Umpire Conduct

NW Knights,

Excuse my butting in as a non-umpire and I don't blame you at all if you tell me to take a hike out of your thread...

I'm curious as to why you were the player/coach.  Were you the main person in charge of the team?  If so, what was the situation that lead to this.  They reason I ask is, if you are, you put yourself in a very difficult situation. 

I will try to answer some of your questions...

most leagues/sanctions will require players to wear helmets when coaching bases so it is certainly understandable if the ump asked you to do so, considering you are a player.

Regarding some of your other statements/observations about the umpire's actions...

Context is important here.  On the surface, sounds like the ump handled several things very poorly but I can think of scenarios where SOME of his words and actions (not swearing at your players) would not be out of line. Was your team, at any time,  acting in a particularly antagonizing manner and/or blatantly ignoring the rules in place... perhaps showing they were capable of acting in retaliation to a call they didn't agree with by intentionally letting a ball hit him?  Just an example.  I wasn't there.  I can say that any contentious game situation would be made ten times worse if there was a young teen player/coach in charge of one of the teams instead of an adult.  Now, if you were a player/coach and had an adult HC/manager on hand, that's not nearly as difficult of a situation.  

Regarding the hit batter on the steal attempt, again, context comes into play.  Was there a previous event that was cause for warning?  Not sure why he would have the run score. 

Regarding "great job today, blue"... from the sound of the way the game went, I would guess that the comment by your final pitcher was insincere and sarcastic, to say the least.  If that were clearly the case,  I don't see a problem with him being run for that.  And, it is the ump's job to "get out of dodge" immediately at the end of the game.

If your team was not initiating problems for the umpire, the proper course of action would be to call time and, once granted, politely ask for the reason for the ruling on such plays as the attempted steal/HBP/runner scores ( immediately after they happen).  If you don't get an acceptable answer, file protest or ask for the tournament director.  Then, regarding such things as swearing at players, threatening to run guys for what you feel is unjust reason, etc., file a formal complaint with specific quantifiable and objective detail and/or ask for the tournament director.  In a tournament setting, it shouldn't be that difficult to have umps switched out under such circumstances.  If a director is not willing to do so, my guess is your team was at least largely responsible for the "fiasco".  And it is much more difficult to have a rational discussion toward resolution if you have a minor player/coach in charge than an adult HC/manager.

Well, I'm not an umpire - but I've been around enough to offer some advice...

You are going to come across umpires that seem to be over the top, aggressive, ticked off, etc.  This may or may not have anything to do with your team. The may have had a rough game previous to yours, may have had a fight with their wife - whatever. It could be something your team did, who knows?

The important thing is to realize that doing anything to further fuel the fire isn't going to help at all.  Best thing to do is to keep quiet, and just play the game.  Afterwards you communicate the situation with whoever is in charge.

With that said though, while the umpire is certainly entitled to his own judgment - he is not entitled to his own rules. If he feels a pitcher intentionally threw at a batter, he is certainly entitled (if not obligated) to eject the pitcher. However, when the ball hits the batter it is dead.  Runners return if not forced.

In that case you needed to ask him to clarify his ruling.  Then tell him that you think he is interpreting the rule incorrectly. Depending on the tournament policies, if he did not change his ruling, you should have followed whatever the protest procedure was.

In all honesty, after a decade or so of coaching various different age levels, I've never had to actually protest a game.  Usually once you inform the umpire of your plan to protest, he will confer with his partner and either realize his error, or they will both explain your error. (I've had it happen both ways)

Cabbagedad, I have been a player coach for this team all year and make all of the lineup decisions, put plays on, pitching changes, etc. The whole tournament up to this game, it was addressed at all the plate meetings that I was a player coach, and that helmets were not necessary because I am 20 (19 league age in a league where 3 19's are allowed). At the beginning of this game, our assistant coach (an adult) had to leave in order to take care of a family emergency so I was the only one left in charge. 

As for how I handled things as a coach, I didn't believe the whole swearing thing until I myself was swore at during an at bat for shaking my head at a strike call at my eyes, to which the ump behind the plate told me to "clean that sh*t up." At that point I called time and walked over to the dugout to address my players and tell them that even though this umpire was overstepping boundaries, that does not give us an excuse to sink to his level. Any little things stopped immediately, and after the inning I asked the home plate umpire to stop swearing at my players.

Some more information on the hit batter that I left out in the previous post was that he was hit in the forearm when he squared, its not like it was a foot off the inside of the plate. As soon as he scored the run I asked for time to get an explanation, and he confined me to he dugout when I was not at bat/playing the field as soon as I asked for time.

To be honest about my player after the game, yes it may have been a little bit sarcastic, but I was right there when it happened and it sounded sincere. All the unprofessional-ism aside, he did call a pretty good game behind the plate all day. I just don't see any reason to run a kid after a game, and a consolation game at that.

As for what action I did take, after the game I went to the tournament director and the guy who assigns umpires for the area happened to be there as well. When I informed them about how the game was handled, the assigner told me that this was not his first complaint this year, or even this weekend, and he will no longer be assigned to games here. It doesn't fix what happened, but at least no other coaches will have that headache again.

OK, so I am an umpire so here are my thoughts.....I'm not sure what rules code this tournament was played under but I will asssume NFHS. There are always 2 sides to every story, but I'll address your comments as written.

Helmet- 18U tourney- with you in the coaches box as a player coach...Mandatory if you are on the field you must wear a helmet.

Swearing at players- it is never acceptable to swear at players. No excuses.

Threatening to eject pitcher-you state for taking time to compose himself...got to be more than this....was he delaying the game?...it is never a good idea to threaten an ejection. I never threaten an ejection, to me if you need to go, you go...simple as that...

Threatening to eject Pitcher and Catcher- it's pretty common for balls to get by the catcher in baseball....if your catcher was just that bad that he wasnt stopping the balls then there is no reason for an ejection for poor play........... but did any of these misses directly hit the Umpire?...accidentally on purpose??.......if I feel that a pitcher and catcher have thrown at me directly, then both will be ejected....

Runner stealing home/batter HBP- Bad call, its a dead ball when a batter gets hit... the batter is either awarded first or kept at the plate for failure to avoid....the runner goes back to third regardless. No ejection unless the umpire felt the pitcher deliberately threw at the batter..

Pitcher ejected for saying great job blue- on the face of it, that doesnt seem to be an ejectable offense, but it sounds as your team and this umpire had been going at it all day and he had had enough. Tone and context of any statement to an umpire alters perception here....finally the rules state only the head coach will address the umpires regarding game proceedings...and it sounds as if he had to deal with players all day.... 

What can you do?- On the whole there is little you can do "in game"...post game you can complain to the tourney director. Here are some things that may help.

1. Have an adult coach- (surprized you were allowed to play without one)

2. Have only that coach address umpires about game situations

3. Be clear on the rules the tourney you are playing under (NFHS-OBR)

4. Understand that there are some umpires working that shouldnt be.  

hope this helps.

From what you describe, it seems as there wasn't much else you could have done. You're going to run across those types of people everywhere in life.  You just have to conduct yourself in the manner you know to be right, and not let it bother you when others can't do the same. 

Sorry about the confusion regarding age.  In your OP, you state that is was an 18u tourney so I assumed you were 17 or 18.

Sounds like you did the right thing by informing tourney director.  The baseball world is a small one and you may have helped not only other coaches but yourself down the road.