Eject A Fan?
 

I'll start out with I do not know HS Softball rules well, so please cut me a little slack.....

Can an umpire eject a fan from the stands? A parent, disagreeing with a call announced "you really blew that call, blue. Are you blind?" (no, it was not me). For which the umpire insisted the fan had to leave.

If a fan is really so bad that he can't be ignored, I'll have the game manager handle him. That may mean removal or just a warning or whatever. And if a game manager hasn't been identified, it's the home team's head coach. But generally, meaning way more than 99% of the time, I don't hear the fans.

There are fans at the game? Holy crap, that's the first I've heard of it! So THAT'S what that slight background hum is...

In all seriousness, if a fan's actions are really that bad, an umpire may have that person removed. They may also suspend the game if conditions warrant such an action.

In slow-pitch, there are usually no "game administration", so the umpire may have to do the ejection, and ask whichever team the fan is associated with for help in having the ejected fan leave. I've actually sent fans to the parking lot in slow-pitch, and told them if they come back in during the night, I would call the cops and have them arrested for trespassing.

And Dave, before you say it, yes, we do get SOME fans at these games.

Talk about a dare :rolleyes:

There is a difference in insisting a fan leave and actually ejecting the fan. Much of that depends on the local HS conference/association. In many cases in HS, there is a Site Administrator or someone equivalent to a "supervisor" provided by the home team. It those cases, it is often under their authority that a fan is removed and in many cases it is done at the request of the umpire.

Like Steve noted, the head coaches can also be used in these circumstances. If the coaches refuse to cooperate, Steve will probably go to to his vehicle, pull out his chair with a bottle of water and sit there until the coaches decide to have the fan removed.

And before someone starts in on about umpire's egos, we are discussing the issue when there is no question the situation is bad for all concerned, not just a fan heckling the umpire.

amen!

Exactly!

And when you tell this friend that yes, the umpire can have him tossed for that, tell him he needs to think about becoming an umpire so we will have more qualified people like him umpiring the games. Seriously. We need good umpires, and, let's face it, we have a place for those who are sighted.

But what about those of us who need our seeing eye dogs after the game??? :D

I do not consider this a "fan ejectable" offense.

I have in the past - had a fan ejected by a TD, had a coach handle his fan, ejected a fan myself.

Is there something in the book that gives me that authority? Not really, its my blue shirt that does.

In championship play when there are TDs and UICs and those in authority - so they can deal with it. I would rather they deal with it. Not all games are that organized.

If I'm on my own and find I need to handle it, I will.


For the most part, fans can be ignored or handled in such a way you dont need to eject, especially over a simple comment like "youre blind, you blew it". You can say nothing, ignore it, say something like "well I always blow at least one".

IMO, its not about ego - as an ump you just can't be thin skinned or insecure about your calls. A quick ejection would more indicate insecurity in your ability than you having a big ego.

I had a coach last night whimpering about a crow hop. Its 1 man rec.. I dont believe there was a crow up, actually not to worried aobut it in any any case, but to be sure when watching her during warm ups there was no crow hop - and it would have to be pretty obvious for me to call it in 1 man. Anyway, the coach is whining about to the point I have to warn him, because I dont want to hear it anymore, I'm in 1 man, and I'm not going to call it even if it is slightly happening since I dont believe I can judge that from where I am, its frustrating the pitcher, and its just generally riling things up..but the coach already has the fans going . "This blue is letting her double crow AND step back" (that would be obviously even worser than a simple crow hop I guess) "Wow how is he not calling that" - after awhile, since I shut the coach up.. they shut up about it and I didnt hear anything else about it. Just leave it be in terms of fans - handle your game between the lines, and it works itself out.

Varsity double header last week. Parent sitting directly behind home plate and above me. He had a really good look at location of pitch with the contruction of the stands as they were. He was the father of the home team pitcher.

First pitch of the game is on the outside corner and I call a strike. He moans and says, "It is going to be a long night." It was his daughter pitching. When his team was up to bat in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd innings, he had something to say on every pitch. In the 3rd inning, I asked the catcher whose father it was, she said "It is precious's father, the pitcher." She followed immediately with, "I will take care of him." She got up and went to pick a foul ball on the next pitch and says, loud enough for everyone to hear, "We have heard you enough, go find a new seat and let precious pitch!"

We went to top row and precious started to pitch much better.

Now that is game management!

With a name like "Precious," I doubt many of us are surprised by this story.

Sadly, this isn't even the 5th "Precious" I've run across. I worked in a school district with at least a dozen or two of them, all spelled various ways (Precious, Preshus, Preshis, etc.).

Dang that's weird... usually the fathers at my games like it when i call strikes when their DD's pitch.... very weird.

But I love the catchers game management.

I wondered about that, also.
My guess is the poster simply made a mistake...

Crap, I don't want the pitcher's name. I want the catcher's name, and I want to see if she can come up here and conduct a clinic for catchers on game management.