Is this Ump wrong?

In that situation, ignoring the umpire's cautionary question was probably a mistake -- he was apt to take that as your being disrespectful.

Better to have answered him, "No, sir, that's just a habit of mine. I didn't mean anything by it."

It's OK to talk to the ump. He's just a person, you know. It's just that you have to be deferential at all times because, even if you think he's a jerk, he gets the last word on you.

The ump apparently doen't watch as much TV as you do and wasn't aware of this common "ritual."

It sounds like the umpire mistook your tapping of the outside of the plate as a demonstration that you were unhappy with his call. When he asked you if you were arguing balls and strikes, you should have told him that this was your ritual. As annoying as rituals can be, unless they unduly delay the game, there is really nothing wrong with them.

Rituals that are performed before an at-bat are not as near annoying as a ritual that needs to be performed before every pitch.

If they last too long I just let the pitcher send the message that the batter is taking too long to get ready.

I agree with Jimmy and Midlo, just tell him it is your habit. It is fairly common and he should have known that.

This is an umpire looking for trouble, and when you look for trouble, you usually find it.

If you can't tell the difference between a batter tapping the plate (EVERYONE does that) and a batter complaining about calls to the previous batter before a pitch is thrown to him (NO ONE does that), you don't belong out there.

Redass umps are nothing more than RATS in blue.

Shantzee: Your "antics" were NOT those of a RAT. PU asked you if you were arguing balls and strikes by tapping the plate (a stupid, gratuitous question), and you said no. You should not have to alter your plate ritual to appease the RAT-in-blue.

There is a series that runs on HBO now and then, called "when it was a game"........color films of baseball from the 50's.....

You can clearly see a number of batters tapping the corners of the plate........when I was a young player we all did this..........right after we windmilled the bat like Willie Stargell, rotated our sore neck like Roberto Clemente and pumped our arms like Joe Morgan.........

This Umpire needs to grow a thicker skin........or get a clue.........

quote:

This Umpire needs to grow a thicker skin........or get a clue.........

PIAA ump

of course coaches have to put up with him. Now if the coach could run an umpire from a game then the playing field would be even.

Some in the profession believe coaches should just sit back and accept poor officiating. Dont question at all. I was around a long time close to 30 years at the high school level I recall getting tossed 5 times. 2 in my first 2 years(probably deserved it) and 3 my last 2 . so what happened in between. I remember learning from my early days what I could do and not do. I knew what line not to cross. And it worked 20 + years no ejections. Then all of a sudden I am this maniac who berates umpires. Kind of makes you think.

quote:

of course coaches have to put up with him. Now if the coach could run an umpire from a game then the playing field would be even.

Some in the profession believe coaches should just sit back and accept poor officiating. Dont question at all. I was around a long time close to 30 years at the high school level I recall getting tossed 5 times. 2 in my first 2 years(probably deserved it) and 3 my last 2 . so what happened in between. I remember learning from my early days what I could do and not do. I knew what line not to cross. And it worked 20 + years no ejections. Then all of a sudden I am this maniac who berates umpires. Kind of makes you think.

Will,
I think you and I probably agree a lot more than you think........In my 20+ years as an umpire I have seen plenty of umpires come and go. I have witnessed changes in the way we umpire, from mechanics, to game management and first hand have seen my personal style change with age and experiences.

I do not believe that a coach has to accept poor officiating. As a matter of fact, what sport do you know of that allows a manager to argue with a sports official at all? I can not imagine any Football or Basketball referee tolerating a coach coming on to the field/court to discuss a call.

There are ways to handle poor officials. You are correct that you can not eject an official from a game, so in the course of that game you are correct. But I know we handle concerns from coaches promptly. A complaint from a 20+ year head coach with a history of low ejections would be taken quite seriously.........

When I was starting out, I had a quick temper and it did not take long for me to have a senior offical point out to me that if I expected to move up and reasonably enjoy my career, that I needed to work on my game management skills.

I am not a push over........and I do not have the lowest ejection rate in my chapter....but I have the lowest incident rate in my games....(yes we track).......and the lowest complaints from coaches......(not even one complaint from the ejected coaches).......

Unfortnately there will always those people who should not be coaches and those who should not be umpiring.......and there will always be conflict....

How we handle it........is the difference........

If what was described in the OP happended in a game with me, in the post game discussion, I would have told the HP umpire exactly how he let that situation get out of hand..........

There is a very serious umpire Guru (Carl Childress) who states that many ejections can be led back to an umpire mistake......ejecting the coach in the OP for example.......cut down on your mistakes, and the ejections should follow.

Just my .02 of course.......

quote:

Originally posted by Will:

quote:

This Umpire needs to grow a thicker skin........or get a clue.........

PIAA ump

of course coaches have to put up with him. Now if the coach could run an umpire from a game then the playing field would be even.

Yes, and catchers could call balls and strikes and basecoaches could rule foul or fair. F4 could announce if the runner was safe at second.

If coaches and player were honest enough to do this, you wouldn't need umpires.

quote:

Some in the profession believe coaches should just sit back and accept poor officiating. Dont question at all.

Really? I don't recall seeing anyone make that remark here. Every time poor officiating was brought up I read posts where people provided suggestions at to actions that would be appropriate.

quote:

I was around a long time close to 30 years at the high school level I recall getting tossed 5 times. 2 in my first 2 years(probably deserved it) and 3 my last 2 . so what happened in between.

You got 30 years older? Or perhaps you had less experienced umpires? I dunno. I wasn't there.

When I started umping at the Varsity level in the 70's, I averaged an ejection every five games. This year I had three ejections out of 156 games.

What can we make of this? Approximatley the same length of time produces two distinctly different experiences.

As a statistics professor once taught me, never attempt to use your own experience as a general barometer of the trends in a larger population.

PIAA_UMP

how about when Roberto would go back for a longer bat sometimes when he had two strikes?

They have a new speed up rule this year. The batboy must have a game ready back-up bat for each batter. If the batter needs to switch bats for any reason they get the back-up, but aren't allowed to applay pine tar or prep the bat in any manner. They go get it and go bat.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:
If coaches and player were honest enough to do this, you wouldn't need umpires.

I see this quote thrown about all the time. It's so far from the truth, it almost circles back and becomes truthful. Umpires are positioned and responsible for making calls. Players are positioned and responsible for making plays. When players are required to do both, they are poorer players and pitiful umpires both.