shady HS baseball ump Texas HS playoffs

I had someone explain to me on another site that this is something the first base umpire will do as a means to let the PU know he properly rotated over. However, this same source says that it's normally done after the run is plated. I don't know if any umps here could speak to that.

https://www.fanduel.com/inside...covering-home-plate/

perhaps your right

There's already multiple threads on this. 

In high school ball, the field umpires will sometimes show the home plate umpire that the play has concluded by covering home plate with dirt to show it was a completion of rotation. In this case, it was just “a little overboard.” So while this looks strange, Taylor told me it’s part of the high school game.

Roothog66,

There's nothing normal about it. It's a stupid stunt that undermines the credibility of the entire crew.

Next close call: "Hey, Blue! You had time to cover the plate with dirt on the home run--how come you couldn't get your fat butt in position to make a call that matters?"

As umpires, we're supposed to prevent mockeries of the game, not perpetrate them.  

If the plate umpire is curious as to whether the first base umpire completes his rotation, he has the option of casting his gaze in the direction of home plate. It's not hard. He doesn't need his partner to leave a calling card. In fact, we're already supposed to keep track of where our partners are.

I don't know which is more disappointing to me--that an umpire would pull a stunt like this, or that people would say it's an acceptable inside joke or frat prank. It shows lack of respect for the game and everyone participating, watching, or officiating it.

Nice audition, but Max Padkins' old job remains unfilled.

Swampboy posted:

Roothog66,

There's nothing normal about it. It's a stupid stunt that undermines the credibility of the entire crew.

Next close call: "Hey, Blue! You had time to cover the plate with dirt on the home run--how come you couldn't get your fat butt in position to make a call that matters?"

As umpires, we're supposed to prevent mockeries of the game, not perpetrate them.  

If the plate umpire is curious as to whether the first base umpire completes his rotation, he has the option of casting his gaze in the direction of home plate. It's not hard. He doesn't need his partner to leave a calling card. In fact, we're already supposed to keep track of where our partners are.

I don't know which is more disappointing to me--that an umpire would pull a stunt like this, or that people would say it's an acceptable inside joke or frat prank. It shows lack of respect for the game and everyone participating, watching, or officiating it.

Nice audition, but Max Padkins' old job remains unfilled.

I'm just passing on info from another that was also supported by a few other umps. They claim it is a common prank they pull so that the PU comes back and has to sweep the plate. Now, if the kid had missed home and the ump called him out, I'd be a lot more suspicious of foul play.

I went to an umpire forum I belong to where, strangely, this story hasn't been discussed. I'll let you know what they say. To me, the prank excuse seems plausible but not definitive at all.

Don't pranks have an appropriate place and time?  I get the impression that this was a pretty intense game.

Looks like I was wrong and it had been discussed. For the most part, umpires there were familiar with it as a common prank, but tended to agree here it was overdone. Perception is always as important as the truth, though and, here, this ump left himself open to one big s$!+ storm.

Roothog66, I'm not arguing with you. I understand you're not taking a position--you're simply summarizing other conversations.

Let's examine the two elements of the explanation offered by those who aren't appalled by the unprofessionalism exhibited here: that it's a common prank that was just "overdone."

That it's a common prank. Doesn't that make it worse? He's goofing around in a playoff game and he can't even be original or clever. He mindlessly disrupts a play with a gag that wasn't funny when it was first perpetrated decades ago and didn't get better with age and repetition. Another reason it's a stupid prank is that brushing the plate is a routine task. "Oh, we really got Old Joe! Instead of brushing the plate two dozen times, he had to brush it two dozen plus one times! What a riot!" No, it's just stale and stupid.  "Common prank" is an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one.

That it was simply "overdone." Okay, let's discuss exactly how much unprofessional screwing around during a playoff game is okay before it crosses a line and becomes "overdone."  

Once the question is framed this way, it's clear that no unprofessional screwing around is acceptable. Umpires have to be as above reproach as Caesar's wife.

Any umpire who demonstrates this obviously that he doesn't take his job seriously has no grounds for complaining about lack of respect from coaches or fans. Why should they respect his position more than he does?

Swampboy posted:

Roothog66, I'm not arguing with you. I understand you're not taking a position--you're simply summarizing other conversations.

Let's examine the two elements of the explanation offered by those who aren't appalled by the unprofessionalism exhibited here: that it's a common prank that was just "overdone."

That it's a common prank. Doesn't that make it worse? He's goofing around in a playoff game and he can't even be original or clever. He mindlessly disrupts a play with a gag that wasn't funny when it was first perpetrated decades ago and didn't get better with age and repetition. Another reason it's a stupid prank is that brushing the plate is a routine task. "Oh, we really got Old Joe! Instead of brushing the plate two dozen times, he had to brush it two dozen plus one times! What a riot!" No, it's just stale and stupid.  "Common prank" is an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one.

That it was simply "overdone." Okay, let's discuss exactly how much unprofessional screwing around during a playoff game is okay before it crosses a line and becomes "overdone."  

Once the question is framed this way, it's clear that no unprofessional screwing around is acceptable. Umpires have to be as above reproach as Caesar's wife.

