What is the dumbest thing?

I've saw coaches do some dumb things. Nothing major comes to my mind though...
I've saw fans do some dumb things (IE. heckling the umpire about his "bad" strike zone) man... that was a funny game.

It was a 19U A league game in MN. This ump had a wide strike zone, and the fans of the other team hated it. Then the coach on the other team starts cussing out the ump because he is calling the pitch a strike 4 inches off the plate. Although they were losing 8-0 at the end of the first inning, that may have had something to do with it.

I've saw umpires do some really stupid stuff though too. Championship game 19U, play at the plate (batter has to slide, can't run over the catcher, no contact, you know?), although... it wasn't really a play at the plate.

Runner on 3rd, 1 out, fly ball hit to left field. LF catches it, R3 tags and runs to home. Catcher is blocking the plate, so the runner slides feet first, the catcher SITS ontop of the runners legs so he can't move (his foot was about 5-6 inches from the plate), after that about 4-5 seconds later he recieved the ball from the cut off guy and put the tag on the runner. The umpire called the runner out, end of inning. CLEARLY INTERFERENCE ON THE CATCHER. It was very pathetic...

Same game, runner on third (fast), ball hit to deep SS, runner takes off towards home and dives head first. Catcher puts the tag on his arm and the umpire calls him out. My coach asked "Where did the catcher tag him?" to which the ump replied "Up on his upper arm." My coach then replied "So wouldn't his hand have to have touched home plate before he put the tag on." To which the umpire ignored him and told him to go back to 3rd base. Again, umpire being completely... idiotic

Not all umpires are like this, but.. there are quite a few out there who want to be bigger then the game

Just a thought...
how many perfect games are pitched each year?
How many no hitters.........
how many batters hit .1000
how many fielders have no errors in a season...
how many times is a cut off man missed....
how many times is a out recorded on a baserunning mistake....
how many times is a throw missed, dropped or fumbled......


But miss a call and an umpire can be called "Idiotic" and "pathetic"........

I have one on sort of a lighter note that was in a softball game. Getting ready to start an inning ump points to the pitcher and says "pitch". Pitcher hears ump incorrectly and storms off the mound pointing her finger wildly at the ump yelling "don't you ever call me a b****". The poor ump tried to explain, the fans were laughing because the only one that heard him wrong was the pitcher. After she calmed down and realized the missed communication the game went on. That pitcher was pretty quiet the rest of the season.

piaa,

You know how it is with us umpires.

We're expected to perfect on the first day......and improve every day after that.

Dumbest thing I ever saw in sports wasn't in baseball, but in basketball. Back in the sixties, I was a part-time sportswriter for the South Bend (IN) Tribune and assigned to cover a game between S.B. Adams H.S. and S.B. Riley H.S. With less than a minute to go in a dreary blowout, Adams was leading Riley by 34 points when the losing Riley coach called a timeout. The whole place went silent. The few fans who had stayed wondered why in the heck the Riley coach was calling a timeout, as just about everybody in the place just wanted to go home. One of the refs walked over to the losing coach and asked in a voice that everybody heard, "What in the hell are you doing, Coach--putting in your 34-point play? Let's get out of Dodge, okay?" The entire gym broke up and the embarrassed coach just waved at his kids to get back on the floor.

(It wasn't a "teaching" moment nor was it a timeout to put in kids who hadn't played--everyone had gotten in.)

The coach who called the timeout was an otherwise excellent coach who just happened to not have much talent that year.

A lot of us wondered later just exactly how a 34-point play might work... Maybe some version of that picket fence in "Hoosiers"...

ummm worst thing ever by a ump was when the ump called out 15 batters on a 3rd strike in a 6 inning game. as soon as u got 2 strikes u might as well start walk back to the dogout. didnt care if it was high or low, hitting the batter, or 4 feet outside it always was a strike

then he had the nerve to brag about it. i think he got kicked out of the tourny after this game because some people where mad.

My Midget team (15-17 year olds) were playing in our provincial championships. It was our final round robin game and it was a MUST win. Win and advance to the semis, lose and go home. We started our ace pitcher who threw high 80's. In the 1st inning, on a 1-1 count, I called for a inside fastball. It hits the batter in the head. The umpire immediately runs towards the mound, points to our pitcher and EJECTS him from the game, stating "it was intentional". I ran out to the umpire pleading my case to no avail. AMAZINGLY, we had to put in a 15 year old junk baller and we ended up winning 4-3.

Single worst call I have ever seen!!!

Force balk.......

The ejection of your pitcher for intentionally throwing at a batter is a judgement call of the umpire......

Only his opinion counts......you had no case to plead... Never in my 20+ years has a pitcher who deliberatly threw at a batter ever admitted he did it....the Pitchers and their managers all say it was an accident....

But the call falls on the judgment of the umpire....... So whether or not it was deliberate on you or your pitchers part is not relevant....That Umpire saw it as intentional....

