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Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries and Umpire Podcast. My name is Daryl and I will be your host

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as we take a look behind the mask so to speak, sharing stories, insights and experiences

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from the unique perspective of the baseball umpire. In this episode, we'll talk a little

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bit about the season so far, issues that have occurred and how I deal with problem coaches.

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If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future episodes, drop me a line at BlueCrewDiaries

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at gmail.com. So if you're ready, grab your indicator and plate brush and let's hit the

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field.

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All right, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Blue Crew Diaries and Umpire Podcast.

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Uh, sorry for getting this one out a little bit late. I do apologize. Obviously, baseball

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season is is in full swing for most of you. I am actually just finishing up with the season.

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My last game was last this past Friday. So pretty much worked a good mixture of Little

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League majors and Little League minors. And then the the last week of of my season, I

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got thrown into some farm league games, their their championship series, which was something

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completely outside of my wheelhouse. I've never worked farm league before. So it was

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a little bit different machine pitch. And yeah, I was I was I was there more more as

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like a moderator. If if you want to call it that than an umpire. I mean, I was making

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making calls on the bases and and things like that. You know, had a few a few things creep

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up here and there. But overall, it was a good experience. I had a lot of fun doing it. Ended

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up working four games total, which was their their championship series. And all of the

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coaches that I spoke to, basically, first off thanked me relentlessly for being there.

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And they really, they really seem to like having an an official they're having an umpire

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because normally throughout the regular season, they just kind of police everything themselves.

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But they said it was it was real nice. It took a lot of the decision making and things

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like that off of their plate. So all in all, everything went went pretty well for that.

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As far as regular season goes. Yeah, yeah, we got got some interesting things to to talk

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about. I mean, started the year off didn't didn't have any problems. I mean, you hear

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the normal rumbling and grumbling every now and then from from from on the other side

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of the fence. Back in the in the stands, you had a lot of a lot of parents that think their

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child is going to go right from the little league field into the MLB Hall of Fame and

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wind up in Cooperstown and just be this great, this great baseball player. And to be perfectly

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honest, there are a few of the players that also think that and and I I don't want to

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talk bad about kids, but I I actually had a player say one night as he was stepping up

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to the plate, because he had had a bad defensive inning, he literally walked up to the plate

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and said, I'm cranking one out over the fence. And I just kind of looked at him and thought

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to myself, I've been watching you for a season and a half now. And I haven't seen you hit

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a ball out of the infield. And you're standing here saying you're going to crank one out

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over the fence. Okay, good luck with that, buddy. But yeah, so ended up really having

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my first rundown late in the season. And let's just say even the coaches had no idea why

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this kid decided to to go basically hit a ground ball out into right field, kind of

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shallow right, this was a minors game. So I'll give them a little bit of slack there.

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shallow right. He rounds first base, the right fielder already fielded the ball and was getting

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ready to just throw it back to the infield to prepare for the next batter. When for whatever

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reason this runner rounds first and takes off for second. I mean, it's it's first base

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takes a left and then gets about three steps towards second and realizes oops, he's already

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got the ball, I probably shouldn't go turns around tries to get back to first. Now the

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ball is there. And the rundown ensues. ended up the defense did what they were supposed

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to do. They make great throws to each other and the runner ended up being tagged out.

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The first base coach asked the batter runner what they were thinking. When this kid got

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back to the dugout, the coach in the dugout asked, what were you thinking? It was it was

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just a mess all around. And oddly enough, that was my first rundown. And then the very

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next inning, we started getting a little bit of rain. But it was it was playable, you know,

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started out as a light sprinkle. And everything was was okay. And then started getting a little

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heavier, a little heavier, then a little heavier. And it got to the point where we got together

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with the coaches and the coaches went, Yeah, probably not, not really able to play anymore.

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Just, you know, the field condition was still fine. There was nothing unsafe or anything.

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But it was starting to pour. So we called everybody to the dugouts. And yeah, the the

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typical somebody opens their mouth and the opposite happens occurred. One of the coaches

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that I was standing in dugout with was looking at the radar on their phone and said, Oh,

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this, this, this is just one little cell, it's it's gonna be gonna be out of here within

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five minutes. No sooner did he put his cell phone back in his pocket, it started to rain

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even harder. So finally, after about 10 to 15 minutes, one of the coaches walked out

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to the third baseline just to check the field condition, stepped on the dirt, which was

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now mud, and almost fell on his rear end. At that point, the plate umpire and I just

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looked at each other and went, No, no, wait. Even if this stops right now, the field is

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now unsafe. So we got together with that coach, we all went over to the other dugout and and

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talked to their coaches and they, they agreed, No, we can't, we can't get this game restarted.

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So that was a game. The really the more hilarious part was, was my my poor partner left the

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windows rolled down in his truck. So he, he was a little wet on the way home. Not to mention

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how wet we got just standing out there. You know, until we decided to, to call the game.

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So yeah, so that was that was pretty fun. My my first rundown and my first rain called

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the game all rolled into one. So really, the only other thing that happened throughout

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the season was I had a couple of issues with two, two coaches in particular, but one of

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them kind of resolved itself. I was working the bases for majors game on night. And I

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believe it was the first time I had worked with this particular coach. He's new to majors

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this year. He's not new to little league. He's not new to baseball. He's just new to

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majors this year, because his son moved up from minors. And yeah, he's he is competitive.

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He is Mr. Baseball. So had was over in C, and had a runner left second to go to third,

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realize they weren't gonna make it turn around went back, slid in head first. The ball was

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there, but the tag was not made. The I believe it was second baseman just had their foot

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on the base might have been the shortstop. I don't remember. Just had their foot on the

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base when they caught the ball, they never attacked the runner. Well, for whatever reason,

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I called the runner out. And then I very quickly thought about it and went, No, stupid. It's

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not a force. So the runner will be safe. Well, I call him out. And then this coach comes

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out of the dugout and goes ballistic. Literally screaming at me across the diamond. He can't

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be out. It wasn't a force. So call time, my partner and I get together. And we got it

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straightened out. I went me up, duh, it wasn't a force. He has to tag him. He didn't tag

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him. Okay, turn around, point to the runner, runner safe. That was all I heard from that

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coach that night. Four days later, I'm at my truck at the field, getting my my gear

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on putting my chest protector on all that this coach is at the field his his team's

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playing. He sees me in the parking lot. He comes down to my truck. And the very first

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words out of his mouth are, I am sorry for yelling at you last week. He says, I apologize.

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I realize I was out of line. Sometimes, you know, I just get worked up, which I completely

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understand. He says, but, you know, I, I shouldn't have done that. And I, I just wanted to say

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I'm sorry. I said, Hey, I get it. People get riled up. Yeah, I initially kicked the call.

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I I screwed it. But we got it fixed up. And I appreciate you coming over and apologizing.

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You didn't need to do that. So we're, we're good. We shook hands. And I did not have an

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issue with that coach the rest of the season. Another coach, on the other hand, I have never,

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no matter what I've, I've done, I mean, I'm, I'm a little league umpire, I'm a competition

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shooter and he certified range officer. I've done a lot of stuff. And I can honestly say

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I have never had a person come directly after me personally from a, a verbal emotional sense.

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I finally had one this year, this particular coach rode me all season long. Every single

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time I worked with him, it was something he would, he would pick out something to go after

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me about that game. It got to the point where I told my, my umpire in chief, I refuse to

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work any more games that this coach is at. And I'll give, I'll give my UIC credit. He

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did his best to work me, you know, work the, the umpires around to prevent me from working

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with this guy. There were, there were three big blowups with, with this coach. First one

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I was working the plate. Um, no, I was working the bases. First one I was working the bases

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on a Monday night and his team was on defense. No, his team was on offense. I'm trying to

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remember this on the fly. I apologize. His team was on offense. I'm over in the beast

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lot. His runner is going in to second on an attempt to steal the ball, got there pretty

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quick. I mean, the second baseman had the ball in his glove. The runner was still at

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least three steps out. The runner slides. I see the ball hit the glove. I see the glove

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come down and I see the tag applied just before the foot touches the base. I come up, I call

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the runner out and this coach comes out of the third base coaches box yelling at me.

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Oh, you gotta have those blue. You, you gotta have those. You're standing right there. How

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could you not see that? And he's like yelling at me something about a high tag or something

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like that. It's like I, I literally, I just ignored it. The runner didn't argue. The runner

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stood up, dusted himself off, tried it back to the dugout. End of the inning, this coach

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goes over and I see him over there talking to the plate umpire and I know what he's talking

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to the plate umpire about. Well, he talks to the plate umpire for probably 30, 45 seconds.

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Then he walks back to his dugout. The plate umpire comes over to me and I said, what was

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that about? He says, well, he, you know, he, he told me he, he needed to let out some frustration.

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He says, and then he asked me what I thought. He says, I told him I had the runner out too

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because I did, you know, even standing at the plate, he had the runner out and he says,

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you know, I had him out too, but ultimately it's the base umpire's call. He's, he's right

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there. That's why he's the base umpire. And this manager or this coach says, yeah, I know

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it's his call. The plate umpire says, so why are you over here talking to me? And I guess

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the coach looked at him and said, well, cause I know you'll listen to me. So here's, here's

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my, here's my, my, my little tidbit. If you are a coach and I, and I am umpiring your

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game, if you have an issue with a call that I make, if you call time or if it's the end

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of the inning, whatever, if you come out and calm, cool, you know, act like a gentleman

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and say, Hey blue or Hey Darrell, can we speak about that call? Or I have a question about

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that call something to that effect. I will talk to you and we can have a gentlemanly

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conversation. But when you start raising your voice at me or you start yelling 60 feet across

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the diamond at me, I am not going to listen to a word you say. And he figured that out

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apparently the very next game, which was the next night on Tuesday, this particular one

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I'm working as the plate umpire. His team is on defense, pass ball, uncaught third strike.

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Batter runner takes off for first. I, you know, break, I clear the catcher to the left

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because I know the ball went to the right of me. So that's where the catcher is going

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to go. So I clear the catcher to the left catcher goes, gets the ball, fires down to

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first. The base umpire is right there, has an angle, calls a runner out. Next thing I

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know the offensive coach from a neighboring city, he comes out and starts asking me, did

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you see the, do you see the first baseman's foot? Well, yes, I did. The throw to the first

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baseman was a little high. First baseman's foot came off the base when he caught the

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ball. And that's when the runner tagged the base or the runner touched was while the first

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baseman's foot was off the base, clearly a pulled foot situation, but the base umpire

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didn't see that. So this other coach, this also offensive coach is asking me, did you

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see the foot? You know, he, he should be safe. And, and all I said was, if you have a question

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about the call, you'll need to ask the base umpire and very, very politely, he says, okay,

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can I get time, please? Absolutely. I call time. He juts across the diamond, goes to

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the base umpire and says, can you ask your partner if he saw a pulled foot? So the base

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umpire and I get together, he says, what did you have? I said, well, I saw the first baseman's

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foot off the base when the runner tagged up. And it was, you know, before the first baseman

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caught the ball, when he caught the ball, his foot was off the base already. So the

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base umpire says, okay, thank you. Turns around runner safe. When he called runner safe, this

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coach that I was already having an issue with from the night before comes on glued all kinds

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of upset trying again, he starts first. He starts in on the base umpire, but somehow

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this whole issue with the the pulled foot suddenly became my fault. I don't know how,

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but it suddenly became my fault. And this coach starts yelling down the line at me that

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I was in the way. And my, you know, my catcher had to, you know, walk out from around him

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to get the throw off or something. I, like I said, if you start yelling at me, I'm not

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going to listen to you. So I honestly don't know exactly what he said. I just turned around

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and walked back on the plate, waited for the next batter, but it was something to the effect

