I've Never Made That Call Before...

[BretMan]

Originally Posted by Texasbock

With all due respect Bretman, this seems like over umpiring to me. I don't know about your fall league in Ohio, but all the fall ball league experiences I have had in SE Texas, the leagues were instructional in nature and not to be officiated like a National tournament.......

I won't confine my observations to just "fall ball". The lag between innings is a year-round occurance.

Why can't the "instructional in nature" extend to teaching the teams the expected behavior between innings and the rules that should be enforced during their "real" games that count?

I hear that a lot- "It's only fall ball". Sure, maybe the games are more laid back and than your typical travel ball tournament, but I don't see that as an excuse for an umpire to throw good game management and rule enforcement out the window.

Again, I will note that the "between inning" conduct for this league was a point of emphasis by the league organizers. All of the coaches received written instruction to this effect with their league rules. We have been asked to cover this with coaches at the pre-game conference. The folks that run the league- ie: pay our salary- have requested that the umpires enforce these rules to minimize downtime and field scheduling issues, while maximizing playing time for the participants.

In light of all that, if I just ignored those directives, because "It's only fall ball", that would strike me as a bad case of under-umpiring.