To Be Mad Or Not To Be Mad?

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

The assistant is mouthy and throws his hat onto the ground as he is complaining. This led me to grant a warning to the coaches.

This is where you dump the ASSistant coach. Then, he would probably know by the next game not to screw with you or face the same outcome.

As he was talking with the manager I can hear one of the assistant coaches mouthing. He is complaining that we sucked on Friday and that we still sucked on Sunday. We cost them the game on Friday and we were probably going to cost them the current game. Then he states that I am a lazy official and was out of position and that if I hustled over to 1st I probably would have seen the player touch first. I had heard enough so I ejected this coach.

As soon as you heard the boldfaced type above, he should have been ejected (again, as he should have been run the previous game as well). Assistant coaches are to be seen and not heard, like small children.

As far as your UIC is concerned, you may want to check his wife's purse to see if his balls are in it. The better assignors will send you right back into the fire when a team threatens something like "we won't play if so-and-so is umpiring," or "you'll never work our games again," as if they have some kind of say-so in the matter. It always amazes me how much power coaches think they have over the umpires. Unfortunately, your "boss" is more concerned with not upsetting the status quo, which IMO is tragic. I always relished the opportunity to work the very next game with the mouthy coach who thought he called the shots, and my assignor was always more than happy to pencil me in.

Steve, I think I agree with everything you just said.

Wait, just checked again, I agree in total.

[MD Longhorn]

Sigh...

Originally Posted by tankmjg24

What are everyone's thoughts?

... just don't give me any thoughts that I could have done anything better...

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by ozzy6900

Entertaining?

• Coaches and players complaining about every call?
• AC throwing his hat to the ground while he is arguing with you?

This is not entertainment, this is poor game control.

1. Players and coaches do not argue calls. Dugouts don't erupt over a call. Manager gets to dispute the call (respectfully), AC's don't say a word about calls, players get no leash at all.
2. AC's don't argue calls so they don't get to throw their hats in an argument. AC's are supposed to tell players to run, stop, turn left or right, come back, go, etc. They do not argue or dispute calls nor do they approach you to get another opinion.

The problem here is you and your partner. By not getting control of the game early, you allowed all of this to go on. There are no warnings for crap like this, there is only ejection. Grow a pair and get jerks like this off the field. You'll be a better umpire for it in the long run.

As far as your useless UIC, he should be strung up by his ball sack for not standing behind you. Believe me, that would be the last time he did that to me!

Ditto.

The more tank talks his way out of inaction, the worse it looks. tank, you asked what everyone thought of the situation and they told you.

What age group was this?

[tankmjg24]

There is no trying to talk my way out of any situation. From a few of the posts it seems as if some might have thought the coaches continually came out of the dugout and argued face to face with us. The thought of ejection crossed my mind on Friday yet I felt as if a warning was more warranted before ejecting and it worked for that day. Sunday the coach crossed the line and he was ejected for his actions. The initial question I was posing was how to handle the situation with the UIC. The information on the coaches was to try and paint the whole picture. The age group was 12U.

On a side note, I have done all levels of amateur baseball and it seems as if youth ball has the most trouble. Coaches seem to not know the rule book and think that they are always right and can say whatever they wish to without repercussion and then when something is said to them they look at you dumbfounded.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by tankmjg24

There is no trying to talk my way out of any situation. From a few of the posts it seems as if some might have thought the coaches continually came out of the dugout and argued face to face with us. The thought of ejection crossed my mind on Friday yet I felt as if a warning was more warranted before ejecting and it worked for that day. Sunday the coach crossed the line and he was ejected for his actions. The initial question I was posing was how to handle the situation with the UIC. The information on the coaches was to try and paint the whole picture. The age group was 12U.

On a side note, I have done all levels of amateur baseball and it seems as if youth ball has the most trouble. Coaches seem to not know the rule book and think that they are always right and can say whatever they wish to without repercussion and then when something is said to them they look at you dumbfounded.

You did not mention in the OP that the assistant coach was mouthy, complaining, and threw his hat in the dugout. You said he threw his hat on the "ground," which I think led us to believe he was on the field performing these antics. I really don't care much about what he throws in his dugout, as long as it doesn't come out on the field.

[jwwashburn]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

You did not mention in the OP that the assistant coach was mouthy, complaining, and threw his hat in the dugout. You said he threw his hat on the "ground," which I think led us to believe he was on the field performing these antics. I really don't care much about what he throws in his dugout, as long as it doesn't come out on the field.

I agree here because I would never have any idea if a coach threw his hat in the dugout-nor would I care if he did it.

[CT1]

Originally Posted by tankmjg24

On a side note, I have done all levels of amateur baseball and it seems as if youth ball has the most trouble. Coaches seem to not know the rule book and think that they are always right and can say whatever they wish to without repercussion and then when something is said to them they look at you dumbfounded.

No sh!t, Sherlock.

That's why it's incumbent on umpires to train these neophyte coaches (and players) in the ways of the baseball world.

[ozzy6900]

Originally Posted by tankmjg24

There is no trying to talk my way out of any situation. From a few of the posts it seems as if some might have thought the coaches continually came out of the dugout and argued face to face with us. The thought of ejection crossed my mind on Friday yet I felt as if a warning was more warranted before ejecting and it worked for that day. Sunday the coach crossed the line and he was ejected for his actions. The initial question I was posing was how to handle the situation with the UIC. The information on the coaches was to try and paint the whole picture. The age group was 12U.

On a side note, I have done all levels of amateur baseball and it seems as if youth ball has the most trouble. Coaches seem to not know the rule book and think that they are always right and can say whatever they wish to without repercussion and then when something is said to them they look at you dumbfounded.

You two should have "burned" the dugouts on Friday and then ejected immediately on the next offense. 12U coaches need to learn their place because they are supposed to be examples to the "kiddies".

As far as your UIC, it already told you that he wouldn't do this to me more than once!

[PeteBooth]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by tankmjg24

Alright guys I am looking for everyone's opinion on something that happened to my partner and I over the weekend. We were working a travel ball tournament for an association for the first time and had games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Unfortunately the OP has gone "off trend" which seems to be the norm at this Forum lately and it really is a shame as this Forum at one time was one of the best around.

ok to your OP

IMO, we need some clarification to the following statement

We were working a travel ball tournament for an association for the first time and had games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

1. Did another umpire association contact your association asking for coverage?

2. Are you a "free-lance" umpire who works for various associations?

You said Tournament UIC.

Who is that?

is the Tournament UIC the head of the umpire association whom you agreed to work for?

Also, which rule set were you using?

In NFHS rules the Asst coach does not approach the umpires and I agree with others who said "dump him when he threw a tantrum on Friday Night"

I would not get upset over being switched games but I would keep it in my "memory" banks and not work for this association again. Now we know why this particular teams coach acts the way they do

RE: They do not have to face the consequences. When the UIC sides "with the enemy" and it's travel ball to boot means stay away. Get your money and look for work elsewhere.

Pete Booth

[tankmjg24]

Pete, to answer your questions:

The UIC of the tournaments umpire association contacted the UIC of the association that I officiate for asking for assistance. On this particular weekend I think they said there were a total of 350 games played amongst all the fields throughout the state as this was their largest tournament of the year. My UIC contacted me along with probably 15 others within our association asking if we wished to umpire within the tournament and my partner and I agreed.

The tournament UIC was the UIC of the umpire association that regularly officiates the travel ball games. The way the tournament was set up there were multiple age divisions playing on multiple fields throughout the state and he was in charge of all of them. On this particular weekend, he was not umpiring but supervising from a location different from mine.

The rule set being used was USSSA rules (OBR based).