Tough game with a lot of issues

[tankmjg24]

This is rather long so I apologize but I wanted to paint the entire picture.

14U OBR rules. Game is between two teams from neighboring towns that have bad blood between each other. I am located outside of their area so a friend of mine who assigns for the league asked me to come officiate the game so "home team" umpires could not be claimed. Another experienced outside umpire was supposed to do the game with me, but ended up having to drop out. This left me doing the game with a rookie that was rather rough around the edges. Prior to taking the field I have a rather extensive pre-game with my partner to make sure everyone is on the same page. I gave him a lot of information but he kept shaking his head that he understood. Upon entering the field I have my routine plate meeting and the game begins.

Home team is in the field and as the game is getting ready to begin all of the home coaches are leaning on the fence outside the dugout. I push them back in and they comply and the game begins.

Away team is in the field now and two of their coaches are sitting outside the dugout on buckets. I push them back in and they become agitated yelling down at me that they have to be able to call pitches and that they can't do that from the dugout. I am not going to have a screaming match from 90ft away so I call timeout and walk down to the manager of the team to talk to him. As I am doing so the assistant coach intercepts me and tells me that it is bullsh*t that I am not going to let them sit outside the dugout. I tell him that I am only going to talk to the manager and that I do not want to hear the profanity again and gave him a warning. Upon reaching the manager I tell him that we are not going to sit outside in live ball territory and that their is no debating it. At this point I also tell him what his assistant did and notified him that was a team warning to them.

In between innings my partner comes down and notifies me that most of the other umpires allow the coaches outside the dugout so that they can see better and be able to give instructions to their team. I quickly explain to him my reasoning for not allowing them out and he says he never thought of that and says ok. (My reasons were there are 3 coaches all standing outside that could not stand still. The fields did not have a lot of foul territory and they were just in the way. There was no reason why they could not be in the dugout, plus the leagues rules state they are supposed to be)

So essentially every player on the away team was wearing some type of jewelry. Some were wearing rope necklaces while others were wearing actual chains. After telling about the 5th player to take his jewelry off I turned to the manager and told him to make sure all his players had their jewelry off. He turns to his dugout and tells them to take all of their jewelry off as the jewelry police was there. This agitated me but I ignored it. I had to tell one of the home team players to remove his jewelry and before I could even say anything the manager turns to his dugout and tells them to take all of their jewelry off if they are wearing any.

In general the home team is being cooperative and the away team is causing all the problems. This pretty much went right in line with what my friend told me was going to happen.

So here is where the fun begins I guess. R1 and the hitter hits the ball between second and first into right field. R1 was somewhat stealing so he tries for third on the hit. I rotate down to third for the call and notify my partner that I have third. R1 and the ball arrive about the same time and F5 mishandles the ball and it goes off to the side. R1 jumps up and starts to head home but sees the ball did not get that far away and goes back into third standing up as F5 applied a tag. I signal an out and the crowd starts to yell that two calls were made. My partner had came over and he signaled him safe. The manager is agitated and I push him back to the box as I head over to my partner. Upon reaching him I tell him that I had third as I mentioned and that his responsibilities were with the trail runner. He at this point admits he did not understand any of the pregame but did not want to look dumb. He thought the runner's foot and the tag were at the same time. I go with my call and the manager wants an explanation. He is arguing that I stole the base umpire's call and that the play was not even close. I tell him that the call is an out and that we are not going to discuss it and return to the plate area.

Home team is batting now with R1 and R2. Batter hits the ball between shortstop and third to the left fielder. R2 goes to round third to head home to try and score but F5 is straddling the bag and completely denying access. R2 kind of stutter steps and hits third and continues home. I signal obstruction and the throw comes in. R2 is tagged in what would have been an out at the plate. R1 was trying for 3rd and the BR is heading to second. F2 throws to F5 to try and get the advancing R1 and the throw is late. BR advances to second. I know I should have killed action as soon as the runner was tagged at the plate but everything happened fast. I call time at this point and enforce the obstruction. The assistant coach opens up the gate and yells out what the heck do we have now. The manager has also came out. At this point I tell them to return to the dugout and I do not want to see them out of the dugout again unless they have time.

