How to correct?

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by davelock11

I was sweeping plate as he was explaining the call to 3rd base coach, but they were close enough for me to hear.

I turned and tried to catch his eye, but he never looked at me. I guess I should have called him over. Of course, the other part of the problem is I'm new and he's a veteran...which introduces a whole other dynamic into the equation.

I know the important thing is to get the call right, but I don't want to get a bad reputation with fellow umpires by correcting veterans. I guess I should just worry about the call and let the rest fall where it falls.

Thanks for the input!

No one likes being in your position. But at some point, it happens to all of us (or at least all of us who care enough about the job to spend time reading here and posting here!) There are veteran smitty's everywhere who have not cracked open a book in years. Sometimes you have to be very careful in your wording with such a veteran - I understand your need to not ruffle feathers, and it's a tough line. But your responsibility is to the game.

When you heard him misquote the rule, you should have approached him, AWAY from the coach, explain what you thought the rule was and why ("John, I'm pretty positive that when Dave went over this in the clinic, he told us this award is two bases from where they were when the ball was released, regardless of how far off the base they were."), and then it's up to him to fix, and up to coach to protest if he fails to fix it. You can always bring it up again in post-game if he doesn't fix it, using the approach that you want to understand the rule better WITH him. If he still doesn't get that he's wrong, bring it up to your assignor.