Hbp?
 

A pitch is inside and in the dirt. The batter immediately drops his bat and starts to first base. PU yells down to the BU (in A) and says, "I didn't see it hit him. Did you?" BU shrugs his shoulders. PU tells the batter to come back. I ask for time and approach PU. I ask what is going on and he puts his mask in my face and says, "I don't know if it hit him or not!" I ask, "What are we going to do about it?'' He leans in even closer and repeats, "I don't know if it hit him or not!" I turn and walk back to my third base coaching box. When I get there, I see that PU is still "glaring" at me. I shrug and wait for play to resume. Could I have handled this differently?

Sounds like you handled it as well as possible.

Two other options:

1. Approach umpire and say, " Mr. Umpire you nailed that call, well done".

2. Approach umpire and say, " Mr. Umpire have you always been bleeping blind,
or did this just occur today"?

Thanks
 

That is what I thought. I just hate it when you try to be respectful and understand what is going on and you get one of the few who seem to have a chip on their shoulder and are there to be the show. This guy also spent most of the game looking into the stands. I guess he just needed to show who was in charge. He also must be a neat freak. I noticed him cleaning off the plate several time throughout the game. In one half inning, he cleaned it off 11 times. This was an innin that saw a total of seven batters and no plays at home.

Tell him, "hey joe, is one of your pant legs longer than the other". This ought to drive him crazy.....:D

What answer did you expect from your question? Obviously he didn't see the pitch hit your batter and asked his partner, who also didn't see it, for help.

You ask Could you have handled this differently

In a way yes

Why!

PU yells down to the BU (in A) and says, "I didn't see it hit him. Did you?" BU shrugs his shoulders.

We have bad mechanics but the point is the PU checked with his parther to see if B1 was HBP. The BU said no.

I ask what is going on and he puts his mask in my face and says, "I don't know if it hit him or not!" I ask, "What are we going to do about it?''

No need for PU to get in your face and as I said above bad mechanics but I have a little problem with your response "What are we going to do about it?''

Why!

Since the PU YELLED to his partner to ask if B1 was hit I am assuming you heard this as well. Once the PU checked with his partner your question "What are we going to do about it?'' is moot because there is NOTHING to do except bring back B1.

In summary: This was not handled professionally but IMO, when the PU said "I didn't se it hit him" meant that was the reason B1 was coming back to the plate so I do not understand your question "What are we going to do about it"?

FWIW - What did you want to happen?

Pete Booth

Sure: don't ask the follow-up question. You may believe you're being respectful at that point, but you're being as smart-a$$.

Why? Because for one, "we" don't do anything about it - coaches coach, umpires umpire. Thanks for your input, and the 1st Amendment protects your right to free speech, but it's still not your decision. He already DID something about it by bringing your guy back. AND, he went for help - poorly, perhaps, but he did look for it. Then, after he's gotten extra information AND indicated a ruling, you're asking "what are we going to do about it?" I don't know about him, but I'd be thinking: "Seriously?"

Thus, the glare.

Just remember: even though people in classes and seminars say "there are no stupid questions," they're lying.

My mistake
 

Looking back, I see that the "What are we going to do about it?" question should have not have been posed. I guess I was just reacting to his "staredown" by thinking I had to make a comment. Next time I will walk away sooner. I am sure this did not cause his "glaring" at me from 90+ feet away instead of getting the game back underway.

1.) PU should have only said, "Did it hit him?" He shouldn't have said, "I didn't see it him. Did you?" This is poor form. It's almost like the old, "He didn't go, did he?" on a checked swing.

2.) BU is incompetent for ever shrugging his shoulders in place of making a real call. He should have emphatically given a safe signal, accompanied by "no, it didn't hit him!" or signaling Time, accompanied by "Time. The ball hit the batter." The "search me" mechanic cannot be found in any umpiring manual on the planet.

