Agreed. I would not work a tourney that didn't have a UIC. If this happened in a game of mine, I'd have ejected TD, and when he didn't leave, forfeit the game, stay right there, and wait for my UIC. And if the TD tried to overrule the UIC, the entire umpire group would leave, and this TD would never get real umpires for a tourney again.

Unfortunately, there was no UIC. I didn't even know it was a tournament until I arrived. This was assigned through our assignment program, which we don't normally use for tournaments; furthermore, there was no indication this was a tournament in our game assignments. It's not unusual to be assigned a five- or six-pack of slow pitch on a Sunday.

Many good ideas and thoughts have been expressd in response to the post. I think one of the best to take to our board later this month is to require a UIC be hired from our association for any tournament such as this. No, a UIC was not hired/appointed, and had I known this was going to be a tournament, I wouldn't have darkened their door.

As for one of the responses, like the first after the original, you couldn't be further from the truth. If more umpires had the nerve/guts/balls to take care of business we'd have a lot more fun out there. I, for one, refuse to kiss a$$.

Moral of story. Players play to play, players play to pay you, you are nothing more than a servant in this environment. Bow your had and say "Yassir" or don't do these games.

I hold my forearms tight to my chest, yes, you won't, correct. :rolleyes:

What? Whatzzat you say? Don't wander over to the baseball forum, 3/4ths will tell you how wrong you are. Then cash the checks. :eek:
God love you, Dutch.

Care to elaborate or is this the beginning and end?

Good for you. Just understand the consequences. I can't count the times I have had to pay for refusing to coddle up.

Don't fret FitUmp56....no one is worthless. You can always serve as a bad example.

I'll sleep better knowing you are in good hands then.

If I'm wrong about the pro's, I must have been misinformed. Sorry for that.
My point was that solidairity among umpires is the greatest thing in a tournament (in life itself). And I know that money can destroy that solidarity. I'm not saying that I can/will look into someone wallet, solidairity can cost me and others money. That my point. To be solidair with eachother, it might cost. If that makes me dreamer, so be it...

I have walked off a field for the same thing where the Field Director said I could not eject a player and that he would finish the game and I did not get paid for my scheduled games that night. None of my fellow umpires left with me as I walked off. I did not umpire at that site for 5 years while that Field Director was in charge. So I lost money for five years. I went else where and umpired. The incident caused ill will in our group. The Field Director got fired. I still don't umpire at that site.

Do you have regrets?

Yes, that's good. In our local association, a UIC is always assigned for each tournament. How the UIC would handle such a situation would probably vary depending on the UIC (some are more capable than others), but at the very least, if something happened like what happened to you, that TD wouldn't be getting any more umpires until our directors had a meeting with him. Whether he ever gets more umpires from us would depend on his response to that meeting.

I recall my first ever slo-pitch ejection, and it was a rec tourney as well. The ejected player was full of bluster, and as he was leaving, he promised to get the TD. This happened in the second inning, and the game played out without the TD ever coming by. Afterwards, I discussed it with the TD and asked him if the player came to find him. He did, and the TD simply asked him what he did to get ejected. When the player told him, he simply replied that he would have ejected him too. It was good to hear that the TD supported the umpires!

Since the OP stated that the TD walked up and wanted to reinstate the player, without asking YOUR side of things (of course ejected players lie), then telling you to leave, I probably would have stayed, told the ejected players manager that the game will be forfeited if said player didnt leave, kick the TD off the field(whether he left or not is mute), most probably call the forfeit, tell the winning team that they may have to protest to keep the win, inform the other umpires nearby,and stay there for my next game.
Basically not making it easy for the TD to solve things HIS way. This diamond is MINE during the game.
Not everything is in our control, but I'd like to think that I'd finish this game and any others I had scheduled. Whether a forfeit win stood up, or the ejected player plays again in another game, or the possibly forfeited game has to be rescheduled, is now not my concern---only my game management, per MY call.

I seriously doubt it would be mute! :D

Oh, believe me, you wouldn't have any idea of how right you are and how WRONG I was.