Worst Calls Ever?

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I was talking to a buddy of mine today who is a JV coach at a central Ohio high school. He told me about a couple of calls from his game yesterday.

Runner on first. Batter squares to bunt. Runner takes off and the pitch is fouled back to the screen. Runner advances to second base and...umpire let's her stay there!

Coach confirmed with umpire that the pitch was indeed touched by the bat. Umpire explains that since the batter was bunting the ball remains live and the advance of the runner stands!

This isn't just a bad call. This is like an all-time, jaw-droppingly, reeks so bad you can smell it a mile away bad call!

Later in the game...batter pops a high foul back behind the plate. Catcher runs back to make a play. On it's way down, the ball hits the backstop and is then caught by the catcher.

Umpire rules a catch and the batter out! Coach confirms with umpire that he did see the ball hit the fence, but umpire claims this is a live ball that can be caught for an out!

Somehow, amazingly, my buddy did manage to stick around until the end of the game...

I'm not really sure what the moral of this story might be, except...

No matter how bad of a call you think you're getting in your game, just remember...it could always be worse!

 

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That stinks!!! Worse than stinks.

 

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You know things are getting bad when even Bretman complains about umpires...

 

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The bad economy brings out people who have either never been an umpire or someone who hasn't done very many games and fell asleep at the umpire's clinic.

 

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At our 8th grade double-header on Saturday, the umpire was so bad that at the completion of the first game, the coach told him to leave and never come back to this school.

Umpiring is a job, a consumer product. If consumers are not pleased with a product, then they shouldn't have to pay for a bad product. 90% of the umpires that I have run into are professionals at their craft. I know that if I have these umpires working my game, then I know that my team will be treated fairly. and they should be compensated at the prevailing rate. The other 10% shouldn't see a dime of compensation.

Schedulers know which umpires need improvement. School ADs are calling them all of the time telling them to never send a particular umpire back to their school so instead of retraining those umpires, they send them out to a different school in hopes that that umpire will miraculously transform into a competent umpire.

So until all of the schools start demanding a competent product and not pay the incompetent products, then we will continue to get the same product that we have today. For most of the schools, this is school money that is used to pay for officiating, in all sports. The only way that the school is going to take any action is for the tax payers to let the school know that they will not tolerate misuse of school funds (paying for an incompetent product).

Wow, it must be Monday morning. I feel much, much better now.

 

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Three worst for me were

12U game, caught foul tip on third strike umpire says "foul ball!" won't discuss that catching that foul tip is strike three in that situation.

12U State tournament, Umpire calls illegal pitch while ball is in flight to batter, batter was already swinging and grounded it to 2B, Umpire says illegal pitch was negated when she chose to swing at pitch (slowpitch rule) and calls batter out. Player ends up tossed for throwing her helmet in disgust in dugout over call (IMO, Tossing was a correct call even though it was my own kid , haven't seen a reoccurrence of that in 4 years since, so whole thing might have been a blessing)

9th grade game, Not a call but faced an ump who allowed 12" into opposite batters box for strike, was consistent for both teams, both pitchers figured it out early and game was 0-0 through 10 innings miracualously 0 walks by either side in 10 innings finally ended when a kid with a long enough bat met a pitch that wasn't far enough outside.

16U ASA Regional NQ, first pitch to a lead off batter is called illegal, umpire trys to award batter first base instead of just a ball. Have to basically stop game and tell both umpires to check with UIC otherwise face a protest. To their credit they did and reversed the call, this call wasn't that bad, but to me the odds that at that quality a tournament that both umps would not know the rule seemed ridiculous.

 

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Wow, those ARE the worst calls ever and just ridiculous that a certified umpire would not know either of those! I'm assuming there was only 1 ump, and the other couldn't be consulted re: a rule dispute? I wouldn't have yelled anything to get myself thrown out, but I wouldn't have left the field until the rule book was brought out and proved him wrong. I also would have asked the other coach to come out. And, if all else failed, I would just make sure I had the ump's card, and would tell him that I would be on the phone with his supervisor immediately after the game and that there is no way he would ever umpire one of my game's again.

 

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Glad you got that off your chest , Bill

Retraining them is usually the only option for a scheduler as it the field of umpires is in some areas is dwindling. Not enough of them.

We see it all the time in tournaments. 10u and 12u usually don't get the pick of the litter and poor tournament directors have no control over the matter .. and it just makes bad for a lot of TD's. If anyone thinks about it, that is where a lot of the complaints come from.. the 10u and 12u part of the event when it comes to umpires. Sad to say, but it is true that the younger girls usually get the worst of the group of umpires sent.

