I Protest - Maybe not

[Steve M]

Thought I'd share this with everyone. I ended up doing a slowpitch tournament a couple weeks ago. In one of the games, we ran into an illegal sub situation after an ejection. 'Course these guys never provided lineup cards - and I doubt they knew what a lineup card was - and they weren't required (invitational tournament) to run all subs through the PU. So my PU & BU were unable to confirm who had or had not been into the game. Turns out that neither team was keeping a book. I got into this when the one team's captain/coach - he made sure to tell me he was also an ump & knew the rules inside & out - said he was protesting. I ruled that since there were no lineup cards and nether team had a valid book, that there was no proof of an illegal sub, so everyone was legally in the lineup. The captain/coach (he's an ump, too ROFL) sez he's protesting higher & we can't go on until his protest is handled. My response - he's got me a bit irritated by this time - was "OK, you have 5 minutes to come into compliance with Rule 9, Section 6. And I will accept a verbal from you rather than require anything in writing." His response was "Rule 9, Section 6?!?!?! What's that say." "Time's clicking off here coach. You said you're an ump and you don't know this?" After the 5 minutes, I went back & told him & th umps that his protest was tossed out and the game should now resume.

[oppool]

I have a question concerning a matter I had similiar to this about a week ago are we expected to gave the coach any assist on a situation similiar to this or is it fully coach responibility to provide all the information needed or we ignore

My SIT: In our leagues we no longer have scorekeepers, city has purchased scoreboards and line-ups are turn in to PU in pregames most of the time the teams do not exchange. Couple weeks ago a defensive coach called timed and told me he was appealing the offensive team for BOO I knew he didnt have the other teams line-up and could not gave me any information on the BOO except that he thought they were BOO. I knowing this coach is a big whiner just appeased him very quickly look at the # on the batter that was up and informed the coach the previous batter was a sub that was reported for the batter that was listed before the current batter which was correct but thinking afterwards came to the conclusion that I shouldnt even had gone that far unless the coach gave the information 1st on why he thought there was a BOO. Is this correct??


How do you handle

Don

[Steve M]

Don,
In league play, I'll let each team tell the other team about any subs. The subs will report in, to me as PU, and I'll head several steps towards the dugout and ask the base coach to let their opponents know about the change. We're much more relaxed in league play than when we're in a tournament - at least most tournamnts. In a tournament, if there are no lineup cards, we make sure that it's known at the pre-game that the home team has the official book and that the other team's book may be used to verify the home team's if we have a problem. In your game, Don, I'd have asked the defensive team to tell me exactly why they thought they had a BOO situaton. If a team approached me stating that their opponents were BOO, I'd stop, ask the protestors to see their records book and then tell the other team to sverify that the books matched. In your game, you had lineup cards and, I'll assume, that you announced each sub and noted them. If the announced subs were then listed on the "offending" team's book but not on the protesting team's book, I'd suggest to that coach that he not bother me with his record-keeping errors or shortcomings. That way, you may go through this once with a team, but not a second time. Adult slow pitch players - and I'll gran you that I don't do many slow pitch games - seem to be the most lax at keeping track of who's in the game. The lower levels of men's fast pitch seem to be getting almost as lax at times. The girls' teams are almost always very meticulous at keeping lineups.

[IRISHMAFIA]

PREVENTIVE UMPIRING!

I don't care if it is on the back of a candy wrapper, the game does not start without my knowledge of the line-ups and I don't care what type of game it is.

If they do not report to an umpire on the field, they are not in the game no matter who else they informed.

I have no problem getting my tail into hot water, so I don't need to challenge the softball gods by not being prepared for a challenge myself.

It's just plain good mechanics.