Assigning playoff umpires in Texas

[lawump]

As an association President (not in Texas), I just don't get this story.

South Texas school wants re-play of controversial game after revelations of broken protocol in umpire selection | Dallasnews.com - News for Dallas, Texas - SportsDayDFW

Come on Texas posters; what is the rest of the story?

[jTheUmp]

I'm not from Texas, but here's what I thinking happened:

One team lost.
They didn't like it.
Now they want to get a do-over.

[AllanA]

Well my understanding and what I have been told, the coaches send a list to the chapter board of umpires they want. Numbered 1-15 or more. Then the board will try to place the umpires from their list to their playoff game.

Disclaimer:
I am not on the board nor have I sat in on these selection meetings. So I am just relaying third party information.

Allan

[dash_riprock]

I tried, without success, to find a video of the walk-off balk.

[Texas Aggie]

I don't do baseball, but it is standard practice for all UIL (Texas state assn.) sports that when the game starts, that constitutes acceptance of the officials. So there is nothing left to do here. The losing team can blame no one but themselves, since if they were concerned enough about who was going to umpire, they should have gotten in touch with UIL 24-48 hours prior to the game.

It is very likely the coach of the team that picked the officials lied to the SA assignor (or assignment committee member, whoever he talked with). I'm familiar with UIL assignments in both football and basketball and I don't think either coach is involved until they get the list of officials assigned. They still have the ability to not approve the officials, but in practice they generally don't do that. In this case, it appears they agreed to have the UIL call the SA chapter to assign (something that doesn't happen much). I'm not sure what the point of getting UIL involved if they had both agreed to use SA.

[David B]

Originally Posted by AllanA

Well my understanding and what I have been told, the coaches send a list to the chapter board of umpires they want. Numbered 1-15 or more. Then the board will try to place the umpires from their list to their playoff game.

Disclaimer:
I am not on the board nor have I sat in on these selection meetings. So I am just relaying third party information.

Allan

When I called ball in Tx that's the way they did it but that was long time ago. It was up to our local association to assign the officials, but they did try to go with guys who were on both coaches list if possible.

thanks
David

[JRutledge]

I think that Texas model is silly. Why would the coaches have that much say over a situation where people lose their season is over?

Peace

[Cav0]

Here is the video of the game in question. The game ending balk is at about 54:30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtizcqqSOWo

[dash_riprock]

Wow. I think U3 must have called it. You can see U2 point to F1 after the ball was hit, but it's such a late call my guess is he was mirroring U3.

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I think that Texas model is silly. Why would the coaches have that much say over a situation where people lose their season is over?

Peace

I don't think the Texas method has been adaquately explained. But how do you do it?

[UMP45]

Looked like the pitcher did not not come to a complete and discernible stop.

[CT1]

"After the Rattlers lost all the flips with the Eagles (for the length of the series and its location)..."

Now that's downright strange. One of the teams decides how many games will be played?

[nopachunts]

I am in East Texas and speak only for how my chapter assigns crews for playoffs.

If a team thinks they may be eligible for playoffs, the HC sends a list of requested umpires to the chapter president listing umpires they want to call their playoff games/series. If an umpire is playoff qualified and available, the chapter tries to assign an umpire that was requested. If the requested umpire is not available, our assigner calls the coach, and gives him a list of the available umpires to choose from. In all cases, the chapter board approves all playoff assignments. My chapter has a good reputation and we send several crews each year for neutral games/series.


Each school's coach will call each other before the playoff series begins to discuss the number of games in a series, site(s), and home/visitor. If they can't agree, the coaches use a system to flip for the choice of series length, site, and home/visitor. Most of the time, each school will bring a two-man crew unless a choice/flip was made for a crew from a neutral chapter. There are times when the coaches will not want to use the chapter that normally calls their games and will agree for a neutral crew from a particular chapter.

If the coaches can’t agree on the umpires/chapter, a request is made to the UIL. Then the UIL calls for a crew to be sent to a series, the coaches involved in the series don't get a choice as to what umpires are sent. The chapter board assigns the umpires for the series.

I already know that I have the plate for a Regional Semi-Final tomorrow night using a split crew. The flips have already been done and the other school’s crew will have the plate for the second game and third if necessary.

I’m a long way from San Antonio but it sounds like the coaches agreed to use a neutral chapter and the school that was to call UIL went directly to the San Antonio chapter. JMO on this.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by nopachunts

I am in East Texas and speak only for how my chapter assigns crews for playoffs.

If a team thinks they may be eligible for playoffs, the HC sends a list of requested umpires to the chapter president listing umpires they want to call their playoff games/series. If an umpire is playoff qualified and available, the chapter tries to assign an umpire that was requested. If the requested umpire is not available, our assigner calls the coach, and gives him a list of the available umpires to choose from. In all cases, the chapter board approves all playoff assignments. My chapter has a good reputation and we send several crews each year for neutral games/series.


Each school's coach will call each other before the playoff series begins to discuss the number of games in a series, site(s), and home/visitor. If they can't agree, the coaches use a system to flip for the choice of series length, site, and home/visitor. Most of the time, each school will bring a two-man crew unless a choice/flip was made for a crew from a neutral chapter. There are times when the coaches will not want to use the chapter that normally calls their games and will agree for a neutral crew from a particular chapter.

If the coaches can’t agree on the umpires/chapter, a request is made to the UIL. Then the UIL calls for a crew to be sent to a series, the coaches involved in the series don't get a choice as to what umpires are sent. The chapter board assigns the umpires for the series.

I already know that I have the plate for a Regional Semi-Final tomorrow night using a split crew. The flips have already been done and the other school’s crew will have the plate for the second game and third if necessary.

I’m a long way from San Antonio but it sounds like the coaches agreed to use a neutral chapter and the school that was to call UIL went directly to the San Antonio chapter. JMO on this.

Talk about the tail wagging the dog. My goodness.

[lawump]

Originally Posted by nopachunts

I am in East Texas and speak only for how my chapter assigns crews for playoffs.

If a team thinks they may be eligible for playoffs, the HC sends a list of requested umpires to the chapter president listing umpires they want to call their playoff games/series. If an umpire is playoff qualified and available, the chapter tries to assign an umpire that was requested. If the requested umpire is not available, our assigner calls the coach, and gives him a list of the available umpires to choose from. In all cases, the chapter board approves all playoff assignments. My chapter has a good reputation and we send several crews each year for neutral games/series.


Each school's coach will call each other before the playoff series begins to discuss the number of games in a series, site(s), and home/visitor. If they can't agree, the coaches use a system to flip for the choice of series length, site, and home/visitor. Most of the time, each school will bring a two-man crew unless a choice/flip was made for a crew from a neutral chapter. There are times when the coaches will not want to use the chapter that normally calls their games and will agree for a neutral crew from a particular chapter.

If the coaches can’t agree on the umpires/chapter, a request is made to the UIL. Then the UIL calls for a crew to be sent to a series, the coaches involved in the series don't get a choice as to what umpires are sent. The chapter board assigns the umpires for the series.

I already know that I have the plate for a Regional Semi-Final tomorrow night using a split crew. The flips have already been done and the other school’s crew will have the plate for the second game and third if necessary.

I’m a long way from San Antonio but it sounds like the coaches agreed to use a neutral chapter and the school that was to call UIL went directly to the San Antonio chapter. JMO on this.

It is as screwed up as it sounded in the newspaper story.

"I want a 9-game series, like the MLB World Series in the 1910's!!!"