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Can't get over Bad Calls

L LeanTake2Member
Yesterday, at a PIAA- District IV High School Game near Williamsport, PA. I was a spectator sitting in the bleachers behind home plate scouting for my American Legion Team. I saw a plate umpire make some of the worst calls I have ever seen in my life.

This umpire refused to call balks. When the balks were pointed out by the offensive teams coach, this umpire said. "They are a young team and to let it go". What? This was a High School Varsity game. Umpires are the best instructors and challenge players to get better by calling them on their playing mistakes.

Both teams were young. Only one team was balking. The team this umpire was very friendly with, making jokes with, there was an obvious relationship between the coaches and this umpire.

The Game was Tied 3 - 3, bottom of the 7th. Runner on 3B coming home after a hit into left field. Left fielder makes a perfect throw to the catcher at home. Catcher is waiting for the runner and they collide. Catcher ends up on top of the runner, 3 feet from home plate, ball in his glove, trapped between his chest and the runners back. A full second passes and everyone is waiting for the obvious OUT Call from the ump. Runner then crawls home with catcher on top of him. Runner is then called Safe. Catcher presents ball from his glove to the umpire still calls it as a run. Well there were some very upset Coaches, players and spectators.

I didn't know either of the umpires I will say that the Base umpire did a good job.

I am a seasoned coach with over 25 years of baseball experience . I instruct my players that a call is a call, move on. Adjust to the strike zone. Lead with Sportsmanship. Shake it off, if you don't agree, remember we came here to play baseball not to argue. I know that the umpires are doing their best to keep the game fair and follow the rules. I can honestly say that in over 25 years of coaching I have been able to keep my cool and when I question any umpire, it has been done with respect. I know that the High School Coaching of this team is done the same way.

Until yesterday, I could say with all honesty and respect that all PIAA High School baseball umpires, were good at what they do. Not anymore -there is one that has ruined that and his actions will stick in my belly for some time to come.

I just can't get over this one. Thought venting on this message board might help. I love and respect the game of baseball very much. What I saw yesterday was an insult to the game.
Last edited {1}
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RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
quote:
Until yesterday, I could say with all honesty and respect that all PIAA High School baseball umpires, were good at what they do. Not anymore -there is one that has ruined that and his actions will stick in my belly for some time to come.
First this is one umpire team, not all umpires. However, with all due respect for the resident hsbaseballweb PIAA umpire, I've found high school PIAA baseball and softball umpiring to be very disappointing. The umpires available to do afternoon games tend to be retired and old. They tend to be slow to react and have questionable vision. I will say the PIAA umpires we get for ECTB on the weekends are usually very good umpires. These guys can only do night and weekend games due to their day jobs.

I used to tell my kids the officiating would get better as they moved up the ranks of the game. I was wrong. The play gets faster and the officials get older. I guess I just had respect for the game officials since I was a kid. Now I tell kids to do the same. Respect the officials. However, I don't remember the umpires being old retired guys when I played. You want to see brutal? Afternoon freshman basketball games reffed by 65+ year old refs.
Last edited by RJM
55mom55mom1,000+ posts
My husband umpires up to middle school ball and has nearly had a coronary over some of the calls. (One example - bad throw from rt field by our team. It rolls towards opponent dugout. Ump clearly calls "interference" and moves their runner over to 2nd. He then tells the protesting coach that it would have rolled into dead ball territory. Since when do they have a crystal ball?)

In our area, there is a shortage umpires at the high school level. We think that tourney play on the weekends is drawing many off. The pay is better, and it does not wrap them up in the evenings.
piaa_umppiaa_ump5,000+ posts
quote:
Until yesterday, I could say with all honesty and respect that all PIAA High School baseball umpires, were good at what they do. Not anymore -there is one that has ruined that and his actions will stick in my belly for some time to come.

I just can't get over this one. Thought venting on this message board might help. I love and respect the game of baseball very much. What I saw yesterday was an insult to the game.



In my responses on this board, I always make it a point to say that the action of one umpire paints us all.....no one says that umpire is bad, they say those Umpires are bad.....Now, as posted above, all PIAA umpires are now painted with this same broad brush......

As we all know, this one umpire wrongly interjected himself into the game....Umpires should not teach, nor show any bias in any way.....It does not matter that they were young, they play NFHS rules and we are to call the game under that code.