I can count on one hand the # of pitchers who I felt threw at a batter deliberately.....and I ejected each one of them.......if I was not sure.....I warned both dugouts...

Was this really the single worst call you ever saw???...

Why the hell would my ace pitcher, in a do or die game, throw at a batter intentionally? Considering his season stats where he pitched 73 innings and only walked 6 ALL YEAR. It was an inside fastball that tailed into the right handed batter.

The umpire AND the umpire and chief came to us after the game and sorley apologized. he addimtted he totally overreacted.

This is absolutely the worst call/case in judgement I have ever been a part of.

So sometime between his ejection of your pitcher and the end of the game he began to doubt whether or not the hit was intentional.......

Unfortunate.... In my experience, if there is any doubt....and I have to admit....an ace pitcher who obviously has exceptional control, (only walked 6 batters all year) goes out and then hits a batter in the head... that might draw some extra consideration.............

I have to be confident before I eject, because a warning is just a free pass for the first guy who drills a batter....the other team then does not get the same leeway.......After a warning, an HBP is a quick ticket to the showers.

But this Umpire ejected the pitcher......again a total judgement call, even if it turns out to be poor judgment.......

Does still suprize me that this is the worst call you have ever been a part of....

Do you know me? Why are you questioning if it is the worst call I have been a part of??

No.. I do not know you....

But of all the scenarios I have either experienced or heard of this ejection just seems rather tame to be considered your all time worst...

Seldom have I heard of disputed judgment calls outweighing flat out blown calls or faulty rules interpretations as being the worst ever...

A judgement call, even flawed, has that portion of "what I saw versus what you saw"...... Blown calls due to umpire error, incompetence or faulty ethics usually rank much higher on a coaches scale........

Is there a reason why your trying to sound 1000X better than me? That's the impression I am getting here. I am 23 years old, coached for 12 years and to be, that is the single worst blown call/judgement call.. whatever kind of call I have been a part of.

Another one, which is a "missed balk", was 2 years ago, provincial finals. We were in extra innings, top of the inning. We sent in our runner from 3rd with the pitcher still getting the signs from his catcher. He looked at our runner, flinched a throw to the plate, THEN stepped off and threw the runner out at the plate. Obvious balk that was missed. We lost the game in the bottom of the inning and the chmapionship.

I am not trying to sound anything more than an umpire who is interested in your experiences.

I train umpires for my chapter and any time I can pick the brains of a coach for what makes a better umpire I do it. I expect my students to be better than what you have seen....

I use real world plays and situations to teach not only my students but to learn myself.....

I know your new here and if you'd care to look up my past post history I think you will find I am in no way being derogatory.....Maybe you have been to other sites where you were treated badly, but I think you will find that its not that way here.....

Best of luck in your coaching career!!....it certainly will be a long one since you started at 11 years old.....

.As an aside, I would definately mark the missed balk call that cost you the championship far worse than the pitcher ejection.......since you ultimately won that game......You see missing blatant balks is a pet peeve of mine and we spend almost 2 instructional classes on balks alone....

I was just blowing off some steam man, don't worry about it.

The umpire told me after the game that he wasn't going to let a cheap play like that cost a team a championship.

I can not say it was the dumbest thing I saw on a baseball field, but definately the most entertaining.

We were playing at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia and it was their alumni weekend. We had a third baseman that could hit the cover off of the ball, but when it came to fielding a ground ball he was all thumbs. Long story short, he booted a routine ground ball, batter is safe on second, then all of a sudden from the left field stands I see a work boot come flying onto the infield and I hear a man yelling "booter" as loud as he can. Then the boot gets reeled back in. It was attached to a freaking fishing pole. We got swept in the 3 game series, but it had to be the funniest thing I have seen on a baseball field.

Runner on 1st, 3-2 count. Varsity pitcher throws 78-80 fastball way outside, varsity catcher misses it entirely. Short distance to backstop. Ump makes no call (so far outside obviously ball 4) & hitter jogs to 1st as catcher jogs to pick up ball. When catcher picks up ball at screen, umpire screams strike 3. Catcher throws batter out at 1st and all hell breaks loose.
Umps response - "I changed my mind". True story, varsity baseball, still have it on tape somewhere.
Needless to say, that umpire was as verbally abused as any I've seen.

An umpire once called a balk on my pitcher. When I questioned the call and asked for an explanation I was told "It looked funny"

18u summer tournament final, us vs the host team, experienced 2 man HS crew
2 outs bottom of last linning - our game tying runner at at 1b attempted to score on a double down the RF line
close play, however the runner was called OUT at the plate, as the dust cleared I approached the PU - before I could get a word out he stated loudly
"coach it wasn't even close, he tagged him well before he reached the plate"

I told him "I can't argue that, but the white round thing back at the screen is the game ball that the catcher had never caught"

he walked over, picked it up, gave it a once over & put it in his bag -
turning to me he said


"look at 'em celebrating on the mound, my call stands and this game is OVER"