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I umped for about 10 years when I was younger. LL, Pony, and Colt. No HS
That's great. My son also was a full-time ump before me, about 8-9 years ago when he was also a senior in HS and was a kid ump before that. He was umping alongside guys as old as in their 60s and did a great job. One a-hole LL coach was giving him a ton of crap about a call and my 18-year-old son put him in his place and tossed him. Wasn't there to see it, but a truly proud fatherly moment.
I've had similar experiences. I do about 3-4 games a week, some LL and some competitive travel typically involving 9-13 year olds. Indeed, when I first went through training last year, there was as much focus on dealing with parents/coaches as there was about the game rules themselves, but such is our culture these days. I also make sure to keep an even kilter unless someone gives me reason not to.
I am coming from a coaches perspective as I have done that a lot longer than I umped. I was always shocked how quickly umps jumped down my throat with no provocation. Just a simple question about what they saw regarding a ruling like IFF or a rule interpretation. Even approaching calmly and they were already starting at me very confrontational. I understood it a lot more after having gone through the local ump training. That is what they were being told to do.
As I said up thread....the ump clinic I went to drilled that into the umps. They told them to be that way. I found that so terrible and just leads to the game getting off on the wrong foot........even if I can understand why coaches/fans have kind of driven them to that approach.
Great thoughts - agree 100% with all of this. Unfortunately, the things coaches seem to argue about most is judgement calls even if you are up front with them about not being able to see everything. But fortunately it's a small majority that think every call should go their way. Also find it comical when coaches argue about plays when they don't know the rules.
Yeah, that's pretty ridiculous to toss a coach for that. My association will toss a coach only if they are way out of line arguing and/or say a few magic words.
Basketball was the same in our area. The head of the association was always pushing the league commissioners to have suspensions for cumulative techs.
This is great one. I had one coach want to send a runner back on a steal because the ball was foul tipped/caught by the catcher and the runner thrown out. He tried to argue it was a foul ball and that throw down didn't count. That was a tough one to get through to this guy. I was amazed how he could coach and not know that a caught foul tip was live.
I guess it's a bit easier/less controversial in hoops to T up a coach. Baseball umps unfortunately tend to absorb a bit more abuse to get to the point of tossing a coach.
In my first year last year, I was umping a travel game of 8-year-olds and one kid hit a bomb and wound passing a runner ahead of him. I knew from my existing baseball knowledge that the trailing runner (hitter) is out, but learned after the game through research that the lead runner can still score. Think I called them both out and no one argued because no one knew the rule and never expected it to happen. Was pretty funny at the time.
That's a good one and I probably would have missed that - I know it's a strike if they swing but didn't realize it's a dead ball. Good to know - thanks.
I haven't come across this and probably wouldn't call an infield fly anyway because it's hard to get the ball that high where it would be an obvious catch. In fact, I often don't call the IFF for ages say 11 and under, even if it's a rule, because nothing is a given of being caught at that age unless it's a really talent-laden league.
Yeah, the good thing about basketball is i can communicate with the official without everyone in the stands hearing it. The guy in question was a Richard.
This can happen on non-homeruns too. Anytime a runner passes the runner in front of them they are out. This can lead to some chaos for sure. As an off-shoot to that which is confusing for many is when two runners are occupying the same base and the defense tags them both which runner is the runner that should be called out?
This is a good thing to bring up pre-game. If you are taking this approach you need to let the coaches know ahead of time that because of the age group and lack of ability you won't call an IFF. I understand the premise to not do this but the purpose of the rule is to protect the offense. Because that is the case I would still call it for one main reason.......it helps teach the players what the IFF rule is and gives there coaches a chance to teach them what to do.
This is great obscure situation.
I normally do bring that up pre-game. Understood it's meant to protect the offense, but I don't also don't want to penalize the offense by giving them an out when it could be easily dropped. Also most young kids that age don't have the insight to try to let it drop if they know the IF rule won't be called. And if they do, clearly it's a league that needs to have it called.
This points to similar situations where the coaches complain and don't know the rules. They will argue that a runner missed the base or left early on a tag, but never bothered to appeal it.
Name checks out
Yeah, baseball is an odd sport, in thatyou don't necessity get punished when the official catches you breaking the rules.
