I hope he learned something
 

So yesterday I worked a 14U Rec Championship 2 man, and I was BU. He has about 4 years of umpiring under his belt. We were talking on the way to the field. He said he never has seen me before am I new. I told him I have been doing this awhile. He asked what tournament I have this year. I told him 18G Reg, 18A/USA National and the Champions Cup. He told me when he get to my level he would not do Rec ball. I told him no, don't, because if you are going to see thing that test your rule knowledge you will see them in rec.

Anyways as the first inning roles on I see a few things that I will talk to him after the game, but one thing happened that worth discussing. IF situation. High blooper on F1 (ball ends up landing at the top of the pitching circle). I raise my left hand signaling IF and he shakes is head, as if to wave me off. So I called it. He called time came out and said, "I'm the head umpire and I waived you off"! I said, "No, you are my partner, you are the plate umpire and we both have different but equal responsibilities to call the game". I told him let's play ball we can talk about this after the game.

After the game I had him read 10.3.b and I discuses how as an umpire he should support his partner and as a plate umpire he needs to call the IF when his partner raises his left hand (whether he agrees or not).

I hope he learned something.

Ron, I hate to disagree with you and second guess your work, but I think that your partner wasn't the only person who made mistakes on the field. If I may direct your attention to page 243 of the Umpire Manual, it states that it is the Plate Umpire's responsibility to call the Infield Fly. When I'm on the bases, I've always assisted my partner in determining the IFF if the ball and/or fielder are drifting back. However, I've always believed that final determination of an IFF rests with the PU. The second mistake (and this is just me being nit-picky) is that the IFF is signaled with the right hand, not left.

Your partner, however, should not have discussed this on the field with you. That's something that should have waited until after the game.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but I think that this whole situation could have been handled differently.

Yes it is the PU job to make the call, and I waited but he didn't. Make the call is different then judge the call. If your partner on the bases judges the call to be IFF, the as the PU, Make the call! But if for some reason the PU doesn't see me then the BU should make the call.

Think about it if this was a higher level game and the BU riased his hand signaling an IF and the PU doesn't call it, don't you think the D-coach is coming out? If I am a PU and my partner signals IFF I am going to trust he/she and make the call. In the situation I dicribed the BU, behind F6, has better depth preception.

The bottom line I am trying to get across is we are a team, and we support each other, and one does not have more power over the other (ASA) just different responsibilities.

And, yes left hand I have dyslexia this morning.

I beg to differ. Not your call. His comment to you was completely out of line, but if the manual says it's one umpire's call, it's their call. A "call" is a decision. The book doesn't mean it's his responsibility to speak - it's his CALL, his decision.

I grant that not being there, it's hard to know what really happened - but if PU didn't call it, I'm sure he had a reason - did you ask the reason? You mention that the ball hit the ground - did someone drop it? If not, was it really "catchable with ordinary effort"? Perhaps you saw where the ball was going and thought IFF - but he SAW the F4 and/or F6 had no play and F1 didn't know where the ball was.

I guess where I'm going with that is that YES, you are partners. You both know the rules. You both know it's his responsibility for making the call, so as his partner I would have assumed he had a SPECIFIC reason for not making the call. If defensive coach comes out yelling, I'm simply saying it's PU's call regardless of my right hand - and let him yell it out with PU, where PU can give his reasoning for not making the call.

His comment that he was in charge was WRONG... but your assumption of his responsibilities (remember, IFF IS a judgement call) and dismissal of his judgement was just as "unpartnerlike".