In HS umpiring, the umpire you get may not be the Best umpire.....he may just be the "most available" umpire.......

That being said....I often state here that are umpires who should not be doing the job....but I will not believe anyone at anytime who feels a whole organization is no good......

If you feel this strongly I encourage you to call

Dr. Lombardi
PIAA,
550 Gettysburg Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-0708
(717) 697-0374 | (800) 382-1392
Last edited by piaa_ump
FutureBack.MomFutureBack.Mom1,000+ posts
LT2 ...

First off, welcome to the HSBBW (unless you are posting under an assumed board name) ...

I can understand how frustrating you found yesterday's officiating and altho I would love to see a game called perfectly, nevertheless, there will always be one or two umpires that you encounter who will cause you sleepless nights. But PIAA officials are not the only ones who make mistakes ... it happens at every level. We had a college game once where 2 outs with bases loaded ... batter hits a ground ball to 3rd, wherein the 3rd baseman tagged the bag (fielder's choice) for the 3rd out. UNFORTUNATELY, the home plate umpire called the runner from 2nd safe, and the runner from third scored, and there were still only 2 outs BECAUSE the umpire who made the call told the 3rd baseman that he never tagged the runner so the runner was safe. Altho the other umpires acknowledged that the out would have been made with a simple foot to the bag, neither saw the play and so couldn't call it either way. ARGHHHHHHH ... and it was my son on the mound who suffered because of it. After all, there is no such thing as an e-Ump (but in this case, it should have been.)

I got ridiculously angry because this guy had 4 or 5 strike zones as it was for that game and he was, after all, ruining my son's chances at playing in the big leagues etc etc etc. but the bottom line is that these officials are only human and do make mistakes. I still get angry ... especially if they don't seem to know the rules ... but it is nothing to lose sleep over.
Last edited by FutureBack.Mom
L LeanTake2Member
quote:
Originally posted by piaa_ump:
[QUOTE]As we all know, this one umpire wrongly interjected himself into the game....Umpires should not teach, nor show any bias in any way.....It does not matter that they were young, they play NFHS rules and we are to call the game under that code.

In HS umpiring, the umpire you get may not be the Best umpire.....he may just be the "most available" umpire.......

That being said....I often state here that are umpires who should not be doing the job....but I will not believe anyone at anytime who feels a whole organization is no good......

If you feel this strongly I encourage you to call

Dr. Lombardi
PIAA,
550 Gettysburg Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-0708
(717) 697-0374 | (800) 382-1392



I agree and Thank You for the PIAA contact information.

Thanks for the fine welcome - This is a very positive site with great tips and excellent information.
Bob SandersBob Sanders10+ posts
When my brother was playing back in the seventies things were a little more laid back as far as coaches and umpires getting into at homeplate. Now my favorite clips on ESPN are the coaches removing bases over bad calls and conversations(I say that with a smile) between coaches and umpires. They are hillarious! If they only knew how ridiculous they all looked! I do agree that some umpires are to old and yet again some are to young---and most of them by all of our standards need their eyes checked on a regular basis-- It's a dirty job and koodos to all umpires that take on that responsiblity with all of us parents looking on. Without these guys--good calls and bad calls our kids couldn't play a game. As everything in life: not everything goes our way...and not every call is a good one....it just depends on what side you are on at the moment!
Like the lyric to that old song goes "one bad apple doesn't ruin the whole bunch girl"
B blm100+ posts
I can sympathize with your situation. Son had a plate ump for his first HS game and lucky for my son it was the plate umps first game ever behind the plate. As you can guess what an interesting strike zone WOW!!!

No corners, flinching at some fast balls, all most every curve was a ball and as far as a splitter just forget it. He is favorite strike was belt high, down the middle. Lucky for us the other team was pretty free swinging team.

Shouldnt an ump with that little experience be working his way up from a JV level or lower???
piaa_umppiaa_ump5,000+ posts
quote:
Shouldnt an ump with that little experience be working his way up from a JV level or lower???



absolutely...........

In my association.........we have no one who has never called a game behind the plate before........

Every one has some youth or travel league experience before they take on Freshman and JV games.......

