When it gets personal!
 

I had a situation the other and needed to vent. Local USSSA men's tourney and I'm working the winners bracket. I'm busting my tale all night doing one-man and most of the teams have been great. We are in the bottom of the fifth inning and the score is tied with a runner on second and two outs. Batter ropes a shot to left and the kid fires a rope to home and I call the guy out. He gets up and starts to the dugout but stops and calls me a *ucking faggot! I ejected him immediately and then the fireworks started. They did not have anyone to replace him so they had to take an automatic out that cost them the game in the 7th. I heard it all the way to the car and I'm really disappointed in the way the league administrator did nothing to sqaush the situation. I'm so tired of people making excuses to justify this behavior!

We all hate that kind of situation.

Does anyone besides USSSA allow a shorthanded out after an ejection?

So were there further behavior issues after the ejection? If so...why no forfeit? If you go to lengths to keep these teams IN tournaments.... you will always have those issues..

NSA allows a team to play short-handed after an out, also.

As an umpire and as an administrator, I realize you gave no details of what happened after the ejection, but that type of personal insult followed by more abuse would most likely mean the end of that team in the tournament.

I'm mainly a baseball guy, but look here at threads that seem relevant either way.

I understand that some leagues, codes, ect. have rules that allow teams to play shorthanded. FED baseball does this as well.

My beef is that if the team becomes shorthanded because I had to run a player, then the game should end right there. I understand that at times, it's okay for a team to play short due to injury or emergency. But if they know that they may forfiet if someone gets out of line, don't you think they would be better behaved?

One of my umpiring colleagues was telling me about a "problem player" he has in an otherwise pleasant men's slow pitch league. This guy's apparently been ejected several times this season for abusive behavior towards umpires, but the league president doesn't have the courage to hand out a meaningful suspension. My colleague's solution? If he is assigned a game where this guy's team is playing, he will suddenly be afflicted with an illness just before game time and won't be able to umpire the game.

NSA allows shorthanded playing with an out charged in the vacant batting spot when using the EP in both injury and ejection situations but a team can only finish a game with 8 players in the case of an injury. 4-4-b

I hope you are not doing mens fastball, winner side as one man system, if you are MY HAT'S OFF TO YOU. I umpire men's & ladies fastball up here in Ontario and as of a couple years ago the men's league had the same rule which included player shortage of 1, injury and ejection. One of my fellow umps had basically the same type of incident with severe backlash, he was young & inexperience and didn't think of forfeit at the time. This was not the only incident of similar ejections where a team was left with 8 players and play continued. Before the next season started during our spring meetings we as an association put in a clause to every league we looked after stating that any team who numbers fall below the required number to play with by book rule, (fastball 9 and slopitch 10 or 11) due to an ejection, will forfeit the game. After a bit of back & forth haggling all leagues except one changed their constitutions to follow suit. The other league has since folded due to lack of players.

I'm busting my tale all night

You were telling a story?

Bob

tcblue:

I had a typo and meant NSA allows a team to continue playing short-handed after an ejection, not an out, but I'm sure you caught the typo.

You are clearly talking about fast-pitch when you say a team may play with eight if there is an injury. I didn't specify, but I was talking slow-pitch.

Under the NSA slow-pitch rules, a men's team may start with 9, 10, 11 or 12 players, but under no circumstances may play with less than 9. Rule 4.1, pp. 17-18. I realize it is different for fast-pitch, which is the Rule 4.4.b to which you referred.

However, if a slow-pitch team starts with more than one EP, the team may continue to play with more than one vacant spot even after more than one ejection. Rule 4.4 Note, p. 19.

Alaska Ump,

Yes I was talking FP and or Modified.
Our local Association does not allow a game to be completed short handed after an ejection if there is no substitute.
IOW if you have 2 EP's and one gets chucked, if there is no legal substitute, that's "Ball game"

He screwed his team's chance to win,not you. A player who gets personal like he did goes bye-bye imho. You need to get better backing from the league or your asociation's leader.

Why would your collegue pass up a chance to toss the rat? Playing "sick" wouldnt help my rep, and the assignor wouldnt be too happy w/me. I'm not a harda$$, but my ASA games go fairly smooth cause the teams know that they cant get away w/ much...

I wouldn't play "sick" either. If the "problem player" got out of line, I'd toss him. If he keeps getting ejected regularly, at some point the league convenor has to do something (you'd think).