Got to love the coach

[gsf23]

Originally Posted by fastpitch

I still do not see what is wrong with a conference with your partner to defuse an emotional coach. I really don't care what the fans are saying: we deal with the coaches and if a conference will defuse the situation and keep the coach in the game I am in favor of having the conference. I disagree with this "it's my call, I saw it and am not going to ask for help philosophy" Yes, I've heard the don't make your partner the bad guy response. As a team on the field, if asking for help keeps the coach in the game, I do not care if my partner makes me the bad guy.

But there are instances when you have to use the "It's my call and I'm not going for help".

For example, in the case from the original post, we have a runner stealing second. The base umpire rules the runner out, coach comes over and asks you to go for help. Now, what could the plate umpire possible offer you? He/she is standing 60+ feet away and has a catcher, batter, pitcher, and probably another infielder standing in his/her line of sight. I'm sorry, but unless they want help for a dropped ball they are stuck with my call no matter how irate the coach gets. It's not my job to keep the coach in the game, it's their job to keep themselves in the game.

Let's say you do go for help in this situation, and your partners says "looked to me like the tag was way late and the runner beat it easily". Are you really going to change your call? If not then why even go for help? To calm the coach down? Sorry but I'm not going to have coaches running out on every banger asking for a conference. If you are going to change that call, well you might as well walk off the field and let your partner work the rest of the game solo because on every close play a coach is going to be out asking you to go to your partner. If you don't then they are going to want to know why you did it last time and not this time.

Now I am not saying you should never go for help. There are certain situations when it is apporpriate to go for help such as pulled foot, dropped ball, missed swipe tag and the such. But if the coach wants me to go for help just because he thinks his runner got under a tag, beat a throw or got the tag down in time, well, sorry but I'm not getting help on that no matter how irate they get. I'm not going to conference just because a coach is mad about a call. If they can't accept a call I make standing a few feet away, in good position and seeing everything clearly, they they don't need to watch the rest of the game.

[fastpitch]

Good examples all, if the coach comes out on every play he loses respect and most likely the opportunity to get help. There were lots of situations my assistants would be looking at me to go ask for help when there was nothing to ask for. If I could not come up with a valid question I stayed in the dugout. I would usually say something like, I believe you were blocked by the other fielder and she juggled or dropped the ball or didn't that rule change this year, etc.

How about some good examples of when the coach is yelling at you across the field. Any good examples of embarrassing the stupid coaches when they try to embarrass you without tossing them? I had a coach ask me this year if his runner was out since she got hit with the ball before reaching 2B. I said coach, "it was a thrown ball" (he had to think about that) I could have said it loudly, but he asked privately and was not yelling at me across the field.

[tcannizzo]

Help has to be specific.

I would never go for help on "did the ball beat the runner?" type of complaint. That is purely a judgement call and is nonsensical to ask for help.

If I do go for help, it would be because the coach used the "magic words" and specifically asked if I had a clear line of sight on the play. One such example is a pulled foot, or view of tag/base was blocked and partner might have had a better angle on the play.

And if I did go to my partner for help, I would never say, "What did you see?" I would only want an answer that was specific to the question the coach asked.

The onus is on the coach to ask the right question.