Should I have ejected?

Dakota · #1 (**permalink**) Mon Sep 23, 2002, 01:49pm

See my other post, "batter stands like a statue" for the set up situation.

Anyway, coach & I have a somewhat tense, but civil discussion on my call. I don't budge. Coach, very displeased, returns to 3rd base coach's box.

Then, coach yells across the field to his batter, "If she does that again, throw the bat at her. If the umpire won't control the game, I will."

This was about the 5th inning between two good-natured just having fun fall ball teams; no batters had been hit by a pitch before this little incident, and there had been no problems with anything up to this point, (and certainly nothing that would have even suggested that the pitch was somehow payback - not even a remote possibility) so "controlling the game" was hardly the issue.

I had called games with both of these teams earlier in the day (against different opponents) with no problems. Kids & coaches just enjoying softball.

Second, this was this batter's 5th or so time up to bat over two games, so I knew pretty well that this kid was no way going to follow these idiotic instructions.

Question: should I have ejected the coach for this remark?

I just took my mask off and gave him "the look" and continued the game. Sometimes I think I am too easy to let such things just roll off my back.

(BTW, we have a brief discussion during the inning change as he walked back to his dugout, but other than the coach generally sulking for the rest of the game, it caused no further disruption.)

greymule · #2 (**permalink**) Mon Sep 23, 2002, 02:16pm

Sounds like the coach's comment was quite out of place in the context of the games you were doing. Like a guy going ballistic over a call in some co-ed picnic league. I guess it depends on several factors (tone of voice, loudness, facial expression, body language), but on the surface, I'd say that the remark shouldn't have been allowed to pass, either "throw the bat at her" or "I will [control the game]." I can picture myself doing anything from immediately ejecting to just walking down and talking to the guy, depending on my mood.

Brings up a good question, though. Yesterday I let "open your damn eyes" pass in a men's modified playoff. Normally, that would be a reflexive "You're gone," but the tense, crucial situation, who the player was, the fact that his teammates immediately told him to cut it out, the fact that I'm their regular ump and feel secure with nothing to prove, all these factors led me simply to ignore it, and today I don't regret having done so.

bluezebra · #3 (**permalink**) Mon Sep 23, 2002, 03:20pm

Any comment like that is cause for IMMEDIATE EJECTION. And, with a very loud and strong comment about what the coach said.

Bob

Skahtboi · #4 (**permalink**) Mon Sep 23, 2002, 04:14pm

Quote:

Originally posted by bluezebra
Any comment like that is cause for IMMEDIATE EJECTION.
Bob

I second that! Though I never make a big show when I eject a coach. I just call time, walk over to him and let him know, in a normal speaking voice, that the game is over for him.

Scott

IRISHMAFIA · #5 (**permalink**) Mon Sep 23, 2002, 06:01pm

Quote:

Originally posted by bluezebra
Any comment like that is cause for IMMEDIATE EJECTION. And, with a very loud and strong comment about what the coach said.

Bob

Yepper! The problem here is that what happens if the batter, even in gest, throws the bat at the pitcher?

I don't see where you have a choice, but to eject the batter. God forbid the bat takes a bad bounce and hits someone, whether it be the pitcher or not.

Then you're going to have a parent in a courtroom stating, "The coach told the batter to do it, the umpire heard it and did nothing to protect my daughter."

Nope, it's not worth it especially when dealing with children.

Del-Blue · #6 (**permalink**) Tue Sep 24, 2002, 06:30am

You should have sent him packing right then and there, and during your discussion with him after the ejection, ask him it you have recaptured your control of the game.

Bob

Elaine "Lady Blue" · #7 (**permalink**) Tue Sep 24, 2002, 11:26am

SEE 'YA!!! If you didn't eject him, then he's controlling the game. What an idiot he was!!

deeno27 · #8 (**permalink**) Tue Sep 24, 2002, 05:51pm

Buh-Bye.....I agree. Safety is a big deal, even if the coach makes light of it. Think of how that pitcher felt hearing an adult tell a kid to throw a bat at her....

Diana

Gulf Coast Blue · #9 (**permalink**) Tue Sep 24, 2002, 06:01pm

Tom...........

Even I probably would have tossed him............But I will give you a HTBT...............grin

Joel

hey blue · #10 (**permalink**) Tue Sep 24, 2002, 09:51pm

Anytime a coach or player makes a remark that is inappropriate, they are done for the rest of the game. As an official of the game, you cannot tollerate such remarks and I would probably report what he said to the league officials. I am suprised a parent didn't have a comment for the coach after he made such an idiot of himself. What do you do when a bat slips from a batters hands and lands somewhere near the shortstop. Now you have lost control.

Dakota · #11 (**permalink**) Thu Sep 26, 2002, 11:47am

Thanks for all the comments.

In retrospect, I knew I should have sent him to the parking lot. You read my rationalization of my non-action in the opening post, but really that is what it was - rationalization.

The safety aspect of his remarks should have flipped the "zero tolerance" bit in my brain, but it didn't.

Again, thanks for the respectful lashing you folks gave me.