Parent Etiquette

[BigUmp56]

Originally Posted by frozenrope22

This was my sons second weekend umpiring. Coach disagreed with my sons rule interpretation. Son told him that he wasn't wrong and get back in the dugout. Coach sent his wife to get his rule book out of the car. Then he called time out and wanted to show my son the rule book. My son told him he could return to the dugout and they weren't discussing his rule book. So proud of him.
My wife's reaction was "can you believe that guy...he sent his wife to get his rule book" " I would have told him to shut up and get your own rule book."

I have a suggestion for you and your son. It might be a good idea to teach him to allow a manager to show him a rule in the rule book, even if he's confident that he's 100% right on the ruling. I don't normally recommend allowing a manager to pull the rule book out on the field, but I think that for a 14 year old umpire, it will help keep him out of trouble. As soon as he tells the manager that he's not going to be discussing the rule book, in the manager and other coaches eyes, he just told them that he doesn't want to be bothered with the facts.

There are ways he can allow a manager to use a rule book during a rules discussion without having to stand there and take a lot of crap as the manager peruses the rule book looking for the rule that he "thinks" applies.

Manager - "Billy I think you needed to call time on this interference call on my second baseman. The ball was in left field when he interfered with the runner, and not calling time like the rule says, allows their runner to go to third. By rule he only gets the base he's going to when there's interference by the defense. I've got it right here in the rule book.

Billy - "Mr. Leftout, please show me the rule. I'll give you 15 seconds to find it. After that, we need to move on and get the game going. You have the option of filing a protest if you don't like my ruling, and can't find it yourself."


YMMV - And I'm sure Kyle's kids have had to deal with situations very similar to this.

Tim.