All time favorite bad Dad moment

Here's a good one on payback to a dad. The pitcher is now in the majors.

A dad is heckling the opposing pitcher in a high school game while his kid is at the plate. The dad has his face up to the fence by the backstop. The pitcher has a bit of a temper. He fires a fastball right into the dad's face.

HS game on a Saturday morning.

Dad in a fold up chair behind home, next to bleachers in a grassy area.

Little girl in a pink dress (cute little thing) walking her small dog around (on a leash) very well behaved enjoying the morning sun. She wanders by the dad skipping and singing and he starts screaming at her “GET THAT DOG AWAY FROM ME, GET THAT DOG AWAY FROM ME…” Fans in the stands start yelling at him to shut up, pretty soon there is this big argument going on between a bunch of fans/parents and the dad. (I guess he had been getting on everyone’s nerves for quite some time) There is all this yelling and commotion going on over this little girl and dog.

I look over at the field and all of the players, umpires, and coaches are standing there looking into the stands to see what is going on. It was a very surreal - the roles had been reversed for a few minutes. Players watching parents. (while behaving badly)

1990 - my 3rd year coaching summer ball.

Had a dad who was giving the finger to the home plate umpire when the umpire wasn't looking. Finally got ejected from the park by the field umpire who noticed it. I was in the dugout and didn't see what was going on.

He was a real jerk...for sure!

My all time baseball dad moment with my dad was I was the loosing pitcher in a 23-0 blowout. No mercy rule back then. I wasn't a pitcher but none of our regular pitchers were available(That is another story entirely). So I had to pitch. This particular park only had one set of bleachers so all the parents for both teams sat together. After the game my dad and I laughed all the way back to the car when he told me the parents of the opposing team kept asking who my parents were and why they wouldn't take me out of the game. None of the parents claimed me including my own Dad. I tell that story to my players every year and remind them no matter how bad it gets they can't loose 23-0 and your parents still have to take you home even if they don't want to claim you. It is always good for a laugh.

For me... Any parent who sits around in the stands talking about how great their kid is.. And then makes up every excuse in the book when they have an off day. Why some are so insecure is beyond me.

Rec game, I think the players were in 4th grade. No umps -- dads took turns standing behind the pitcher, each calling balls and strikes for their player. A dad on our team was coaching 1st, and I believe we had a guy on first and one on second.

Our hitter comes up, and he nails one straight up the middle. He hits the dad calling the pitches right in the head, and he falls down, unconscious. Some kids scream, a few parents run onto the field to try to treat the man...

and our 1st base coach dad is still waving our runners (including the traumatized kid who hit the man) around the bases, trying to capitalize on the unfortunate incident and the fact that no one had called time.

I'm coaching my son's 12U travel team in a tournament. I was calling pitches......FB, CU, 2seam, 4 seam, etc. Kid on the mound has always been kind of a prima donna, and his MOM (an umpire) was a royal PITA.

This day, I'm calling pitches and periodically he's not throwing what I call. I let it go......not going to make areal big deal out of it, but he and I talk between innings. He's cool....tells me he is having trouble seeing the cather's signs, so I talk to the catch to make some adjustments.

Next inning, he throws another "wrong" pitch. This time, though, I notice he's looking into the crowd between pitches.....he's taking signs from his mother.

I call time, and walk out to the hill. I tell him if I see him look over to his mother one more time to get a sign, he's out of the game. As I'm walking back to the bench, my back to the kid, his Mom yells out, "Just throw what coach Mike calls". Turns out the kid had looked right at her after my talk and held his arms out as if to say, "What do I do now"?

Little League 9-10 state all-star tournament. Our team had made it to the state tournament for the first time ever. Big win in quarterfinals with double in the top of the sixth by young man who had just substituted into the game. After the game, the parent of the kid who came out - first time he had come out during the entire all star district and state tournament - proceeds to individually light up the manager and the two coaches for taking his kid out. Absolutely screaming at them in full view of state and district little league officials. Meanwhile, his son is walking to the parking lot by himself.

Truly embarrasing for our little league and our city.

quote:

Little League 9-10 state all-star tournament. Our team had made it to the state tournament for the first time ever. Big win in quarterfinals with double in the top of the sixth by young man who had just substituted into the game. After the game, the parent of the kid who came out - first time he had come out during the entire all star district and state tournament - proceeds to individually light up the manager and the two coaches for taking his kid out. Absolutely screaming at them in full view of state and district little league officials. Meanwhile, his son is walking to the parking lot by himself.

Truly embarrasing for our little league and our city.

...and probably for the son as well

Regular season Little League game here in Lebanon my last year of Little League(7th grade year;2 years back). My coach at the time was umping and the opposing coach is a Class-A ***, along with his 2 sons who have there heads so high in clouds its not even funny. Both believe there pitching in the Majors right out of HS, have AWFUL attitudes, have rode there way to Daddy-Ball success in the Little League and mediocre Traveling teams they are on. Well my coach calls a player out at the plate(I believe it was the opposing coach's son) by a really close call. I thought he was out but that's just me! Anyway the coach runs out, yells, throws his hat, spits in the coaches face,and is very upset to say the least. My coach looks at him, counts to 3, tells him to calm down, and then throws him out. The coach picks up his hat, throws some stuff in the dugout(still yelling), and leaves with his oldest son who is not playing on the team. You can hear him yelling all the way to his car, he pulls out on 2 wheels, and leaves. Comes back in around 30 minutes later calm as can be. Talks to my coach after our game that was right after the other, but I am not sure what he said, I don't believe it was an appology because I saw finger pointing.

Also to let you guys know, he has gotten thrown out of alot of All-Star games with his oldest but this was the first I saw.

I have known this guy for years, went to school with both, and I have never seen a change in personality between kindergarden where T-ball is just a game, to "I'm the best pitcher, hands down". He will get a major wake-up soon. As for his Dad(the coach), he use to be a family friend. The guy has supported me more than most of the people in the league because he believes I have talent but his actions are unacceptable in my opinion.

Son's 12 AA game, the coach was continuously yelling at the catcher who was having a hard time blocking pitches from a very wild pitcher. It got to the point that the catcher stood up and told the coach to shut up and quit yelling at him.
I was that coach and the catcher was my son. I apologized to the parents and the team after the game. I never yelled at him again and didn't coach him anymore after that season. He has blossomed into a catcher with a shot at starting on his High School Varsity team as a Sophomore and I grew into a dad that sits in the bleachers and cheers him on while laughing at the crazy parents.

Farmer Dad,
Good job. If all of us could monitor ourselves like you, youth sports would be an even better place.