Getting a collection of good umpires is hard.. and when you do .. you really have to pay for them. But, personally, I love watching my college guys doing 10u and 12u games.

I took a group of five umpires to Bill Beckham's event at Berliner last year. We did nothing but 10u and 12u games all three days... and loved it !!!! We heard screaming from other fields being used for 10u and 12u games all weekend. The poor coaches and parents coming from those fields were HOT !!!!! And I don't blame them.

On Sunday, one of my umpires said a coach came to him and said, " Thank God we are back on this field !!". My umpire came to me and said, " It feels good to be appreciated". He is a hard worker when it comes to umpiring and I am so glad he got the compliment that Sunday. Words like that makes you work even harder to be better.

Bretman can tell you as he has helped me out in Chillicothe one year, in the Fall when I have the Uniform Blowout... I search out the best I can find and pay $50.00 per umpire per game with two umpires per game.

HUGE cost .. but well worth it.

Supply and demand even comes into play with umpires. I know some of my crew is going to Tennessee this summer to do games as well as Indiana.

Our problem is the fact that these assigners here in Ohio will use the people who have been with their association the longest BEFORE anyone else.. no matter what their performance level is.

Until TD's get that right to pick and choose in these other associations .. the cycle will continue sadly to say.

 

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On Sunday, one of my umpires said a coach came to him and said, " Thank God we are back on this field !!". My umpire came to me and said, " It feels good to be appreciated"

Yep...they all love you...UNTIL a call doesn't happen to go their way!

And if we put any weight in how parents or coaches evaluate us...you can't just soak it up when they tell you you're good, but ignore them when they tell you you stink. If their opinions are considered valid accessments, if they say you stink they must be right! On the other hand, if we think that they don't know what the heck they're talking about...them telling us we're good umpires is meaningless!

They can't just be right when they say we're good, but always wrong when they say we're bad.

Bretman can tell you as he has helped me out in Chillicothe one year, in the Fall when I have the Uniform Blowout...

It was a blast and if I ever have an open weekend I'd love to do it again.

 

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Bretman,

I have a situation that happened over the weekend. We do not think it was called correctly but maybe the right call was found.......

BTW- the girls in question is our travel team catcher, and this is a vintage thing for her to do, can you say highly excitable and energetic........

Middle school game, in Michigan but governed by NHS rules.

Girls crushes a stand up triple, other team over throws 3rd and ball goes in digout. Girl is awarded home (and here is where it gets crazy, funny, and tragic).

Girls runs at full speed from 3rd to 1st base dupout, not bothering to touch home, everyone screams, she stops at post beofore entering dugout, turns around and jogs back towards home where other teams rushes over and tags her, ump calls her out...

couple of questions:

1- if she had made it into dugout she is out for giving herself up? correct?

2- the other team could not "tag her out" it was a dead ball until the ball had been returned to the circle and a new batter entered the box

3- if she had made it into dougout, the other team actually should have stepped on rubber then appealled...........follow up on #1

We won the game so it had no affect on the outcome. But I am positive the call was wrong. The ump was a dolt so no point in trying to talk to him. I do not mind bad judgement calls that is part of being human. But I get extremely aggitated by umps who either do not know the rules or can not explain the rule they are using.........seems a bit made up. But unfortunately, I only carry USSSA and NSA rule books and could not confirm this by rule (This was later, not trying to show up ump..........bad business that is).

Just a really odd situation.

And you would have to understand that this was actually funny because the girl in question ran at full speed with her hands over her head like she had won the world series. She is the same girl that last Fall in a tournament with a girl on 3rd stood up after a pitch and threw a strike into LC field to the fence..........she is an AWESOME catcher with a crazy arm but she has mental short circuits that happen that you just have to laugh off. She could not even explain what that was all about. The good thing is that she moves on like this stuff did not happen. Very short memory.........VERY short......LOL

 

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Been coaching for 12 years and have never, not even when I try to get it called, have I ever seen a batter called out for stepping on the plate while batting or bunting. In our recent High School game vs. Watterson, saw it called 3 times!

 

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Been coaching for 12 years and have never, not even when I try to get it called, have I ever seen a batter called out for stepping on the plate while batting or bunting. In our recent High School game vs. Watterson, saw it called 3 times!

Isn't that the correct call?

The plate is in fair territory. Just like a slapper being out of the box when contact is made...........or have I just proven I do not know the rules?;&

 

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You know things are getting bad when even Bretman complains about umpires...

LOL.....

