When did they change the balk rule?

[cardinalfan]

I prefer "That's enough, coach" with the stop sign as opposed to "Not another word". That's gives me freedom to discern if the next "word" is legitimate.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Normally, I don't say that to a coach; I have told it to players a few times, and a couple of them got tossed. But this guy was an assistant and was truly already supposed to be tossed for what he had said. So it was almost a part of the tossing procedure.

I think I'll continue to avoid saying that to a head coach. I'm definitely more of a stop-sign-and-that's-enough-coach kind of guy.

[UMP25]

I've used a variety of orders, from "Knock it off" to "That's enough." That usually silences them. They know continual complaining may result in them being ejected.

Again, that's one of the limitations of a baseball umpire. We can't issue technical fouls, we can't issue yellow cards, we can't flag them for unsportsmanlike conduct. We can only really eject them if they get out of hand or do something the rules state they're not permitted to do.

[socalblue1]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Normally, I don't say that to a coach; I have told it to players a few times, and a couple of them got tossed. But this guy was an assistant and was truly already supposed to be tossed for what he had said. So it was almost a part of the tossing procedure.

I think I'll continue to avoid saying that to a head coach. I'm definitely more of a stop-sign-and-that's-enough-coach kind of guy.

Kevin, you baited a coach!

[UMP25]

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by socalblue1

Kevin, you baited a coach!

Wait, wait, wait.

Did I bait that gigantic blowhard??

Come on, really?

Naw, I'm not putting that in the baiting catalog. That's a precise order on how to behave. Restriction that was not followed. Baiting would be something like, "Come on, Coach, say one more word ..."

Oh, and a marvelous post script to the I-played-professional-ball blather: No man by the name that he goes by ever played a minute of minor league ball for any major league affiliate. Maybe he's the first one to play pro ball who's somehow not listed on the minor league database, but I'm betting that he just lied and he's an even bigger blowhard than he seemed. And he's already the biggest blowhard ever. I mean, the gods and Steve couldn't have sent a bigger, dumber one.

[cardinalfan]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Wait, wait, wait.

Did I bait that gigantic blowhard??

Come on, really?

Naw, I'm not putting that in the baiting catalog. That's a precise order on how to behave. Restriction that was not followed. Baiting would be something like, "Come on, Coach, say one more word ..."

Oh, and a marvelous post script to the I-played-professional-ball blather: No man by the name that he goes by ever played a minute of minor league ball for any major league affiliate. Maybe he's the first one to play pro ball who's somehow not listed on the minor league database, but I'm betting that he just lied and he's an even bigger blowhard than he seemed. And he's already the biggest blowhard ever. I mean, the gods and Steve couldn't have sent a bigger, dumber one.

Kev, you didn't bait the coach... but you did get baited into responding to Socalblue!

[UMP25]

If Kevin is going to claim that he did not bait the coach, he cannot claim I baited my head coach last weekend, especially because all I did was address a coach's contentions that I could not call a balk in a specific game situation. I asked a coach when I could call said balk. He could have easily replied, "Uh, I don't know" or something similar. Instead, he pops off with the "You're phucking...".

[socalblue1]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Wait, wait, wait.

Did I bait that gigantic blowhard??

Come on, really?

Naw, I'm not putting that in the baiting catalog. That's a precise order on how to behave. Restriction that was not followed. Baiting would be something like, "Come on, Coach, say one more word ..."

Oh, and a marvelous post script to the I-played-professional-ball blather: No man by the name that he goes by ever played a minute of minor league ball for any major league affiliate. Maybe he's the first one to play pro ball who's somehow not listed on the minor league database, but I'm betting that he just lied and he's an even bigger blowhard than he seemed. And he's already the biggest blowhard ever. I mean, the gods and Steve couldn't have sent a bigger, dumber one.

Warning a coach or player with "One more word ..." is baiting. Human nature is going to cause a response, resulting in either an ejection or escalation, thus my baiting comment.

Not that baiting is always bad. It's simply a tool to help obtain a quick resolution to a problem before it can get out of hand. In this case you knew the coach had to go & found a way to make that happen sooner rather than later. No problem form me there.

[UMP25]

I agree, socal.

[cardinalfan]

There isn't this much talk about baiting on the frickin' Bassmasters website.

I do think there's a small difference. "One more word..." is backing the coach into a corner. I don't use it, because human nature will make him want to respond defensively. But he does have a choice.
"Why don't you say one more word..." would be obvious baiting. Then if he does what you asked him (sarcastically) to do, he gets tossed.

I'm tired of this discussion. Party on...

[cardinalfan]

Dang, guys. We could have saved a lot of bandwidth if we had just watched this video first:

YouTube - How to Be a Baseball Umpire : Umpire Etiquette

[johnnyg08]

"we are no longer going to talk about X,Y,or Z" state what you're no longer talking about...anything after that could be judged as prolonged and you now have grounds to eject or in FED...put the ol' seatbelt on him.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Uh, he was an assistant. These are head coach techniques. The assistant had already done it, and I was informing him of what the restrictions were. If it was a head coach, there would have been a different approach, because they're allowed to speak to us.

Why is that key difference seemingly unrecognized?

[johnnyg08]

wasn't commenting on your interaction with the assistant.