Being Looked Upon as an OOJ

[Manny A]

I worked one day of our State ASA tourney this past weekend. Did two plates and two bases of 14U pool and bracket play. For the most part it went okay. But I had one out-of-town team that just made me feel like the proverbial rules nazi.

It started during the equipment check. Not one batting helmet had a chin strap, as required by ASA rules. When my partner and I pointed it out, we of course got the, "Well, the other umpires..." whine. Against our better judgment, we let it go and told them they needed to get chin straps for the next day's play.

A point of emphasis from the tourney staff was to ruthlessly enforce the rule requiring the batter to maintain one foot in the box. I had mentioned that to the coaches at the plate conference. Sure enough, the first batter for this team walked almost halfway up the third base line after a pitch to look for her coach's sign. I asked her to come back and keep a foot in the box. She did it again, and this time I addressed the coach:

Me: "Coach, you need to instruct your batters to keep one foot in the box between pitches."

Coach: "Is that in the rules?"

Me: "Yes, it's a rule penalized with a Strike after a warning."

Coach: "But she has ten seconds, Blue. You're going to rush my batters!"

Groan...

Now the parents start riding me. Each time one of their batters came to the plate, one of them would sarcastically say, "Keep a foot in the batter's box!" And when they would see an opposing team's batter step out of the box, before I even had a chance to say something, they would yell, "HEY BLUE, BE CONSISTENT! CALL A STRIKE!" Mind you, I never ruled a penalty strike on anyone.

Then, this same team had an on-deck batter go to the opposite (first base side) on-deck circle. I held up play and instructed the batter she had to return to the circle next to her dugout. The parents started whining, "But she's left-handed, Blue!" I almost wanted to turn around and tell them, "Who umpires your games anyway?"

I hate it when I become the center of attraction. I don't feel I was being over-officious, especially when the staff emphasizes what they want from us. Why is there always one team that makes things that hard?