Pregame duties question

[Daryl H. Long]

Originally Posted by bluezebra

Tell me there is a FP umpire on here that hasn't heard, "she's being pitching like that all year".

I always heard, "She's been pitching like that all season".

Bob

Yes, we all have heard it. But that is no reason to give a rules clinic before the game. We have all heard coaches question our strike zone but good umpires do not give a pregame clinic on that either.

But, that is not the issue in this sitch.

This sitch is about is it appropriate for an umpire to raise the issue before this infraction has even occurred? My opinion is that it is highly innapropriate due to reasons I have already enumerated.

[NCASAUmp]

My opinion is that you're offering "tips" to one team and not the other. That's not my job as an umpire. I might caution an inexperienced catcher during rec league not to block the plate (without the ball and when there's no play), but that's about the extent of my generosity.

I'm very cautious in what I say to players before, during and after a game to avoid being accused of having bias towards or against a particular team. I think that offering "tips" on what I intend to call might put that in jeopardy, so I just don't do it in tourneys. Paranoid much? Maybe. But that's my version of preventative umpiring: not giving a coach the pleasure of accusing me of bias.