Let's talk about THE FAN FROM HELL

[mikesears]

Allow me to relate a story that has gone around our local baseball association. The umpire I write about is a close friend of mine.

Legion game, my umpire friend is doing his second game behind the plate on a 95+ degree day. Two 80 year old men are in the stands directly behind home plate. The first game, they have given my friend h*ll about his outside corner on every cloas pitch. The second game in the 3rd or 4th inning, my friend had enough. He called timeout, went back to the fence, and had a conversation like the following:

Umpire: Gentlement, how far is that fence from home plate?

Two Old Men: UHHHH??

Umpire: 50 feet. And how far back are your seats from that fence?

Two Old Men: UHHHHH???

Umpire: About 10 feet. How wide is that plate?

Two Old Men: UHHHHH???


Umpire: 17 Inches. Ang gentlemen, how wide is my a**? NOTE: My friend is by no means thin. In fact he is slim-challenged:-)

Two Old Men: What?

Umpire: How wide is my a**?

Two Old men: I, Uhhh?


Umpire: A whole lot bigger than that plate. Now you are trying to tell me that you can see around my a**, 60 feet, and call the corners for me? If you can then you are better at this than me. If not, shut your mouths and let's play some ball.

Rest of Crowd: Cheers and satisfaction that these two men were just put in there place.

Moral to this story: I don't think there is one. I just thought I would give an example where dealing with a fan was a positive experience for one umpire.


www.umpire.org has an excellent article on this subject.