Common Sense Umpiring

[ENelson]

When you get to the field to umpire your game you go through a pregame with your partner hopefully. You discuss mechanics, rotations and responsibilities. You get in the mindset of the game. You dress professionally and you walk into the game confident and poised. You have your pregame with the coaches and the game begins.

Now you have a strong foundation for the game. You establish your strike zone in the first inning. All is going well. You have sold the coaches and fans that you know what you are doing and have good control of the game.

Now a coach questions a close call. Be it Balls/Strikes or just a whacker. Then there is a time where the pitcher doesn't completely stop with a runner on 3rd. You are in the 5th inning and the coach starts to chip a bit. The fans are groaning. The game is close. The game is heating up. How do regain the edge that you established at the begining of the game?

Well let's analyze this. You did everything right in the pregame. Right? If not pull your partner in and get it right now.

You are confident. If not concentrate and go back to the basics.

The coaches are getting frustrated. Pull the coach aside between innings and get him to tell you what is bothering him. Listen.....Listen.... Tell him you are giving him 100% and maintain a level of control. Usually this will get him on your side. Usually he is frustrated with the game situations and not your calls. Keep it short and non confrontational. It will work.

Now the worst situation an umpire gets into. A call be it rule or judgement call. The coach is not buying it. How do you maintain control. First of all you do not need to sell him on it. You made the call and it is done. You listen to what he has to say. A good guage is to let him talk for 20 seconds. That is a long time and he will be worn out by then. If he says something that is not correct, do not interrupt him because the 20 seconds strats over. Use your best communication skills to get your point acroos as a question. This way he is on the defense and not you.

If the coach is abusive you need to let him know that he has said enough and he needs to go back to dug out and we need to continue play. Then turn and walk away. Maintain your composure. Do not be smug, abusive, defensive or demeaning. As you walk away hopefully your partner is able to step in and get the coach to the dug out. If not get to a place so far out of where he should be and then turn and ask him to go to the dug out you have heard enough. Do not give him a time limit and do not say I do not want to hear another word. If he says WORD you have to throw him. For saying WORD. Do not put yourself in that situation.

All of this is Common Sense Umpiring. It begins with a strong foundation. Self Control. Knowledge and Experience. Respect for members of the game is necessary, this includes coaches, players and fans. If you leave the chip at home and keep you attention betwen the lines you will be successful.

Too many times have I seen umpires call time, and yell or point in a aggressive manner to get something. Be it equiptment, a pitcher warming up, or someone that is loud. Control and timing is everything. Use Common Sense. If someone is yelling acknowlege him and ask him to come to you. Meet him half to 3/4 of the way. If he is yelling acroos the field in a controled manner gesture him to come to you.

Avoid people in the stands. If someone is that much out of control then ask the coach to help. If he is unable then see if there is an administrator. If there is not one on site then you can live with it or you can pull all players in and suspend play. Remember if he is distracting you then he is distracting the players and this can get someone hurt. If you do pull the players then you will not resume play until he leaves. Do not confront a fan yourself. The coach, administrator, or official should confront the fan.

Avoiding confrontation is difficult, yet necessary. Fans and out of control participants are not in the right frame of mind and not expected to be. An officail is expected to always be in the right frame of mind.

[greymule]

Good advice, ENelson. I would add the following: bear down, call them exactly the way you see them (no stretching the corners for wild pitchers on 3-0 counts), and give every call a little extra energy. When it gets tough, be completely professional in every way. Late in a close game, you're going to get flak no matter what, but if they sense they can influence you, you're in real trouble.

[Doug]

i have found a question is always best anwsered w/ a question. "why was that obstruction" "coach what is obstruction". I used it during the bb season and it worked great! coach: " why wasn't that goal tending" official "coach, what is goal tending". try it

[Rich Ives]

Doug, you are hoping the coach can't define it, thus you are attempting to show him he doesn't know what he's asking, thus you are "putting him in his place."

BUT - what do you do if the coach provides the correct definition/interpretation, then repeats the question? Now who's on the hot seat? You are. You got out-gotchaed.

So just forget the one-upmanship and just say "Coach, F3 impeded the runner" (or whatever) and be done with it.

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by Doug
i have found a question is always best anwsered w/ a question. "why was that obstruction" "coach what is obstruction". I used it during the bb season and it worked great! coach: " why wasn't that goal tending" official "coach, what is goal tending". try it

Doug:

I take exception to your "advice." It may have been successful for YOU for ONE brief season.

I promise you — and anyone else reading this — that it won't work as a game control device.

Make the call, and don't talk to coaches.

Asking a professional coach a question is like waving the cloth in front of the bull.

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Doug

i have found a question is always best anwsered w/ a question. "why was that obstruction" "coach what is obstruction". I used it during the bb season and it worked great! coach: " why wasn't that goal tending" official "coach, what is goal tending". try it

Doug I agree with Carl and Rich. I do not know where you are from but if you try that in my area, your lucky if you will be assigned a TEE Ball game for your next assignment.

Doesn't matter what do not answer a question with a question.

My advice would be to simply say:

"Coach IN MY JUDGEMENT, F6 was not in the act of making a play and hindered r2's progress, which is obstruction. I will not get into a debate, etc. with the coach as I do not want to slow down the game. A simple precise answer and it's time to Play ball. The coach might not agree with me (which is normal), but at least I took the time to explain what I saw and knew what Obstruction is.

IMO, an umpire needs to know why he / she is enforcing a certain penalty and be able to explain it, otherwise why call it.

When you respond by answering the coach with a question IMO it: (a) could be a sign that you are trying to show up the coach or (b) you really don't know the rule yourself so your are trying to weasel your way out of any confrontation.

