When baseball was a Game

[PeteBooth]

The most recent thread concerning F3 blocking First base on a pickoff attempt prompted me for my thread.

In today's environment Umpiring is more difficult than when we played and I'm not talking from a rules perspective. Yes, there are many leagues that have various rules, but we can all read and do research and while we might not be guru's of all the rules and interpretations, we can get pretty good if we do our homework.

It's the "other stuff" that causes the problems. When we played, the game Policed itself, so things like this F3 blocking the bag on a pickoff issue is concerned, it was basically a non issue when we played especially after F3 got his bell rung and learned.

I'm not saying we didn't have our scraps or 2 when we played but nothing like today. If we allow the game to police itself in todays environement the REAL POLICE will be involved.

It's like if a player breathes the wrong way - watch out.

Things like hand clapping on the bases, or swing batter swing are looked upon as bush league. And while I agree that these are bush league tactics, they were taken care of when we played if you know what I mean.

In additon, when F1 comes inside to get B1 off the plate, as an umpire you now have to look carefully into the players eyes because that glare will surface.

I realize all of this depends upon the area and league you umpire. Some leagues are baseball savy and understand what's going on, however, other leagues aren't and those are the leagues that we have to be careful with.

This is the one facit of umpiring I do not enjoy. Yes, we have to have Game managemet skills, but sometimes these skills that we need border on a line of insanity.

Here's the paradox of it all.

Let's take the hand-clapping on the bases.

Me: "Coach common you know this is bushleague."

Coach: "Common Blue next thing you know my players will not be able to breathe"

Next time up this kid who was hand-clapping on the bases gets some chin music if you know what I mean - perfectly acceptable when we played

Coach: "Blue F1 is purposely throwing at my batter - better do something"

Me: "Coach I told you up front to knock it off"

Now parent from the stands (B1's father) makes a derogatory comment about F1 and guess what: You know what F1's father is also in attendance. Next thing you klnow the parents are going at it, the kids are all riled up all over something so trivial that was accepted when we played.

I enjoy umpiring otherwise I wouldn't do it, but to be honest this is the one facit that I could do without. What's your take

Pete Booth

[greymule]

Very good point, Pete. Reminds me of the play at second where they go in standing up to make the shortstop throw around them. We didn't need seventeen case book plays and a couple of school psychologists and a bureaucrat from OSHA to figure it out. One shot in the noggin cured that stuff and everybody knew it. Therefore you didn't see it.

A month ago, I was BU in a game with the PU 80 years old, and we had two obstruction calls in the first three innings. After the game, I asked him, "Charlie, in all the time you played ball, how many times did you see interference or obstruction called?" Answer: "Few times the batter hit the catcher's mitt. Can't remember any fielders obstructing runners. Maybe once or twice a runner ran into a fielder on a batted ball."

I didn't play as long as Charlie, but in my dozen or so years of school, Legion, college, and semi-pro, I simply can't remember any of these interference/obstruction questions that now clog the boards ever mattering. First baseman cheating his way down in front of the bag before the throw gets there? Wasn't an issue. The players knew what was fair and what wasn't, and that kind of stuff was just not tolerated.

As for the mouthing off, you were supposed to ignore it as long as it wasn't personal.

[Jim Porter]

Originally posted by greymule
I simply can't remember any of these interference/obstruction questions that now clog the boards ever mattering.

A lot of the board-clogging plays have to do with an unprecendented interest in lower-level baseball. When I played Little League, there was no such thing as T-ball, machine pitch, or coach pitch. We did have a Minor League, but no one wanted to watch it. Parents passed the time drinking coffee, chatting, and waiting to take their kids home.

Now, there's more people gathered and cheering at the T-ball field than the LL Majors field. Kids are being pressured to perform even before they've developed adequate skills. Some youth leagues have developed All-Stars at this level, and one has a World Series for six-year-olds!

When I played ball, priorities were straight. Minor League was for the younger kids to learn and build skills. The score was forgotten once the post-game hot dog hit the lips. And certainly no one would file a protest for anything. Now, the number of posts I've read, from T-ball to machine pitch to coach pitch to Minors, where there was a rule dispute, a protest, or someone was bitter because his team lost on a bad call, absolutely astounds and frightens me.

[jumpmaster]

I can't help but think that the attitudes of parents and kids these days stems from the prevailing belief that "I am not responsible." I am not sure where this comes from, some say it is all that "ultra-left wing communist propaganda", others say it is because of "those right wing republicans". I remember (and I am under 30) when we played because we loved the game. Parents were liable to pull your butt off the field for mouthing, sometimes even before coach had a chance to get you. I made the mistake of back talking blue once. Coach benched me, dad spanked me, and I had to apoligize.

How can we, as umpires, help change things so that there is a "respect for the game"?

[Roger Greene]

IMO. Viet-Nam, Watergate, materalism, and an over abundance of lawyers.

How can it be changed again? One child at a time.

sigh!

Roger Greene

[greymule]

There's also a common feeling today among many kids that anyone who submits to any kind of authority is a wimp or a "wuss." If the teacher tells you to sit down, you can't just sit down, you have to contest the order in some way--a wisecrack, an obscenity, a refusal, whatever. And authority is always wrong. The cop tells you to turn the music down, he's a fascist. The umps call the game, they're fags.

And watch a few minutes of a network sitcom or the latest bloody mayhem movie to see where they get the idea that real men use obscene language.

One child at a time will take quite a while. It used to be that parents, church, and school constantly reinforced the same messages, but unfortunately that's long gone.

[spillguy]

What has changed?

MLB players are millionairs, and parents think Little Johny or Kathy or Billy is going to be the next one. The kids start off at 4-5 and by age 9-11 have five or six years of pressure from dad or mom (yeah some of the moms are the worst). Everyone has to make the all-stars, half of the kids are playing winter ball ($), or at summer baseball camps ($$), or playing travel ball ($$$). Parents are spending $120 for a glove, $200 for a bat, etc.

Parents are protecting their "investment" both dollars and time.

It is sad.

Just one observation.....

[brandda]

While I would love to blame the lawyers, I think Jim is on to something. When I played as a child, the game was about the kids. Parents rarely even showed up, and those that did socialized the whole time.

Being in Texas, Football was of course a different story and it was rife with all the problems we see today. But, in baseball, it seemed like parents did not have the time or the inclination back in those days to get themseleves all worked up over something as trivial as little league. It was an enjoyable diversion, but only that.

Jumpmaster makes a good point also. I played college football so was pretty good in high school. I had to sit out my entire junior season because I came off the field, yelled at a coach and threw my helmet down in the first game. My dad said that I could play again when I had learned how to properly represent our family. It's hard to imagine that happening today.