Chapter 37: Baseball with a side of parent
As most of you know, I am a New Orleans Umpire and I have been for the last three years. Last night was the first time I got to umpire a championship game by myself [I have work as a base-umpire, but not as the guy in charge]. I was going to be umping the 9-10 year old American League. There are two leagues, the National and American league; the American league has the better players on it, that is the only difference.
When I first got there, the comissioner of the baseball league for this age group said, " Hey Blue*, look man, I have seen you umpire before and I think you do a good job the only thing is I need you to open up the strike zone alittle for these guys." I said, "OK," and went on with my ways.
The game had started and as expected, the coaches were alittle upset with the calls made, such as balls and strike on the outside corner. as the game progressed, they calmed down because they quickly saw I was calling it for both sides. There was one incident in the game with a man on second and 1 out where the bsll was hit to the pitcher. As he picked the ball up, the runner on second and the shortstop ran into each other - by the way, my throat had been bothering me that day as well as the one preceeding it - I yelled, "Time out! Obstruction!" My throat was sore and all that came out was, "out. obstruction." I quickly yelled it again, and the coach went crazy, as I knew one would since this was for the championship and emotions were high for the players, coaches, and parents alike. I the explined to the coach what went on. He was then mad because I called time. He told me that I am not able to call time. I told him that that is what is to be done in that situation, which is stated in the rules+, and that I can call time anytime I want, for I am in control.
As the game progressed again, there was a kid up to bat with 0 outs, 1 ball and 2 strikes with no one on base. He was very close to home plate, I mean he was about a half of an inch away. As the pitcher went to pitch he moved his foot in front of the plate and was standing over the strike zone at this point. The ball hit the kid in the helmet [the kid was alright] and I yelled, "Strike 3, batters out!" The coach, the same one who went crazy the first time, went crazy. He could not see how if a guy gets hit in the helmet it could be a strike. I told him the kid was in the zone to begin with and when the kid went to duck out of the way, the ball hit him in the head, which was in the strike zone, which by rule# is a strike. As this went on, the parent of the kid, who had had to much to drink in the first place threaten to beat me up after the game. I was explaining the call to the coaches and the comissioner opens the window to the press box and yells at the coach to get back in the coaches box. He then tells me that the kid whom had gotten hit had to bat again, for that is a dead ball. I let it go and let the kid bat again.
After the game I had to be escourted to my vehicle, but on the way I stopped to talk to the comissioner [I was being walked by another umpire, who has been umping for a long time]. I told the comissioner that I did not appreciate him coming out of the press box to yell at the coach and that it was my duty to run the game and at the time it was well in hand. I also told him that the ruling he made of the kid getting to bat again was wrong and that he needs to read the rule book. I also told him the ruling number on which he could find it around. He was alittle shocked that I talked to him that way. Frankly, I was proud of myself for standing up to this guy who is the comissioner of the league and telling him off, basically. In the end I did get home OK and in good shape, I enjoyed it, and I am going to continue umpiring because I love doing it.
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*Blue is another name for umpire.
+Rule 7.06 - If a play is being made on the obstructed runner, or if the batter-runner is obstructed before he touches first base, the ball is dead [when the ball is dead means the umpire shall call "time"] and all runners shall advance, without liability to be put out, to th bases they would have reached, in the umpire's judgement, if the had been no obstruction.
#Rule 2.00 - A strike is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, when - ... (f) touches the batter in flight in the strike zone.