Parents, Fans & Umpires

quote:

How do you handle vocal parents/fans that are ribbing you because of your strike zone.
Do you?

-ignore it
-start giving a more favorable zone for the opposing team or tighten the zone of the fan/parent team
-confront the fan/parent & have them removed from the park
-ask the coach to address the problem with the fan/parent
-other?

This is a good question, and most umpires will have had these situations and have handled it in just about every fashion you can imagine....good and bad. and I am no exception...

The way an umpire handles these situations are a clear indication of how he has developed and many times if that umpire has the make up to hang in there...

You should do your best to ignore anything outside the fence. This isnt easy and when I was a young umpire, I had a hard time with it. Baseball is a passionate game and no matter what you call there will be fans/parents who disagree.....the hardest skill to learn is to ignore comments especially when they arent so nice.....

NEVER change your zone to help or punish. If you do you are cheating and basically prooving that you are not ethical......

Do not confront fans.....this will never end well. dont lower yourself or allow yourself to be baited into an arguement with a fan.

If you have a disruptive fan, it is the coaches duty to handle it. If there is a site administrator, go to them and have them removed. Do not engage the fan directly.

Only once in the recent past have I crossed the line with a fan and I regret it. My professionalism took a hit that day.

I will say that the beauty of doing higher baseball is that there seems to be less of those types attending games. These types of behaviors are most prevalent in the youth leagues.

hope this helps.....

As always, an honest, forthright and interesting answer to the question, PIAAump - thanks! I've often wondered the same thing.

Here's a followup: how much fan chirping does it take to be out of line? The types of examples Tripledad gives are really very common, and I've always considered a little bit of that stuff to be perfectly normal.

But if a spectator won't give it a rest, and continues to ride the ump, then I would certainly expect some response.

So the question is: how much do you put up with before you get someone to deal with the guy?

I usually just spit on them and laugh. But hey, that's me.

quote:

Here's a followup: how much fan chirping does it take to be out of line?

So the question is: how much do you put up with before you get someone to deal with the guy?

For the past few years I have been teaching the 3 P's as a guide to follow.

Personal
Profane
Persistant

For me, the usual moans, groans, cmon blue ect...dont even make my radar screen....the less reaction you show the better.

If they hit on the all 3 P's then its time for them to go.........and to be honest most everyone in the stands has had enough of them by then as well..........

quote:

Originally posted by piaa_ump:

quote:

Here's a followup: how much fan chirping does it take to be out of line?

So the question is: how much do you put up with before you get someone to deal with the guy?

For the past few years I have been teaching the 3 P's as a guide to follow.

Personal
Profane
Persistant

For me, the usual moans, groans, cmon blue ect...dont even make my radar screen....the less reaction you show the better.

If they hit on the all 3 P's then its time for them to go.........and to be honest most everyone in the stands has had enough of them by then as well..........

Sure, or you could just spit and laugh.

This past weekend an ump tried to kick a fan out for just a few comments, the usual stuff. I thought it was bush all the way. I was embarrased for the ump. He made a big deal out of nothing.

I'm not a big time ump by any means. I'm 47 years old and I used to coach my boys, I was pretty hard on the umps. If nothing else it's taught me to just let things roll off my shoulders.

If there's a bang-bang play, I expect to get it from someone. As far as the strike zone goes, I pay no attention to what the fans say, unless they make it personal or use profanity. I call time, walk over to the coach and ask him to handle it. I don't make a big production out of it, or try to show the fan up.

I agree with other about letting most of it go. If you have to get rid of somebody let the game management deal with it. I had a situation the other week where I had to take care of it myself and it was ugly. I was doing a plate in a league that I also manage in. Not that it makes a big difference but at the time I was 0/10. Two dads felt that they had to express their concern that because I was a manager I was cheating for the other team. They said among other things that I didn't like their team because they had beat us. If that were true I wouldn't like anybody in the league because they had all beat us. This was the first game that didn't have a BOD member in the pressbox so I was also the BOD member for the game. I told the coach to shut them down in a very quiet private conversation. They didn't see the light so I explained they needed to cease and desist or go home. It wasn't a good scene.