artist's

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Umpire_Jeremy



I've agreed with you on most occasions, however, this is one that I do not. Drawing lines=instant ejections. And no, I do not eject very often at all, but I do have limits.

Good to hear from you again.

Jeremy nice to hear from you too. Why the long absence?

In any event this thread points out that we each have our own styles I agree that when a player draws a line an umpire cannot allow that player to show him up

I don't diagree with that statement at all. My disagreement is with the manner in which an umpire deals with it. Now I agree in the 16 on down range, these players (perhaps some do) don't understand the concept of FYC so it's best to eject.

However, in the Varsity level and above it is an acceptable method. Just ask a coach if he would rather have blue send a message to his star player or toss in inning number 1.

We all have our own lines that people cannot cross to begin with so to me this is similar.

I am not saying to allow a player to show you up, all I am saying is that there is another method out there other than ejection. For those that eject that's your perogative, but if I want to send a message to me that is similar to tossing.

I got my POINT across and either the player gets the MESSAGE or they don't. As I mentioned to the original poster, I do not send multiple messages. This is a ONE time only deal and the MESSAGE being sent is for the benefit of BOTH teams so should a player from either team draw a line again, then it's see ya have a nice day.

Also, we need to know the player involved. If the player is a hot head to begin with then NO message will work so that type of player will get ejected, however, depending upon the situation and player involved, sending a Message is an alternative to tossing and that's all I was trying to point out.

Pete Booth

[Gold_Spark]

In that you don't have to eject a player in order to get a message across.

However, I don't believe you should intentionally call balls strikes. That's cheating in my mind.

If I was put into this situation, I would have immediately called time out and approached the batter. I would then explain to him that there has never been a perfectly played baseball game. And considering this, nobody should expect an umpire to CALL a perfect game. Moreso, I am the umpire and he is the player. The bottom line is . . . if he doesn't show me up, I won't show him up. Either accept my calls and play the game or face option number two: ejection.

I've done this on several different occassions and to say it worked would be an understatement. The players (13,14,15 yr olds) not only accepted how I handled the situation but they actually became fond of me as an umpire.

I dunno know fellas. I'm not as experienced as the majority of you, but this one works for me. It settles the conflict and allows the player to remain in the game.

Of course if more of these incidents would occurr from the same player or team . . . an ejection would definitely be in order.

But in my opinion . . . this approach gains some respect from the players. And if you can gain their respect, you usually have it pretty easy.

[Boone]

GS, you make some fine points. But I equate your little chat with the players to catching my dog digging in the garbage can. I can scold him all I want and he will think to himself, better not do that again...when old Booney is around.

They may well learn their lesson when you are umping them, but more times than not, once a different ump is behind the plate, all bets are off. "Well this guy hasn't warned me yet, lets see what I can get away with"

When a guy's been dumped the message is not only sent, its received.

[Marty Rogers]

This situation will be handled differently by each umpire, no matter how much we debate the pros and cons of a warning, or an instant ejection. It's a matter of personal style.

Boone: I understand your point, however, I don't care about a player/team/coach regarding umpires they have in future games. My job is to manage my game at the present, not to "train" players to behave for the next umpire they encounter.