up to inquire about what should happen with an ejected player after a game.

Adult league game, my team is on the field. R1. Ground ball to second baseman who overthrows first base and throws it out of play. Plate umpire sends R1 to 3rd and BR to 2nd. Immediately upon hearing the call, young first base coach starts yelling very disrespectfully at 65+ year old umpire, including the phrase "I am a former umpire!".

By now you can tell by the umpire's voice that he is provoked, p1ssed off and even a bit nervous. After a bit more yelling from the player, he tosses him. Immediately upon ejecting, the player gets in his face and yells "you're brutal" among other things. He actually points his finger at the umpire, and the ump takes a grab at his finger. Fortunately the player moves it away, but starts yelling "don't touch me! Don't touch me!". Nobody intervenes, but finally the player goes to the bench where he is greeted with high fives by over half his team mates.

The plate umpire, from on the field, tells him "you have one minute to leave the ballpark or this game is forfeited", and then looking at his watch "10 seconds are up already". Now another player starts yelling "he's got to get his stuff!" and "it's a public park you can't kick him out of here!". I believe that the ejected player did eventually leave.

My question is should an umpire be putting a time limit (ie 1 minute) on how long a player has to leave the park? Also, where do you guys normally require a player to go after he is ejected?

Curious
Was the umpire working solo?

I don't want to see or hear from him again. Whatever it takes to accomplish this is what I require.

I'm not starting the game until the guy has vacated and I don't want to be standing around giving this guy more opportunity to yell, incite, confront or generally continue to act like an a$$ hole. So motivating his departure with a threat of forfiet seems perfectly OK to me. It also may be the only way to get his teammates motivated to help the situation.

"Adult league game" commonly known as "Baby sitting"

65+ yr old umpire trying to grab the finger of an adult, acting like a kid! ??
Unprofessional.

Umpire making up rules to send the pouting little brat to his room!! !

Boy that must have been fun.

Generally, a reasonalble amount of time (as determined by the official) to leave the confines of the field is acceptable unless League rules state differently.

Outside the confines of the field is not the jurisdiction of the umpire. But if he can get the players to belive otherwise, Go for it!

Outside my field is my jurisdiction when it comes to an ejected participant. Out of my sight and sound.

1st Base Coach is a moron... where do these people come from???

This was NOT too much. Only comments I would make would be that 1 minute is a little short and the Umpire should not have tried to grab the finger - very bad action. My standard practice for ejections is a reasonable amount of time and as far away as possible preferably out of sight and sound. Yes the forfeit can be used for incentive . Works for me !!

It depends on how close the idiot's finger was to the ump's face. If it were close enough to possibly poke him in the eye, he should have broken it.

As for time to leave, if the fool can't get his gear together in a minute, he has another problem.

Bob

I pretty much agree with Bob. The one minute may be a little much of a constraint to allow the azzhole time to collect his gear, but if he brings that finger in close proximity to an umpires face, the umpire is well within his rights to see to it that he's not going to be poked in the face.



Tim.

Once a participant is ejected the conversation between he and I is over. Assuming I had a partner, I'd expect him to intervene and escort the player/coach off the field if needed. I'm turning and taking a walk up the opposite foul line to get away from their bench. If the ejected party is still lurking around the bench and refusing to leave in a timely fashion I or my partner will seek out the manager or whoever is in charge and inform them that the game will not resume until the player leaves the area. I would never put a time limit on it but I will let the manager know that the game is subject to forfeiture.

I've been told by our rules interp. never use the "f" word (forfeit).

I've had this discussion on this board before, and I understand that an umpire does have the right to forfeit a game. This power is given to him in the rule book.

However, depending on the age group of the kids, I would lean more to a "this game is postponed" and walk off the field before I started threatening forfeit.

To me, if I have to threaten it, it should already be forfeited.

Instead, use the ploy of "this game is not starting" for him to get out of your sight and sound. Also it can help to use a reasonable assistant to get a HC out, but you better be sure the assistant is reasonable before you use this tactic.

Interesting responses guys.

It turns out this umpire was working with a "partner", even though he never even got close to the argument to try and settle things down.

As I saw it, the player pointed his finger at the umpire's chest, and the finger was not about to make any sort of contact with the umpire. The umpire later mentioned to another player that he had done it in self-defence, but I think that was more of a cover-up. Chances are he did it out of aggression.

Personally I do not think an umpire should put a time limit on how long a player has to leave the ballpark. What if he has to find a pair of misplaced sunglasses? What if he's got a lot of equipment out and has to gather it all together and put it in his bag? I do think this umpire was asking for trouble by counting down from a minute to forfeit the game.

He should think about those things before he acts like a ****ing douchebag.

The player can come back and get his stuff after the game is over.

I'd only put a "time limit" on the player if he was refusing to leave (not clear from your post).

I don't want him coming back after the game. He needs to get his sh*t and leave. I would delay the game long enough for him to do that and if it is taking too long I would tell his coach he needs to get going. I would only use the F word if his coach is not being cooperatative to get him to leave.

Adult baseball.... might-have-beens, wannabees, and never-weres.

Anyway, we've talked a bit about the reaction of the umpire and his useless partner. What I want to know is: what's the deal with the idiot 1B coach? Am I missing something, because it sounds like the call was correct, so what the h3ll was his problem?

And from the stories you've told, and other Canadian posters have mentioned, what's the deal up there? Is it just because you guys can finally go outside without freezing to death, that players/coaches lose their minds on the field? Or is pent-up aggression from watching the Stanley Cup playoffs? Holy smokes!

Unfortunately I do not have a great basis for comparison with my neighbours to the south, because I've only umpired there on a couple occasions. I do get the picture that you guys pay better and have more baseball leagues, but that's about all I can tell.