How would you handle?

[shickenbottom]

Originally Posted by Rufus

Baseball coach/basketball ref here again with a game management question. During all pre-game meetings the umpires discuss not disputing judgment calls. My question is how you would handle coaches who don't openly question ball/strikes, but instead nibble on the edges with loud (i.e., easy to hear across the field) comments like:

• Supposedly yelled to catcher "Timmy, where was that?"
• Said to no one in particular "Oooh, that looked really good!"

You get the idea. I know how I would handle as a basketball official but was wondering how you would typically address those kinds of comments (if at all).

First - I would not tell the managers / coaches at the plate meeting not to dispute judgement calls.

It is in a managers / coaches nature to dispute judgement calls. Baseball is a game of judgement, and if you can't question it, then why play the game???? I realize it is written in the rules, however, don't bring it up at the plate meeting. You're just setting yourself up for confrontation.

I would instead phrase it at the plate meeting as "If you have a questions, request time, when granted, come talk to us, we're very approachable." This gives the perception that you will discuss anything, including judgement call in a calm and professional manner.

Then you can follow mbyron's advice of: Ignore, then Look (dirty and mean), warn, bench and eject.

However, if you're hearing this at every game, then I would suggest looking carefully at the game your calling and the level of ball. Something isn't matching up and you need to evaluate if what you're calling isn't what is being expected.