Any umpire who demonstrates this obviously that he doesn't take his job seriously has no grounds for complaining about lack of respect from coaches or fans. Why should they respect his position more than he does?

Here's what I would say...

We need to be able to have fun out there. If we don't, we will give off the perception of being inflexible, power-hungry, inhuman...whatever adjective fans want to attach to us. We have to have some ability to be human...to enjoy being out there just like everyone else on that field. That doesn't mean being overly thespian or flamboyant, but that we can have our inside jokes.

Done properly, this prank never gets noticed by anyone but us. No one cares if home plate is visible if there's no action there. No one notices if U1 is at home, unless there's a play, then it's often an assumption that PU messed up and U1 is covering his ass. This tradition started because of crews being the only support they have on the road, being adversaries of everyone else they meet. It's either having fun with the situation or being mad at the world. And just like a lot of institutional traditions, this one trickled downhill, with some of those on the downward slope not understanding the context of what it means or when to do it. 

I'll be honest. I've done this at HS state tournaments. I had it done to me (in excess) my first D1 plate. It's something akin to the ribbing we did as a team in Iraq--loosening up when we had a moment to do so, because the rest of the time we had our game faces on. You say that he obviously doesn't take his job seriously. I say that one cannot take a job seriously at all times because it's not possible. By intentionally breaking up the seriousness, you mitigate the risk of involuntarily losing it when it is actually needed.

Matt, 

You're presenting a false dichotomy between accepting this "prank" as a tradition or standing accused of being inflexible, power-hungry, inhuman; between seeing the purported humor in this inane stunt or risk losing one's composure under the pressure of the game.  There's enough daylight between those extremes to drive several trucks abreast.

Your attempt to call it a "tradition" and to imbue it with historical roots and significations of crew unity and stress management strikes me as laughable.

Walk me through the history. So this tradition began when wise umpires in days of yore pondered the deep questions of how they could support each other against stadiums full of adversaries and how they could manage the stress of their jobs so they wouldn't lose their composure? And this is what they came up with? Kick dirt on the plate? Seems pretty contrived to me.  

The fact of the matter is this particular instance of the prank brought discredit to the crew, overshadowed the game the crew was supposed to be officiating, and opened the door to an inquiry about the umpiring in the other games of the playoff series.  

These are the results when people notice your "tradition" being observed. 

There are lots of ways for officials to have fun without embarrassing themselves. When I officiated football, our crew had a standing wager that any time a wing official made it to the goal line before the back judge (who had at least a 10-yard head start, no responsibilities to watch the initial contact at the snap, and an affirmative responsibility to be deeper than the deepest player at all times) on a long pass play, the back judge owed him a beer at the post-game dinner.  This is an example of a "tradition" that promotes crew camaraderie, reinforces good mechanics and hustle, and adds a level of fun in a way that does nothing to distract from the game.

And if any fans ever noticed it, it looked like two officials hustling downfield to cover the play from both sides all the way to the goal line. None of us ever got a call from the commissioner demanding an explanation after video of those sprints turned up on the Internet.

If kicking dirt on the plate after a rotation is a tradition, it's one more honored in the breach than the observance.  I'd suggest finding another way to manage stress and promote teamwork.

Never seen this in LL, middle school, high school or even in travel ball.  Strange to say the least.

2ndMarDiv posted:

Never seen this in LL, middle school, high school or even in travel ball.  Strange to say the least.

Me, either. I was surprised to find out from several umpires how common it is. I guess it's something that fans watching the game just wouldn't notice. I'm also told it's usually done after the play is over. Mainly, because it is really only effective if the PU sees it done. Often, I understand, followed by the BU striking a Captain Morgan pose.

The other reason you wouldn't see it done is because it would only happen with three or four man crews and, even then, only on the rare plays that would require the HU to go out to third and the 1B ump to rotate in to home. 

Swamp, I'm not presenting a dichotomy at all, false nor true.

I would also say you don't get it. 

I think I do get it. I've heard the argument before.

When I first joined the military, there were many informal "traditions" like "blood pinnings" and initiations that were gradually outlawed when the crude, intemperate, or sadistic behaviors involved were "overdone" and attracted official attention.

Each time one of the practices was banned or reformed, old timers (generally defined as anyone who had been on the receiving end and wanted to do unto others as had been done unto him) appealed to "tradition" more movingly than Tevye and lamented the loss of camaraderie and esprit d'corps.  Because if you didn't approve of, for example, making new E-7's parade around in drag and then suck hot sauce from condoms, you were just too uptight to get the significance and value of the tradition.

Like I say, I've heard this argument before.

I served long enough afterward to observe that nothing meaningful was lost by reining in these embarrassing practices.  We were better off without them.

I have the plate in a 3-man crew for a playoff game next week. I'll let you know if U1 covers it with dirt, and if so, whether it has salutary benefits on crew morale and teamwork.

Ahh...failure to compartmentalize (the mental cause of the fallacy of equivocation.)

This is a harmless tradition. It's not unprofessional. It's not demeaning. He messed up when he did it. It's that simple.