3.) You must have gotten close enough to the umpire for him to "put his mask in your face." Don't ever invade the umpire's personal space. You did not have to go far out your coaches box to get an answer. The answer was already provided to you before you left your box. The umpires ruled (however badly they did it) that the batter didn't get hit. You unnecessarily went out of your way to confront the umpire. You invited the trouble.

4.) As others have said, WE aren't going to do anything about it. You are a coach, and therefore have absolutely no input as to decisions concerning baseball rules. Your job is to coach the players. If you want to umpire, become an umpire.

Here is the summary of my advice to coaches for dealing with umpire decisions:

1.) Head coaches/managers
<ul>Request time
Speak with respect
Don't get smart
Accept the ruling with grace
Return to your position promptly as to not further delay the game</ul>

2.) Assistant coaches
<ul>Do not try to argue with officials. It's not your job
Say "atta boy" to players and direct their paths on the bases
At end of game, say "good game, Mr. Umpire!"</ul>

Mask On
 

I always keep my mask on when dealing with coaches. This comes into play when I sometimes "stumble" into them and bump thier nose with my mask. This usually gets them away from me in a hurry.

Aren't you the same guy who in another thread threatened a pitcher with squeezing him so tight his "balls would hurt"???????

Please step down off of your pedistal and work on your game management skills.

Do not...repeat...do not ask your baseguy if it hit him..period. As the plateguy, you got to get that yourself. Now I know there are times we have to deal with balls in the dirt...dust coming up... we just have to umpire the best we can. You cannot put it on your partner who is 90' away to help you on that.

If PU didn't see it hit him odds are it didn't hit him. "What are we going to do about it" can be taken many different ways. I am sure you could've used a different set of words.

:D
That's a good one. You are, of course, just kidding around with us...

Lance, I didn't realize you were on this forum, too.

You have a lot to learn!

Troll alert.

Harmbu, I understand the situation in the OP. When I coached, I would've come down the line and questioned the PU just because his poor mechanics on this play shows a sign of doubt.
To keep from avoiding the PU's space, I always turned 90 degrees where my shoulder, not my chest, was toward the umpire. Then, if there was aggression, it came from him. And I wouldn't worry about the "glare", because this just means you accomplished what you really went down there for in the first place (unless you really thought he would change his call).
It's a baseball deal, and if he is professional, which may not be the case in this situation, he will call pitches and not let it effect the rest of the game.

I don't see any need to ask my partner if he saw the batter get hit. I tell the BU in the pregame to come in immediately if he sees something I don't (ie, ball batted off the foot, etc.)
But if I did ask, he better not shrug his shoulders. I want a signal, as was mentioned in an earlier post.

With all due respect, SDS, I could give a %^&$# less about the last one. Since they don't exist any other time, I don't care a flip about what they think about the end result. (Maybe I don't feel THAT strongly, in retrospect, but still....)

Here's a question, to change horses mid-stream: is anyone else out there as uncomfortable as I am when the coaches want to shake hands with me at the end of a game? Winning team, losing team, head coachs, AC, whatever - the last thing I want to do at the end of the game is shake hands.

I'm not trying to sound like an anti-social troglodyte, but I'm trying to act like a pro out there, and I would just as soon 'pick up' my partner and find that gate in the fence at the end. And this happens at HS as well as local rec leagues - not every coach, but there are some at every level. Some will speak and thank me/us, or say "good game, blue/Mr ump/whatever", and I just try to nod or say 'your welcome,' or some other minimalist response, but I'd almost prefer to just leave.

Part of it's because I umpire no closer than 35 miles from my home, so I have no ties to any league or area. But am I over-reacting to feel this way?

The Lone Ranger rides again
 

I like to imagine the coaches saying "Who was that masked man?"

I was just trying to think of anything else an assistant coach might have to do or say. If they say anything to me, it better be "nice game, sir.":)

While you shouldn't seek them out to shake hands, if you run into them while on your way to the nearest gate, then you should be polite / professional (which it sounds like you are).