Home team is hitting with R1, R2, and R3. Batter hits the ball to F6 and he bobbles the ball as he is trying to throw home. He decides to try and get the advancing R2 and throws to F5. F5 is off the bag and a foot race begins. Partner signals safe and the groans from the dugout begin but nothing more occurs. Inning ends later and I see the manager and assistant coach heading out to my partner who is in right field. Their dugout is the third base side so I knew they were headed to him. I walk out and catch from the assistant coach that his call was wrong and third and that it should have been my call to begin with. I intercept and tell the manager that we are only going to talk to him and that I wanted to assistant to return to the dugout. At this point the assistant tells me he is not leaving and that all of our calls for the day have been bad, my strike zone was one sided, and that we sucked. I dump him at this point and tell him to get off the field. The manager who is surprisingly calm wants to know why I did not make the call at third. Trying to calm the situation I briefly explain a rotation and he just kind of shakes his head and says ok and walks back to the dugout and the game continues.

I saw the assistant that I ejected walking toward the parking lot so I just assumed that he was leaving. Away team hits in their half and 3 outs occur. Home team begins to hit and I notice that the pitcher is looking like down the third base line. I do not really pay attention but I look at one point and see the coach I ejected sitting in a chair outside the fence down the line. He was signaling pitches to his pitcher. I call time immediately and bring the manager over and tell him that his assistant was ejected and had to leave the property and the game would continue once he did so. The manager goes to talk to him and the coach will not leave. It is far enough away that I cannot tell what words are exchanged but I see the manager come walking back and the coach still sitting in his chair. The manager looks at me and says I can not get him to leave lets just play. At this point I get the field director to call the police to remove the coach. The complex was rather large and an officer was actually present just at another field so it was rather quick that he showed up. He was able to get the coach to leave and asked me if everything was ok to which I reply yes. The game now continues and eventually ends with the away team winning by 3.

So hopefully everyone followed this and that it was not too long. My is was there anything I should have done differently? In my opinion an ejection probably should have come earlier but I was trying to keep peace. So what is everyone's thoughts?

[David B]

Always hate the games we are called to do in a league that is out of control to start with.

In reading your post, I would think it would have been best to start with a pre game meeting with both coaches and let them know what was going on and expected of them.

That would have covered dugouts, jewelry, who you are going to talk to etc.,

Once the game begins and you start enforcing things, its always awkward and usually ends up like your game did.

As far as the game, just move on and be glad its over. As you stated, you should have called time and called obstruction, but the other plays really were out of your control

One thing I learned is when you have a rookie partner, you do have to keep an eye on them as to where they are. On the play at third, if you saw he was there, you might could have delayed your call until you saw what he had.

Thanks
David

[RPatrino]

Sounds like you have a fun afternoon!! First, I think you had been done a serious disservice by the other umpires who work these games. They have been lax and very unprofessional if they allowed the behavior that was exhibited in your game to continue unaddressed. You got into a hornets nest, and the minute you started to exert your rightful authority you were doomed.

In cases like this, your only course of action is to EJECT, early and often. You should have ejected the assistant coach during his first outburst. In my games, assistants are seen and rarely heard. They may ask questions but I have zero tolerance for outbursts or arguments. He should have been gone before the T left his lips saying bullshi.....

As far as the obstruction call, its Type B, delayed dead ball until all action and play has stopped. Call time and enforce the obstruction and any awards that are appropriate. That was pretty straight forward.

With regards to the calling of the field director, that was appropriate. My only question is, was the Manager a complete wimp or did he just not have the balls to control his coaches? At some point I probably would have dumped him too, just on principle. Were there any other adults coaches in that dugout?

[SanDiegoSteve]

"As I am doing so the assistant coach intercepts me and tells me that it is bullsh*t that I am not going to let them sit outside the dugout." (PLACE EJECTION HERE)

Is there some local rule that prohibits jewelry? If not, what's wrong with wearing jewelry?

HIM: "Why didn't you make that call at third?"

YOU: "With the bases loaded I'm at home. Not my call."

Hey, the base umpire makes the calls on the bases, hence the name. Managers, coaches, players, fans, etc. should not be allowed to give input on umpire mechanics. They see a 1st to 3rd rotation or a R2 tag up, and all of a sudden they get it in their heads that the plate umpire has 3rd all the time.

My old assignor would send me to these leagues with the instruction to clean house.

[dash_riprock]

I think you did a great job. You had a tough assignment and you were effectively working alone. If I was the assignor, I would not hesitate to put you on that game again. Nice work.

[RPatrino]

By the way, I never warn in pre-game, I never tell them where to sit in pre-game, what to wear, who I talk to. That is a given. My pre-games last 3 minutes tops. If you have to warn in pre-game then you are setting yourself up to be tested from the get-go.

