Stupid Dad

[Huskerblue]

R1 and R3. Wild pitch gets lodged in the backstop fence. Dead Ball. R1 gets 2nd and R3 gets home. Some mad dad in the stands couldn't beleive we allowed the run to score because the catcher, (his son I think)quote "Couldn't even reach the ball to make a play". I was laughing hard. On the inside of course.

[greymule]

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out what some father meant when, after his daughter was put out at home but had the wind knocked out of her in the slide/tag play, came running out of the stands toward the backstop, face red and veins bulging, screaming, "Ump! That play happened IN THE BASE LINE!!"

[Buckeye12]

I've been yelled at by an angry mother at a Junior High baseball game for calling strikes at the chest!

[ozzy6900]

I listened to a mother complain (crying ... tears & all) to my son's UIC that her son is always called out when he steals (LL major's). "It's just not fair!" was all she kept saying through her sobs to the UIC. I saw 3 of the plays, her son was out by a mile on each one!

[brandda]

My two favorites this year:

1) R1 dislodges third as he goes by. R2, not knowing the rule, runs 5 feet out of the base path and slides into the base now lying upside down in the outfield. My partner correctly calls the boy out and from behind me I hear, "HE WAS SAFE. NO BASE, NO PLAY!"

2) R1 on third, screaming shot hit down the third base line nails him. Fair ball, my partner calls him out. Immediately, several people behind me erupt with "HE WAS ON THE BASE!". I just turned around and looked at them quizically and said, "and?".

I don't mind parents getting excited, and I do not even mind them yelling rules at me. What I do not understand is how they can be so sure about rules that they clearly don't know.

[DrC.]

IN a game last night, we were about 20 minutes from a time curfew. We saw lightning strikes and got the kids off the field. We decided to suspend the game (since they have a 30 minute wait rule). Both Managers were fine with the decision. As we were walking off the field, some kid is telling his MOM that those "fags" called the game. Hearing this, I said excuse me and his Mother right away said he wasn't talking about you (who else would he be talking about???). He had the gall to say yes he was. Do you think the mother said anything. NO she did not. She did not tell him to apologize or anything. I had to pull my partner (who had the dish) away. AS we then were walking towards our car, some asst coach was screaming (to whoever was nearby) about how could we call the game. You guessed it, it was the same kids DAD. No wonder the kid lacks respect.

The sad thing was that it was a horrible game. Nothing but walks or errors. One team had only eight players (it was a league rule they could play with 8!!!). For that, they wanted to take a risk.!!!

[bluezebra]

"I don't mind parents getting excited, and I do not even mind them yelling rules at me. What I do not understand is how they can be so sure about rules that they clearly don't know."

I have found, over the years, the ones who know the least scream the loudest. And when asked how they know that's the rule, "Because EVERYONE knows that."

Bob

[greymule]

DrC, my son once played in a LL game that was called on account of darkness after 5 innings. The opposing (home) coach, down 11-8, protested loud and long about how his team was being robbed. Not only was it too dark at the time, but the first 5 innings had taken almost 2 hours to play, and we would have had to complete another full inning. Even if my son's team made three quick outs, it would have been full night by the time the home team got up. But one wonders what the coach was trying to prove: throughout the entire game, his team had not made contact with a single pitch. Not a fair ball, not a foul. Not even a foul tip. Every single batter had either stuck out (15), walked (21), or been hit by a pitch (2). So I guess if in the pitch blackness our kid had walked four runs in, the coach could have gone to the bar and told everybody how he guided his team to a win that night.

[Edited by greymule on Jun 6th, 2002 at 02:43 PM]

[insatty]

In one game last year, a mom seated behind the screen chastises me for 3 innings because I allowed R1 to steal on a foul tip. "C'mon blue, you have to send the runner back on a foul ball!, etc., etc...."

In another game, a dad complains for an hour that I didn't call a infield fly when batter bunts ball straight up in the air to F1.

But we're taught to not talk to the fans. So we have to take the grief, and wonder why we take this on the weekends instead of spending time with our own kids. Are hobbies supposed to be this infuriating?

[Rich Ives]

We have Jim Booth's 40 Rules Myths posted near the concessiopn stand, plus an additional thing I wrote on some other rules. People read some of them and mutter things like "you're kidding aren't you"

HeeHee

[GarthB]

At an American Legion game I had a grandfather of a player approach the backstop and yell that if the batter squares to bunt, but doesn't bunt, he is guilty of interfering with the catcher's right catch the pitch.

Fortunately, I was able to maintain my policy of not repsonding to idiots, but holding in the laugh wasn't easy.

[kbaerslt]

In a game I was doing 2 weekd ago i had runners on second and third with 2 out and 2 strikes on the batter. The pitch came in and bouced right infrot of the plate and goes over the back stop. Oh the batter swung at it for strike 3. I come out with time and award all the runner one base including the batter. The def. coach wants to know why that is not the third out. I had to explain that it is considered a dropped third strike and that you have to either tag the batter or throw him out at 1st. The coach was fine with that. On the other had the off. coach want both his runner to score. He thought and thrown ball that goes out of play is a 2 base award. I explained that a pitched ball all runner get one base, then told him that is why your batter got first on strike 3. He shruged his shoulders and went back to his coaches area. Then all of a sudden I hear 1 plus 1 out of the stand and started to laught on the inside. I love some of the things i hear from coaches and parents.

kb

[kman]

I was doin a LL game and the coach kept arguing about a call my partner (who was doing homeplate) had mad early in the game. He was only complaining enough where it got on my nerves because he thought he knew everything (trust me he didn't) and after awhile i got out my rulebook and explained the call to him. He didnt say a word the rest of the game. It felt really good to proove him wrong.

[spillguy]

Heard this from a dad at one of my son's 9-10 games. "He didn't pull the bat back soon enough on the bunt, STRIKE !" (dad's have to call the games at this level). I call time and go talk to him. Let the call stand, on my son at the plate no less. At the half inning I bring out the book and ask him to show me where it says the batter must bring the bat back by a certain time.

Two innings later I hear him say "tie goes to the runner". I wheel around and cant help laughing as I say "there are no ties in baseball".

Oh well, good thing he didn't give me the boot.

[bluezebra]

You can add Moms to the list. MANY years ago I was co-managing a park league team that my oldest son was on. We were beating the other team badly, and after the 6th inning, my partner and I (he was all for the kids, as I was) asked the other manager if he'd like to play another inning, so his subs who hadn't much playing time could get another at bat. He agreed, as did the ump. This woman comes out of the stands, screaming her head off. "You only want to keep playing, so you can have a chance to win". "Excuse me, 'LADY', but if you check the score, we won already, and want to give your team a chance to get more playing time". "oh".

Bob