Being Looked Upon as an OOJ
 

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?

O I gnorant T eam J, not O O J

But
"Against our better judgment, we let it go and told them they needed to get chin straps for the next day's play" would be against my better judgment, as well.

Don't you just love when you specifically warn a coach about something and then they want to complain about it later?

Not sure I would have put up with batters being smart mouth about keeping a foot in the box. After a couple I think coach and I would have had a talk about the next one that made a comment would be leaving.

Oh, you think they are listening.

I didn't see anything about smart mouth batters. :confused:

OK. I read it as the batters were the ones making the comment. Rereading it was the parents being mouthy.

I've never made an issue of the one-foot-in-the-box deal as a literal point to be made with players or coaches. I have always considered it (correctly, I think) as a game-management rule to keep things moving.

If a team likes to conduct these little walks halfway to 3rd coaching sessions between pitches, I will start with saying, "Let's go batter." That usually does the trick. After all, I don't really care about where they keep their feet, only that they don't waste time.

If that doesn't do the trick, I will get louder, "LET"S GO, BATTER"!

Rarely have I had to resort to anything more punitive, but the next step would be asking the coach if he wants TIME for a conference.

Frankly, I find the arm band multi-color signal encyclopedias everyone seems to be using these days to be much more of a time waster. I had a team yesterday that had a multiple page arm band, where the players would have to open the thing up to find the signal.

Had another team a week ago where the coach would relay the pitch signal to the catcher, the catcher would signal the pitcher, the pitcher would stare at her arm band for a few seconds, and then finally prepare to pitch. On the bright side, there were no quick pitches! :D

And, both of these were 16 or 18 year olds!

But, jeez... how may nuances does a team need for softball signals?

While I agree and really dont care if the batter has a foot in the box or 2' outside of it, as long as they arent delaying the game what difference does it make? But, go to nationals and the UIC tells you the batter WILL keep a foot in the box you best make sure they do or your tournament grade will show the result.

I typically don't either. But again, it was a point of emphasis in the tournament which I felt compelled to mention during the plate conference.

If the girls stepped one or two steps out of the box, I wouldn't have said anything. But this team went a little above and beyond, and I reminded the coach. If he would have responded with, "No worries, Blue; I'll take care of it," no problem. But instead, he had to ask me if it was in the rules, and then told me his batters have ten seconds. Why do they have to be that way? :(

I'm glad it's not just me.

Rita

Are you sure?? All of the above is fiction! ;) :p :D :D :D

That is not your call. The is up to the TD, not the umpire

That's were you start calling strikes for the rest of the game.


Because they don't really know how to play the game and they think they can get away with being asses away from home.

Once had a HS team and their parents that behaved so poorly on and off the field AT DISNEY they were asked to leave and never come back. Turns out the umpire was a friend of mine and gave me a heads up. I held a pre-game with the crew that had their first game back home. The PU warned them there will be no tolerance of........there was a list of about 6 things my friend noted and he covered them all. The coaches and captains stood there with their jaws dropped with a "how the **** did they know about that look" on their face. It was great!

Had the same thing at an Eastern National a few years back with a team from OH. TD couldn't wait to get rid of them.

This past weekend I had to enforce, over and over, batters leaving the box, on-deck batters using the wrong circle, multiple on-deck batters being out of the dugout swinging bats all at once and pitchers stepping onto the plate with their hands already joined.

Every time, it was like no one had ever heard of that before... :confused:

"As the head coach, it is your responsibility to ensure that your players play by the rules, right coach?"

Dump the onus back on the coaches. Get them to work with you, rather than against you if possible.

Even when it is a book rule ?? :confused: