Expectations

[umpinva]

One of the topics I would like to address at my next umpire's association meeting is what are the coach's expectations of the umpire/s who officiate their games. Many are obvious such as being on time, knowing the rules, dressed properly and understanding the responsibilites they have as officials. Feedback on this topic is appreciated.

[Demonboy]

One of the topics I would like to address at my next umpire's association meeting is what are the coach's expectations of the umpire/s who officiate their games. Many are obvious such as being on time, knowing the rules, dressed properly and understanding the responsibilites they have as officials. Feedback on this topic is appreciated.

Be as close to invisible as possible. An official, in any sport, is doing a great job if you don't
notice them. Thankfully, this is often the case with softball umpires. Many of them do a great job.

[2smoove]

Not to be noticed.

However, if you are going to make noticeable calls, then make them consistently.

Nothing is worse than an inconsistent umpire. That drives coaches, players and on-lookers through the roof.

[DBLUE]

Besides everything that has been posted, I would love to see umpires be more receptive on getting help with a play. If you're not 100% sure you got the play correct, and a coach wants you to get help, why not make sure the call is correct. I've seen to many umpires make a bad call, then coach asks them to get help, and they say,"Oh No Coach, I made the call, I have it, not asking for help on this one". That's my biggest issue with umpires!

[Cannonball]

The "thin skin" comment was good. We played this past weekend and I was complimenting our pitcher on hitting her spots. The ump came over after the second inning and said he wasn't going to tolerate me questioning his calls. I was shocked. I asked him when I had done so. He said every pitch. I told him that our pitcher was throwing to two rectangles over the plate. One when ahead in the count and another smaller one when behind. When she hit her spot and he called it a ball, he assumed I was jumping him. After explaining it, he said he'd never heard of such. Now that is thin skinned when you say great pitch and the ump gets mad after calling that pitch a ball.

One biggie for me with officiating crews is knowing a "rotation" and who has what call. Good officials, IMO, get together before the game starts and goes over coverages to make sure that they both know who is going to be where.

[dallasfungo]

I called baseball (little league to American Legion) and softball during and after college. It's a tough and under-appreciated job. As an umpire I was most frustrated by fans and (too many) coaches who simply didn't know the rules in enough detail. Much of the anguish in the dugouts and stands could have been averted if they'd spent some time flipping through the rule book before the season started.

Now that I'm on the other side of the fence, I am most offended by less than energetic umpires. Sloppy mechanics result in questionable or blown calls; few umpiring crews I see (here in North Texas) communicate effectively during games. Maybe the level of pre-season instruction or in-season evaluation needs to be increased. The only other recommendation I'd make is to bring a positive attitude to the field. It's a great game, enjoy it.

[MTR]

Note on some of the comments:

Consistency. Be careful what you wish for Being consistent isn't the same as being correct. An umpire can be consistently terrible. There are also many who do not understand the rules enough to make such a distinction. Just because a run may score on one type of appeal play does not mean they all do. Obstruction calls and subsequent rulings often have so many variables involved, that a ruling may seem "inconsistent", but isn't. Where you want consistency is the strike zone. At least, your pitcher knows with what they are dealing even though it may be not to their liking.

Invisible. Some folks believe in this myth because somewhere along they way it was a good sound byte. The teams and fans look to the official for their rulings, especially for the close judgment calls, obviously they must be noticed. There have been many umpires and I know a few who take this to heart and will not make that tough call because s/he wants to remain "invisible". They are known as "go along to get along" umpires. They will make calls based on their perception of fair even though it may be in contradiction to the rules. You want to talk about umpires which tell you that they didn't make a call because no one gained an advantage in spite of the rule, that is one of those umpires.

Hustle. This is the best of the bunch. Any game official should always be hustling. Just remember, hustling does not equal running. An official may give up proximity to a play in favor of a good angle. In many cases, an umpire may not get as close to a play as you think s/he should be, but not do to a lack of hustle. It is rare that an umpire has nothing to do other than watch one base and one specific play, so an umpire's position may be determined by their responsibilities on any given play.

