Umpire "Etiquette"

[spiritump]

I think it is wrong to have a ball thrown back to the umpire--if it is a bad throw or worse the umpire drops the ball then we have to go and get the ball--might be ok at LL but once you get into school ball the baseball should never be thrown to the umpire.

[gpdeppert]

For me it depends on how the game went. If it was "clean", then most likely everyone is just gathering equipment, shaking hands etc. and not paying attention to my partner or me. If the game were "rough", then we might attract more attention as we leave and be on the end of some non-flattering comments.

As for the ball, it does not matter to me. The one thing I will offer is this - if the ball gets past the catcher (WP or PB), I do NOT toss a ball back to F1. I would not want to get into this habit in the event there is a runner on and I inadvertently put a second ball into play. Then I would have some splainin' to do.

Foul straight back? Sure - dead ball. Toss to F1 and lets keep it going.

Quick story - during a game a couple pitches were fouled back, I tossed a ball in and turned to the catcher as he tossed the fouled back pitch. One time it gets past him and I am looking out at the field when -- BONK!! Right in the back of the head. The catcher expected me to toss a ball to F1 and just turned and threw it back to me before he realized I was not looking.

Next inning ball gets past him again, this time I turn and watch him go get the ball, when he turned back to me I just wordlessly pointed out to his pitcher. Got a little laugh from some of the folks.

FTR - I did explain to him why I threw it in on the foul balls and not the "skip aways".