Learn the Rules

I feel like I have a post like this every year so I'm sorry if I have said all of this before but putting it out here keeps me from saying something during a game.

Last night, I had two plays that made me want to make this post.

The first was a foul tip (directly from the bat to the catchers glove or hand and was caught) when a runner was stealing. The catcher held onto the ball and automatically the defensive coaches started yelling that it was a foul ball. Now, if this was a 9 year olds game, that would have been one thing but this was a 13 year old game. Even if a coach never took the time to read the rule book, you would think that at some point in the 4 or 5 years of coaching he would have seen a foul tip before. They didn't put up too much of a fight but the fact that they argued the call was insane to me.

The second didn't bother me but as a coach, he ran his kids out of an inning. Runner on 1st, no outs. Strike three is dropped by the catcher. The runner started going back to the bag but the coach was screaming at him to run. I was yelling "Batted is out, first base is occupied, BATTER IS OUT!!!" But nobody paid any attention to me. The kid was thrown out at 2nd. The kicker was, it was a 1 run game in the last inning. The next kid hit a double that would have tied the game. They ended up stranding him at 3rd.

I understand that coaches and players are not going to spend as much time learning the rule book as the umpires do. I wouldn't expect it. But if you are going to coach the game, don't you think it would help to have an above average understand of the rules of the game? To any coach that reads this, I challenge you to read the rule book, to ask questions of the umpire in between innings. Learn the rules. It will keep you from arguing things you shouldn't argue and it will make you a better coach. The best coaches are the ones that not only understand how to teach the game, they also know the game.

I know not just saying all of this to vent. I honestly believe that if coaches took just a little more time to learn the rules of the game, things would improve in all aspects of the game of them. Ok, time to get off my soap box. Only an hour and fifteen minutes until I head to the fields. PLAY BALL!!!

Are you sure you want me to call every balk?

As youth umpires, we have all been there. Stuck doing a game where the skill level isn't very good. Sure, it's still better than sitting at a desk but there are times it isn't very fun. Now, I take every game I do very seriously. I try to be the best umpire I can be every single time I step on the field. But, let's be honest, we all let certain things go in these games. We might expand the strike off the plate a little bit. We might give the fielder the benefit of the doubt on some bang bang calls and we might not call every single balk we see.

Two summers ago, I was doing a Boys 13 game and it was not a very good game. Both teams were very weak and not very skilled. I was in the field and in the top of the first, the pitcher stepped on the rubber, took the ball out of his glove and then looked in to take the sign. The visiting team coach started screaming for a balk. I ignored him and thought it was over. Well after the inning, he pulls me aside and asks me why I didn't call it. I was completely honest and told him that if I called every balk I saw, it was going to be a long game. I have used that line before and it worked fine but not today. He demanded that I call every balk. I asked him if he was sure and he told me that he was.

Well, the first pitch his pitcher threw, he was about two feet off the rubber when he threw the ball. So, I called an illegel pitch. Now, I can't lie, I was looking for something but the pitcher did make it easy for me. The coach went absolietely nuts. He asked me why I would call that. I told him that he asked me too. He didn't llike that and went off and was ejoected about ten seconds later.

To prove my point, I told him he could go down the first baseline and watch the game. In that game, I called 45 balks and let about 20 go. And I called them on both teams (The home team manager wanted them all called to but wasn't quite as big of a jerk about it)

After the game, the coach I ejected walked up and told me he was sorry. I told him it was forgotten but I only did what he asked me to do. He said that he knew and maybe he needed to work with his pitchers a little bit.

Long story short....coaches when you ask for something, be prepared to get it. Umpires do not like to be showed up at any level. And for you coaches who are coaching teams who really aren't that good, it might be a good idea to spend some more time coaching instead of insulting the umpires.

The season is over but that doesn't mean that I'm flying south for the winter. I will continue to add stories, tips and rules questions as I think of them.

Here is the trivia question for the day:

Pitcher steps on the rubber. As he is coming set, he drops the ball which hits his foot and rolls past the third baseline into foul territroy. Whats the call?