The worst one I ever saw was 4 years ago at a tourney here in toledo( I was watching not coaching )...runner on first 1 out , runner stealing on pitch batter swings hits the ball down the 3rd base line feilder trys to backhand it touches it in fair territory knock the ball in foul grounds into dugout homeplate umpire (the only ump ) calls foul ball and then awards runner on 1st , 3rd base...When coach questions it the ump said " the runner was stealing therefore she is awarded one plus one " ha ha ha I was shocked and all we could do was laugh...

 

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I have a situation that happened over the weekend. We do not think it was called correctly but maybe the right call was found.......

Your first mistake was playing a game in Michigan. Nothing good can ever come out of setting foot in "that state up north"!

1) If the player had actually entered the dugout (or any other dead ball area) she would be out for abandoning her effort to run the bases.

2) True- the runner cannot be tagged out while the ball is dead. Umpire has to wait until either the runner leaves the field or eventually touches home, the next batter steps in the box and the pitcher is ready to pitch before making the ball live again. This should not have been ruled as a tag out.

3) If she did go straight into the dugout, no need for an appeal play. If the runner went straight into the dugout, she's out.

The only time an appeal would come into play would be if the runner had actually advanced to and passed home, but failed to touch it. Then the defense would need to appeal the missed base before the runner could be called out- even if she did enter the dugout. If she did enter the dugout on a missed base, she loses her right to go back and re-touch the base to correct her mistake. But her run counts and she's not out- UNLESS and UNTIL the defense appeals the missed base.

Since softball recognizes dead ball appeals, no need for the pitcher to get the ball, step on the rubber, make a throw, touch a base, etc. For a dead ball appeal, all it requires is for an infielder, with or without the ball, to verbally state to the umpire what is being appealed.

Hope that isn't all to confusing! It's kind of covering two different violations- abandoning a base and missing a base. One doesn't require an appeal, the other one does.

 

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Your first mistake was playing a game in Michigan. Nothing good can ever come out of setting foot in "that state up north"!

Hope that isn't all to confusing! It's kind of covering two different violations- abandoning a base and missing a base. One doesn't require an appeal, the other one does.

Thanks

We were actually out in RF (I know...) and were too busy laughing at her running fully speed with her hands over her head to actually notice if she made it into dugout. We just paid attention when we heard a bunch of yelling and screaming (I hate this coach) and looked up to see a mass of bodies and yelling......and chaos. Then she was called out when she was tagged.

We all laughed because that is so vintage and typical of that girl. And it is only Middle School ball. Now if that was a travel game there would have been a protest, directors called over, screaming and fist fights in the parking lot..:lmao:

It is like we have all agreed that this is for fun. I wish we could get there in the Summer.;&

 

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Bretman, it was fun having you and you are always welcome to come join us. Bring a partner if you wish. Third weekend in October in Goshen or the fourth weekend in Dover this Fall.

Bret, I guess it is like that ... they love us .. they hate us...LOL But, it was nice for a younger umpire to hear that which makes him work harder to be better.

I did nine (9) mens games yesterday ... and believe you me... it will be like pulling teeth to get me to go back and do anymore !!!! LOL They couldn't pay me $30 a game to do that anymore. Teams jaw jacking each other... Wow.. it was not a fun day for sure.

 

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Spartansd: I agree. I wish we could all agree about the summer play as well being fun.

Sportsmanship SHOULD be the first priority... whether a coach, a player, or a parent.

 

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LOL.....

The worst one I ever saw was 4 years ago at a tourney here in toledo( I was watching not coaching )...runner on first 1 out , runner stealing on pitch batter swings hits the ball down the 3rd base line feilder trys to backhand it touches it in fair territory knock the ball in foul grounds into dugout homeplate umpire (the only ump ) calls foul ball and then awards runner on 1st , 3rd base...When coach questions it the ump said " the runner was stealing therefore she is awarded one plus one " ha ha ha I was shocked and all we could do was laugh...

ACTUALLY, that is a ground rule double and the runners should have been placed on second and third. Batter of course on second base.

 

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Yeah, I was going to say...that's a fair batted ball that went out of play. Correct award would be third for the runner, second for the batter. But if it was called foul, with the batter staying at the plate...no way do you award bases to runners- stealing or not. That's just...wrong.

 

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ACTUALLY, that is a ground rule double and the runners should have been placed on second and third. Batter of course on second base.

Yeah, I was going to say...that's a fair batted ball that went out of play. Two bases, from base occupied at the time of the pitch, is the correct award. Stealing or not doesn't have anything to do with it, so that was a strange explanation. But it was the right base award!

Yea I think he got his ruling confused being the only one there...but explination of the stealing runner was priceless...