Working Alone.. one of those plays

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by charliej47

When I worked alone on slow-pitch or modified, at the plate meeting I would inform the coaches that certain "umpire" rules were in effect.
1) I always cover home first
2) I call what I see
3) I will eject anyone who charges me
4) I will discuss any call with the Head Coach only
5) The Head Coach is responsible for removing anyone ejected
6) the game is suspended until the ejected person is out of sight

Almost all of my solo games were on time limits.

It was surprising how both teams would "help" the ejected person leave!

I was getting so many ejections that I finally stopped doing solo games.

I know it seems like I'm picking on you ... trust me, that's not my intent...

But I strongly believe even saying the word ejection at the plate conference is extremely confrontational. I cringe when I have a partner do this. You can get your point across without talking about ejections.

One other thing I was taught early on - coaches are not responsible for the number of umpires / officials at their games. Bringing up the fact that they are going to get subpar officiating because we (the officials) are shorthanded is not really fair to them.

Also - if you're getting that many ejections - perhaps there's something else wrong here. Just 1 or 2 a year is a lot.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

...One other thing I was taught early on - coaches are not responsible for the number of umpires / officials at their games. Bringing up the fact that they are going to get subpar officiating because we (the officials) are shorthanded is not really fair to them....

Around here, the vast, vast majority of our fastpitch games are single umpire, even men's fastpitch. We'll get the occasional tournament championship that uses 2, and we are just starting to see some tournaments advertising 2 umpire crews as a benefit for their tournament. Point being, this is a decision made by the leagues, local clubs and associations to save money. It has nothing to do with umpire shortages. While not all coaches are involved in this decision, some (or even most) probably are. Even so, I never bring this up at the plate meeting (what's the point?), but I will if I start to catch grief about a missed call at 2B, etc.