[smithma]

Originally Posted by rpatrino

by the way, i never warn in pre-game, i never tell them where to sit in pre-game, what to wear, who i talk to. That is a given. My pre-games last 3 minutes tops. If you have to warn in pre-game then you are setting yourself up to be tested from the get-go.

+1

[DG]

The last time I was in a game where I was sent to be an enforcer ended up forfeited after I tossed the away coach (the only coach) and a number of players within seconds of each other over an incident that started with the coach not accepting the fact that he had made two trips and escalated when he said as he turned away from me while discussing that I am making all this money I should learn the rules. The pitcher was next to leave as he said I could not make him leave the mound, and it snow balled from there. They had a big lead at the time, which made it all the more puzzling.

My partner, a very experienced partner who was not involved in any of the discussion or ejections, called it in to assignor to tell him what he saw while I was changing clothes and assignor told him that he had been warned about the away team's behavior and especially the coach and that whomever works their next game needed to be alerted. He said he looked at who was scheduled and decided we would take care of whatever came up and did not bother to call. I would rather have been told, but it worked out the same anyway.

I agree with many of the other poster's comments, except I am not doing a pre-game warning with coaches. And, if an ejected asst coach will not leave, and the HC can not get him to leave then I am not worrying the cops with it, game over. That situation was the other forfeit in my career except it was HC who would not leave and asst could not convince him to do so.

[BestUmp]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

"As I am doing so the assistant coach intercepts me and tells me that it is bullsh*t that I am not going to let them sit outside the dugout." (PLACE EJECTION HERE)

Is there some local rule that prohibits jewelry? If not, what's wrong with wearing jewelry?

HIM: "Why didn't you make that call at third?"

YOU: "With the bases loaded I'm at home. Not my call."

Hey, the base umpire makes the calls on the bases, hence the name. Managers, coaches, players, fans, etc. should not be allowed to give input on umpire mechanics. They see a 1st to 3rd rotation or a R2 tag up, and all of a sudden they get it in their heads that the plate umpire has 3rd all the time.

My old assignor would send me to these leagues with the instruction to clean house.

I'm scared to be on the same forum as you are.

Really.

[BestUmp]

OP Friend, you were screwed, ready to be blued and ultimately assuredly tattooed. Sometimes you are faced with a no win situation.

Pre-game, no pre-game, it probably would have made no difference.

As you wander along your officiating career, hopefully, you will find a kindly Game Assignor who will take pity upon you and assign you to games being played by those whose hearts are filled with tons of joy and love instead of riddled with trash and feces.

My advice? If your Assignor will not protect you from such disgraceful baboons, then hire a honeypot, send her to his favorite bar, take videos of them after they depart...and frame him the lousy buttclown.

[Dave Reed]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

As far as the obstruction call, its Type B, delayed dead ball until all action and play has stopped. Call time and enforce the obstruction and any awards that are appropriate. That was pretty straight forward.

In the OP, the obstructed runner was tagged out at the plate (the base to which he was protected). At that point, time should be called even if all action had not stopped. MLBUM 6.21.

[RPatrino]

Correct, in the OP, the play was handled correctly. I did not mean to imply that it had not been.

[MD Longhorn]

We all have games like this and they suck. That said, I think you gave WAY WAY too much rope to the ASSistant coach. He is there to assist the manager. Asking you simple (and cordial) questions is fine. Disputing ANYTHING the umpires do is not acceptable. I believe just about anyone I work with would have tossed him long before you did.

Second - I would not have called the police over unless something escalated into becoming a police matter. You have a perfect remedy. If the coach can't control his assistant, he's gone too. If they won't leave in a timely manner, you're done for the day.

Regarding the plate conference, I agree with the others who state they would not alter their conference to address the possibly contentious atmosphere - the conference is not a place for warnings. However, I do differ from them in that my normal plate conference includes the statement - "Make sure the players are properly equipped and are not wearing jewelry". I don't treat this as "their warning", and if I see jewelry later, I warn first. But MOST of the time, this friendly reminder to both coaches at once lets them address the issue (if there is one) before the game and I very very rarely have to address it in-game.

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Is there some local rule that prohibits jewelry? If not, what's wrong with wearing jewelry?

FWIW, every youth league I've ever worked for has had a local rule prohibiting jewelry.

[Welpe]

I think most youth leagues with a national presence prohibit jewelry in their national rules.