Was watching a game today when coach asks for time and saunters out to chat with his pitcher. He was out there a good 2-3 minutes when the blue said "30 seconds coach". What is the rule of thumb for the length of a conference?

Situation may dictate an extra 20 seconds or so, but what I do is;

Make a note of conference,
Brush off plate,
Reload w/sunflower seeds, or any other personal maintenance,
Begin my walk to mound.

Rarely do I make it all the way to mound, they usually break up before I get there. This takes 30-40 seconds or so, never over a minute. If I do make it all the way to the mound, I'll ask coach if he's making a change. He can then change his pitcher, or leave the mound.

I've had this discussion on other boards with coaches who believe that once they are granted a suspension of play, they control the conference.

I will give them about 20 seconds or so and then slowly walk toward the conference and see what is happening. If they are talking about anything other than the situation at hand, I break it up and tell them to play ball.

That leads to the next argu...er, discussion where some coaches believe the umpire isn't allowed to listen in on a conference and they can talk about anything they please because it is their conference. What do they think I'm going to do, sell the information to the opposing team for a bottle of water?

I reminded the coaches that part of an umpire job is game control especially if they are playing with a clock. I, also, reminded them that only the umpire has the authority to suspend the game and can end that period at their discretion.

The umpire controls the game. Coaches WILL use conferences to run time off the clock. If they don't want to break up a conference when instructed, call for a batter and ring up a ball every 20 seconds (assuming FP, 10 if SP). If you want to really be a *****, forfeit the game as the coach refused to play when directed.

I do not suggest anyone do either, just noting what could legally be done.

My practice is about the same as JEL's
note the conference - inning & batter's number
clean plate
wipe off the sweat
head to the circle

Interestingly enough, I made it to the circle today in a college game. The coach was ripping the infield a new hole in the backside for mental errors. He ended it about 7-8 seconds after I got there.

Mike, While I know we CAN do either of those, I'm not so sure that we can do that & survive the rest of the game.

Steve,

As noted, I don't suggest umpires do that. However, you must still find a way to control the game especially if you know the team is doing nothing, but trying to kill a clock. Yes, I know the umpire could just stop the clock, but that would just turn into a pi**ing contest between the teams and umpires.

This type of action should be the extreme measure when you have a player or coach trying to take control of a game away from the umpires in a belligerent manner.