No umpire with out experience would start out in a varsity game.......
G gimages100+ posts
Son has a game this last Saturday. The pitcher is the best we have seen this year. Very good volecity and control. A wonderful challenge for the team. Son stirkes out twice. Sons last at bat top of the 7th (we were visiting team) two outs man of first and second. Hits a high chopper over the pitcher up the middle. Son beats shortstop throw by a quick step, Ump is in the middle infield in front of second calls him out. He was clearly safe. We were losing 9 to nothing. I don't feel the call was made on purpose to hurt anyone but I feel the umpire was ready to go home. I saw the play clearly as I was on the 1st base fence and yelled a "No way" (once as the call was a shock). Shaking my head in disbelief two minutes later I was over it. Son was over it by the time he had packed up his bat bag and we were walking to the car. The call ended a 9 game hitting streak. Umpires will and do make bad calls it happens but for the most part do a fine job. A year ago the call would have bothered me for several days but now I know it is only a game not brain surgery where a mistake is a real problem.
Last edited by gimages
B blm100+ posts
So what can be done in this situation? His team got the same ump a day later and believe me that was not enough time for him to improve.

We are afraid that he is assigned to our area for the season. Im not sure how that is figured out who goes where.

If we get him again a friend said he was going to video how awful he is. Not sure why?

Its a thankless job for sure. On the other hand there is a big difference getting a couple wrong, nobodys perfect. To a strike zone from eyebrows to shoe laces. Honestly you would not believe your eyes.
Last edited by blm
piaa_umppiaa_ump5,000+ posts
quote:
His team got the same ump a day later and believe me that was not enough time for him to improve.


If this was a varsity game, it sounds as if there must be quite a shortage of qualified umpires in your area that they would assign him another varsity game with that little experience....

There is a chronic shortage of baseball umpires....there a very few who wish to undertake the time and effort to become qualified.......and unfortunately the higher you go the less people are qualified.

In order to umpire Varsity baseball and higher, it takes me a minimum of $350 to pay all of my registrations, clinics and insurance premiums.........

On top of the uniforms and gear each league demands, you can see the $$ investment that it takes to be an umpire......

Many times given the shortage, some associations are willing to take on umpires who are less than qualified.......normally they will keep them in the frosh/JV level or assign them to an experienced crew chief to bring them along.....

In this case, it seems that they are doing anything to cover games...........even assigning untrained umpires to cover.........which is a fool hardy choice..........bad umpires are not worth the fees paid.........

Not sure what can be done.....
coach2709coach270910,000+ posts
quote:
Son strikes out twice.


quote:
The call ended a 9 game hitting streak.


So the other two at bats didn't have anything to do with the streak ending???

Look bad calls happen just like coaches make bad calls and players make errors. They are a part of the game and you got to overcome them. Does it sometimes make it harder to overcome - you better believe it but that is life.

In my state we can "scratch" two umpires that we don't want for our season. If we scratch one then they will not call any of our games during the season. I will not scratch anybody over missed calls. 99 out of 100 times they didn't mean to - they just messed up just like I do everyday. Why punish them over something like that?

Now I will scratch an umpire if I feel he is unprofessional. I had an umpire one time show up early for a game and sit in the parking lot. His partner showed up just a few minutes later. Both teams took IF / OF and were ready to start the game on time. Both umpires came strolling in about 5 minutes after we were supposed to start. One of them asked if he could get his check then. I told him we could do it after the game and we needed to start the game.

About the third inning I am going back to the dugout and he follows me the whole way asking about his check. I kept telling him we could take care of it after the game and he said he likes to get it early in case there is a disagreement between us it won't escalate. I told him he should have thought of that before he started the game late.

To me this is unexcusable and unprofessional. This guy was more worried about his check more than doing his job. I will scratch a guy over something like this than a guy who misses a call.
Last edited by coach2709
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
I'm going to say something positive about PIAA officials. However it is basketball. Although I'm sure the same story fits in baseball. I've had far more interaction with the PIAA in basketball from running leagues. They're rookie refs start with is in 10yo basketball. Since my son played LL I didn't see PIAA umpires until 13U travel.

When game officials become certified they are raw. It's like the kid who just past his driver's test. He doesn't really know how to drive yet. He just has the right to drive. But like kid drivers, the PIAA game officials grow and develop skills.

Just like it's a thrill to see a little kid develop into a high school athlete, I've been thrilled to see some of the basketball refs who started with us in 10yo rec ball develop into high school varsity basketball refs.

Give them time. The good ones develop.
Last edited by RJM

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