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of I either didn't clear the catcher fast enough when the ball got by him. Well, I didn't

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clear the catcher any faster or any slower than I had been doing all night long. And

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he had never had a problem with it until then. It was either that or I was standing directly

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in front of the catcher when he was trying to throw the ball the first. Well, I may have

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been, but I was standing a few feet up the baseline where I probably should have been

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looking for runners lane violation, a pulled foot by the defense, you know, doing my usual

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plate on prior duties in a situation such as that. Was I in the way? I could have been,

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I don't know. But suddenly it wasn't, it wasn't a problem until the call got turned against

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him. Now all of a sudden where I'm standing is an issue and he's going off on me. I'm

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a very lenient person when it comes to that kind of stuff. So I didn't toss him. I probably

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should have, but I didn't. I just let him have his say. And the last thing I heard out

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of his mouth as he walked back into the dugout was absolute worst I've ever seen. Now I don't

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know if he was talking about the call or if he was talking about me as an umpire. I didn't

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hear the beginning of it because like I said, I wasn't listening. The next inning and I,

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I know this one, some people are, I'm probably going to get some fan mail from you guys about

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this one, but please just hear me out. The next inning, again, this problem coaches team

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is on defense runner rounds, third ball is coming in for play at the plate. I've got

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my mask off. I'm in position. The catcher is standing about 10 feet towards third base,

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literally straddling the baseline, straddling the white line or the foul line. I should

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call it not the baseline, literally straddling the line, standing there with his, with his

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mid up waiting for the ball to get to him. The runner for whatever reason runs straight

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towards him, had the presence of mind to stop before he got there and like destroyed this

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catcher. But at that point, the catcher receives the ball, reaches out for the easy tag. I

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call the runner out. Now I know for a fact that there are probably a bunch of you listening

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to this podcast right now who are screaming at me. That's obstruction. Yes. Yes. By, by

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rule it actually is. And that's what the, the visitor, the visiting coach came out to

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tell me because it was his runner that got tagged out. He can't, you know, the catcher

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can't stand right on the line. He was blocking the path of my runner and he didn't have the

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ball and this and that. Before I could open my mouth, here comes the home coach flying

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out of the dugout. I literally blinked and he was like the road runner just standing

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right, right there beside me. It's like, where did you come from and why are you out here?

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Him and the visiting coach stood there for an easy 45 seconds in front of everybody screaming

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at each other. The away coach is saying he can't stand there. The home coach is saying,

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yes, he can stand there. He was waiting for the ball to get there. It's in the rule book.

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Look it up. These two are just yelling at each other across the foul line. And I'm just

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standing there with my mask tucked up under my arm, just waiting for them to finish. Now,

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yes, should I have tossed both of them and sent them both home at that point? Yeah, I,

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I should have. Why I didn't. Well, you'll find out that here in just a second. But the

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visiting coach was right. Now, like I said, hear me out. I did not change my out call.

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I did not change my alcohol. And here is why. If I had turned around and said, you know

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what? He's right. That was obstruction. Erase the out runner home plate. If I had done that,

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the home coach probably would have lynched me right then and there. Right now, all his

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heat is on the visiting coach. I've already gotten heat from this guy once tonight and

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I got heat from him last night. If I had flipped my call and called, you know, and told the

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runner you score, come touch the plate, you score. You might as well have dropped a nuclear

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bomb on the field that night because that's what this home coach probably would have done.

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That is the only reason I did not eject either one of them because that wouldn't have been

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good. And that's the reason why I didn't change my original call. And I think the visiting

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manager kind of knew that because the rest of the night he didn't say a word to me about

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it. So he probably figured, yeah, I get it. The play dump doesn't want this kind of heat.

