cc6. I'd like to hear why you have so many ejections? I am not being a bung hole, I'd just like to know. I have had about 1 ejection per season for about the last 15 years. Not that my game management is any better, I just want to keep everybody in the game when possible. I don't rabbit into the dugout but I will issue a warning when necessary. Had a sit today ; R2, one out. Line drive to F6 who whips it to F4 going to bag to double off R2. He missed the base with his right foot and had to drag his left foot to touch the base. I safed him. HC came out and said I missed it. I asked very calmly what he saw. He said that the throw beat him by at least a step. I asked HC which foot did your F4 touch the base with. He didn't know. I then asked how he could make that determination. He was dumbfounded. I merely said his fielder missed the bag with the lead foot and had to drag is trailing foot. By that time the runner had his hand in. With this explanation, he went away with a nasty look at his F2. I believe alot of game management is how you explain it. Call 'em early and call 'em consistently.

This is right to the point and how it should be done. Slightly different wording, perhaps. Like Martin said, it's cause for ejection by rule in FED, so the pitcher has to know it's against the rules, so some overzealous by-the-book guy doesn't eject him for it down the road. So maybe a don't-do-that-it's-a-rule is more appropriate, but I love the whole procedure you described.

A combination of handling situations for weak partners along with some uncooperative coaches. More assertiveness needed before a situation gets out of hand. People making comments from the dugouts and coaches box rather than speaking to me discretely. Nothing annoys me more than people wanting to have an argument from a distance.

In San Diego, the coaches are given a "scratch list" at the beginning of the season, and they can scratch anyone they want from their home games. The assignor then makes sure those coaches see the umpires they scratched at many of their road games throughout the year. The coaches may not scratch an umpire mid-season. Once the list is submitted, that's it. The coaches cannot choose the umpires they do get, but they do have "request lists" for playoff games, and those requested umpires get the first shot at those games.