All the views voiced in these thread are valid expectations of any sports official and every official should be aware of them. The difference between an umpire meeting your expectation on a specific play or series of plays and failing is the perception on both sides of the issue as to what happened and why, and what should or should not have happened and why.
In the past, the rules of the game were much simpler than today. At all levels and sports, the rules have been adjusted to level a playing field, to make games more competitive, provide more offense/defense (where needed for popularity value), protect certain players at particular positions, yada, yada,yada.

Thick skin/personal. Why is there a perception that umpires should be able to take a load of crap just because the coaches want to give it? What makes people think that screaming and hollering at an official is an acceptable part of the game? How many would accept a game official criticizing a certain play? As a coach, what would you say if an umpire turned to you after ringing up the winning run at 3B on an attempted steal and said, "coach, what the hell are you doing? I've never seen such a stupid call in my life"? Why do you think an official should have to listen to you? Think about the times you have been watching a football or basketball game and the coach is acting like a raving maniac chewing on the referee's ear. How many times have you wondered why the official is just standing there taking it?

Do you know how many times a sports official will toss a coach or player and the response is, "you can't do that, I didn't curse"? When you talk to an umpire, talk about the play. Try to find out what s/he saw, not tell them about the game you think they are missing. A comment made about umpires taking is personal is correct. Some umpires do take questioning a call personally and that isn't right. OTOH, many coaches and players make it personal when their discussion moves away from the play at hand and start talking about the game in general and what they believe are an umpire's shortcomings. I understand they may not believe that is making it personal, but it is. Again, how would you take it if after a costly play and umpire turned to you and said, "damn, coach, you really screwed the pooch on that one"?

[Tucson]

I like an ump that keeps the game moving. He/she encourages the teams to hustle on and off the field and he/she discourages constant stall tactics.

[umpinva]

Thank you for the replies to this post. I look forward to presenting your comments next Sunday at my association meeting.

[TNSoftballDad]

Thick skin/personal. Why is there a perception that umpires should be able to take a load of crap just because the coaches want to give it? What makes people think that screaming and hollering at an official is an acceptable part of the game? How many would accept a game official criticizing a certain play? As a coach, what would you say if an umpire turned to you after ringing up the winning run at 3B on an attempted steal and said, "coach, what the hell are you doing? I've never seen such a stupid call in my life"? Why do you think an official should have to listen to you? Think about the times you have been watching a football or basketball game and the coach is acting like a raving maniac chewing on the referee's ear. How many times have you wondered why the official is just standing there taking it?

Do you know how many times a sports official will toss a coach or player and the response is, "you can't do that, I didn't curse"? When you talk to an umpire, talk about the play. Try to find out what s/he saw, not tell them about the game you think they are missing. A comment made about umpires taking is personal is correct. Some umpires do take questioning a call personally and that isn't right. OTOH, many coaches and players make it personal when their discussion moves away from the play at hand and start talking about the game in general and what they believe are an umpire's shortcomings. I understand they may not believe that is making it personal, but it is. Again, how would you take it if after a costly play and umpire turned to you and said, "damn, coach, you really screwed the pooch on that one"?

I think this is an excellent point. But I've seen umpires, in my very short time in youth fastpitch, lose their cool when a coach simply questioned a call or ruling.

One that jumps immediately to mind came this past summer in an 8U rec league all-star game. There was a questionable call, our coach called time, and the umpire went berserk. Yelling, screaming, etc., before our coach did anything more than say "time." Best part was, the ump was wrong. I know because I was holding the rulebook that said he was and he was shown the exact book, chapter, and verse so to speak. Worst part was, the call did not get reversed because the ump's arrogance took precedence over the rulebook.

When coaches (or players) start to attempt to show an umpire up, then I do think the umpire needs to take control and not allow that to happen. But when he is simply being questioned and the ump flies off the handle and wants to make sure everyone "respects his authoritah", that's a problem.