Bad Call - Blue Response

If you have clearly blown a Fair/foul call, (and I have) an umpire with any experience will most probably give that coach leeway in his complaint.....

As long as he avoids profanity and keeps it within reason, Im going to let him complain....I do not want to compound my mistake with an ejection....so I will do my best to keep him in the game and take my lumps....

Also a Coaches prior history of good behavior, Game and Rules Knowledge and relationships with umpires will give some coaches extra leeway in some disagreeable situations.......

Catcher 09 -
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Rob - back atcha - piaa ump, thanks for the reply - I respect your approach. Things like that make the difference between a good and a great ump.

PS: from the stands, I have never missed a call

I agree, Ive never missed one from the stands either,....and if I did, noone cared...HA!

Just to make my humiliation complete, I might as well share my 2 worst foul calls....

Batter hits a dribbler down the 3rd base line...typical slow roller,..it starts to slow down and I hastily throw up both arms and call Foul!!.....just as the ball hits a rock and bounces fair......

A batter hits a line drive down 3rd base line...the catcher (big kid) jumps up and blocks my view, I lean around to see the ball bounce in foul territory...and call Foul!!!...trouble is it bounced well inside of the line before bounding out......

Both times I had to take my lumps...and was embarrassed to say the least....you've got to know that these are 2 examples I use when teaching new umpires on how nothing is foul until it is touched foul, and the need to clear the catcher when a ball is batted.....

Luckily for me the game bailed me out of both situations.....On the slow roller play, the batter struck out...and on the line drive I called foul the next pitch he drove it over the left field fence.......

Both times I will say that I did not get into any overly heated arguements with the coaches, mainly because I told both that "yes I had kicked the call" but I had to stick with it...These are the times when an umpire needs to stick his ego in his back pocket....

PIAA Ump

Once I argued on a call involving a rule interpretation. There was this young I went to Florida Umpire school and coaches are a necessary evil that interfere with the game on the bases. He blew a call but would not admit it He was beligerant and many years my junior. I went to the home plate umpire who consulted and righted the wrong. a couple of innings later the base ump calls a balk on my pitcher.I asked what he did. he was as beligerent as ever telling me to sit down and shut up. Now he did not belong anywhere near a baseball field with that attitude. he did not put his ego in his back pocket but proceeded to throw me out of the game. i guess he showed me who was boss. why because I a coach was right and he was wrong.

Will,
I think that there are many young umpires who mistake the authority given to them by the rule book to mean that they are never wrong. I can even remember myself in the beginning being much more confrontational and even had "rabbit ears".

I will even go as far as to say that in many chapters there is the coaches are the enemy mentality and your "umpire dignity" is all important. All this does is compound mistakes.

One of my rules in training is that an Umpire should never compound a mistake by making another one....being belligerent is never called for and ejecting a coach after a missed call is just an example of "2 wrongs don't make 1 right".....

I have never been to Pro school, and at my age and responsiblity level, I will never get to take 5 weeks out of my life to attend. I would love to go. I know I would come out a better umpire in many ways. Mechanically, rules knowledge and my game management would definately improve learning from the best.

However... I know that Jim Evans who runs one of the Pro schools, destinctly tells his graduates to be careful not to take that "I'm a pro trained umpire" attitude to extremes. I've seen it myself. It isn't pretty, and if that umpire stays with it, fortunatly he will mature out of that attitude.

Even though I have attended many umpire training classes and clinics, the one thing I have that I could not get from pro school is my
attitude towards the game and its participants....I feel I am part of the game, just like the field, the equipment and the rule book.....I am needed for the game to go smoothly. Noone is there to see me umpire....

I take ejections very personal....I don't want to eject anyone...But I will......actually the player or the coach eject themselves... all Im doing is confirming it.... I will eject when it is clear that the offender has crossed the line and is not willing to move on.....Ejection for me is a last resort and I will go home tonight thinking about how I could have kept that person in the game...... But dont get me wrong, I will and do eject people.....

Umpiring attracts a number of people who have the GOD complex. They are always right and you are wrong and they are the final authority. I can say that most will either get better over the years or drift away......

I can say that I have seen a shift in umpiring over the last 20 years. We are much more into getting the call right than being seen as unfailing....Now that doesnt help you with that ramrod you ran into.... Hopefully his veteran partner straightend him out after the game....

best of luck this year.....

PIAA Ump

I do not need any luck. I have been out 5 years after 25. the game is the same 3 outs 3 strikes etc etc but some of the things that go on are disturbing to me.

Will,
Then on that point we agree....there are many things in the game today that are disturbing in nature.....

some umpires, some players, some coaches and some parents, some school boards...some NFHS rules......