Pre-game umpire conference

[BretMan]

If the guy I'm working with seems reluctant to get into coverages and such pre-game, I'll try to at least hit a few points where we are likely to have problems. It kind of depends on how you broach the subject. Some guys just seem to take being told how something should be handled as an affront to their knowledge and experience and it puts them on the defensive.

Instead of saying, "This is what we're going to do", I'll ask, "What happens if...". At least that way you're going to get some response and get some dialog going, plus get a feel for your partner's experience level and expectations.

This season most of my partners have been receptive to a good pre-game and, I'd like to think as a result, I can't really remember anything that came up where we had any problems in coverage or communication.

It helps that all of my games so far have been high school games with guys in the same association- an association that stresses the pre-game with your partner as a responsibility, provides a full page checklist of things to discuss and is proactive in training. This is a big association, with nearly 400 members, that we're told is one of the largest in the country. Of the 25-30 high school games I worked, I never worked with the same partner twice.

But the season is young! Once the travel and tournament seasons get going, I'll be working with more and more umpires from outside the area and you never know what you're going to get.

A couple of the more interesting pre-games I've had of late...

Worked with one guy this year who was doing his first game ever! He shows up at the field already dressed for the plate, so I let him have at it. We had lots of time to kill (the first game was running late) so I gave this guy about a half hour pre-game (that was more like a mini-rule and mechanics clinic).

Then the game started and I think this guy forgot EVERYTHING we had talked about!

Last year I had a guy who made a big deal of how he worked "minor league ball" and came off as a know-it-all. When I started to ask him about coverages, he cuts me off and says, "The base umpire has all plays on the bases, the plate umpire has all plays at the plate". It went downhill from there. This guy was practically inventing new mechanics at will. When I mentioned how something was described "in the umpire manual" he went on some tirade about how the manual was "stupid" and his way was better.

At some point, you just have to give up and be thankful that you'll likely never have to work with this partner again!