I'm surprised you haven't been burned using your suggestion. My gut tells me if you keep using it, eventually lightening will strike

Pete Booth

[Whowefoolin]

I am a strong believer in human instincts. It is only human to notice someone who is weak. By weak I mean unknowledgeable and untrained. So you can do yourself a favor by looking the part and knowing the part.

If a manager(s) see that you are non interest, nervous, or dumb they will feed off that before, during, and after the games. Go into the pre-game leading the discussions and telling them what is going to happen.

Guarranteeeed they will go back to the dugout thinking they have FINALLY got a decent umpire and also less tempted to challenge you on boarderline calls.

But you have to know that games go in usual ways. First two innings are quiet and everyone is happy. Middle innings things start to happen because one team is getting a lead, or neither team is pulling away. Now this will either stay tense if it is close, or you will go into the third area of the winning team being quiet and the losing team piping up. Be prepared for it. Know it is going to happen, and if it don't, all the better.

[ENelson]

Again there is no perfect solution for every situation. You must evaluate the situation. I am concerned that there would be an umpire that would not want to talk to coaches. Baseball is a game that there is interaction many times between umpires, coaches and players. If you put up that shield and lack that communication skill you will have difficulty. I attended the NCAA umpire conference in Atlanta. The director of umpires Gary Nelson discussed the topic that umpires need to be approachable. They need to listen, and they need to strive to make the right call. Yes, that included an umpire to evaluate the situation and possibly discuss the call with partners and make the right call. The Major Leagues are doing this as well as the NCAA. David Yaste supported this philosophy and Tony Thompson and other supervisors expect tht from umpires that work for them.

Hopefully this does not open the door to umpires being intimidated and asking about every close call. A whacker should never be changed, but a fair\foul Home Run, a dropped ball, or a interference should be made correctly.

If the umpire does not allow the coach to discuss these situations then the integrity of the game is at risk.

Again, there are many ways to obtain the solution and the circumstances warrant the best means to work it out. Use Common Sense.

[GarthB]

In the occasional instances of confrontation with a coach, I revert to my training from my days on the police department:

I listen. I allow the coach to have his say and let it out. Sometimes this is all he wanted.

I adopt a nonagressive and nondefensive posture. I don't let my body language show him up or make me appear weak.

I speak softly. I make the coach spend as much energy listening as he does talking. Sometimes I will lower my voice to a near whisper.

I try to make him a part of my solution by utilizing words such as "we" and "our."

I will speak to what I saw and what I called. If the discussion centers around a rule application, I will explain the rule and how I applied it. I will answer only those questions focused on the same criteria.

(Exceptions are made when one of my long time favorites comes out on a call and discusses his favorite Italian recipes with me..."Hey, Garth, you tried that baked calamari I told you about? Remember the three cheeses when you do and make sure you don't let the garlic burn, okay? By the way, tough play there, you sure you got it?" Yeah, coach, I got it good. "Okay, ya know I had to ask, the kid is pretty disappointed. Take care." Thanks, coach.)

I refer only to the reality at hand; I will not speak to hypothetical situations. This helps to keep the coach focused on the current issue.

If after all this and at least three attempts to make sure he stays in the game, he decides he wants to leave early and demonstrates such by the F bomb, refusal to allow the game to proceed or personal derogatory comments, I will eject him utilizing Jim Porter's "little finger"...no big show, no dance, no shout to the upper rows. "Coach, you have to leave the field now, you have been ejected."

At that point, in my mind, he no longer exists. I will not talk to him further and will rely on my partner to escort him off the field, if necessay.

[Tim C]

I wrote an article on the ABUA website about handling arguments.

Much like Garth when a Skipper comes out I use the Doug Harvey "20 Second Rule" . . . I let the coach talk for 20 seconds, uninterupted and let him get out what ever he wants.

I then ask,

"Coach tell me what YOU saw!"

Often the coach, knowing that I have worked for decades, will say something like, "Darn Tee, it looked pretty clear from the bench that he was under the tag."

So I answer something like, "Well skip, I KNOW you're not out here questioning my JUDGMENT but just cuz we're friends it was a great play, a great slide but from my view, hmmm, about 12 feet away, he sure looked dead-out to me."

THEN I WALK AWAY. As far as necessary letting him know the conversation is over . . . and I keep walking (once all the way to the RF fence) letting the coach know that the discussion has completed.

Also like Garth I had a coach that always wanted to talk about building model airplanes when he came out to protect a player. Some guys are weird.

[etbaseball]

Ed -

It's really interesting how connencted many of the elements of this game of "ball" can be. The illustrated insite that you shared reflects the many years that you've spent learning the 'in's and out' (NPI) of superior game management skills.

As I read and thought about your comments, this old brain of mine, was immediately focused on the much taught tennent of baseball - "pause, read and react." In most of my experiences I've notice that the better umpires use the 'pause, read and react' priciple when dealing with coaches and players.

It's also related to the 'two ears and one mouth' principle. Umpires should listen twice as much, and speak half as much in return.

If umpires want to produce the most effective results they must recognize that we are equal parts of the equation. Umpires must treat all others the way they desire to be treated in return. This game does present many unusual developments, which, quite often, require further explanation or deffinition. Understand that and deal with it.

No umpire should ever patronize a coach or player. Be honest and learn to listen well, and respond sincerely.

This is perhaps one of the most critical activities that and umpire encounters, and how they 'measure up' quite often determines how many high level games they will be asked to officiate.

Thanks for initiating this thread, ED.




[Edited by etbaseball on Mar 31st, 2002 at 01:57 PM]