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So at that point, after the game, went to my truck, sent a text message to my UIC, told

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him the game was complete and I am all done working with this dude. Like, period. If you

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put me on a game where he's coaching, I'm probably going to refuse the game and I hate

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refusing games. Absolutely hit it. So a couple of weeks go by and I find out I'm working

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a game on a Friday night with this coach. I found out later, found out the next day

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after the game that I was not supposed to work that game. But the partner that I ended

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up having for that game, a real great guy. He's been around as an umpire. I absolutely

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love working with him every single time we work together. I learn a ton. I just, if I

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could work every game with this, this umpire, I absolutely would. We get along great. I

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learn a lot from him. We work pretty well together. Apparently he told the UIC, I want

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to get Darryl another game to help him get more experience out there. And maybe this,

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this coach has cooled off. It's been, it's been a week or so. Maybe he's, he's cooled

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off. We'll be fine. So I ended up working that game and after the second inning, I see

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this coach over talking to the plate umpire. I'm on the basis. So the plate umpire comes

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over to me and says, well, you know, he, he wants you to, he wants you to move more. Apparently

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he didn't think I was getting in into position to make calls that I was making every call

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I had made up to that point. I may not have been in the 100% exact position I should have

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been, but I still had a pretty clear view of every single call I made and was 100% sure

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of every single call I made. So anyway, but I thought, okay, I'm going to show a little

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bit more hustle. I'm going to get into, I'm going to work on trying to get into position.

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We'll see what happens. So I'm, I'm hustling. Um, I'm working my tail off out there and

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yeah, yeah, apparently that was not enough for him. Had a runner going into third and

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I was in the infield grass working my way around to the third base side. There was a

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lot of other stuff going on at this point. We had a ball in the outfield that was being

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thrown in there trying to throw the batter runner out at first. So my, my partner is

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keeping an eye on that. So he, he yelled to me, I got first. So he's got that call. I'm

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trying to work my way over to third and I had a perfect angle. Yeah, I was further back

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than I really wanted to be. I had a perfect angle. The runner slides in the foot touches

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the base. The glove with the ball is still at about chest height on the third baseman

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when the foot touches the bag. Safe. Easiest safe call I think I've ever made on the bases.

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I stop, I look, I see the runner is safe. I come up, give the safe, the safe mechanic.

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And then I look straight through the base and I see this coach down on one knee in the

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coach's box and he looks up at me and I'm going to try to imitate the, the tone that

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he used. You weren't in a position to see it anyway. That's exactly what he yelled to

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me from probably 40, 50 feet away. You weren't in a position to see it anyway in a response

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to my safe signal. That was the one, pardon me. That was the one that got to me. Cause

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now I know he is personally attacking me. I'm getting wound up sitting here thinking

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about it. Got through the game. I came home that night. I pulled into my driveway. And

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of course I have about a 25 to 30 minute ride home from the field. Pulled into the driveway,

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shut the truck off. And I just sat there for a minute trying to keep hold of myself. I

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got out of the truck, grabbed my gear bag, walked in the house, closed the door and lost

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it. I literally, I closed the door and I just broke down in tears in the kitchen. And of

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course my fiance, she comes out wondering what's going on cause she can now hear me

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crying. Usually when I come home, first thing I do is walk in the living room, give her

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a kiss. And I didn't do that. And she could hear me, hear me bawling my eyes out in the

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kitchen. So she came to see what was wrong. And I, I just told her, I said, I've never

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had somebody personally attack me like this. I, I've never had it happen. I don't know

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what I did to this man to make him hate me so much. I honestly don't know. That night

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I told my UIC that I was probably going to be done for the season. And if that coach

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is still a part of that league next season, I'm going to be looking for another league

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to umpire for. So the next day I get a message from my UIC who was not happy and not happy

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at the fact that a coach is on the verge of driving out an umpire. He, he wasn't mad at

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me. He completely understood where I was coming from. Well, he had a chat with the league

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president and that afternoon the league president called me and basically said, I apologize

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on behalf of the league. He says this, this whole situation is not right. It's, it's basically

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a hostile work environment. He says, and if, if you just want to be done with, with us

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and go umpire for another league, he says, I, I would not blame you one bit, but I'd

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really hope that you would just think about it. He says, because I spoke with this particular

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coach today and the vibe I got from him was he is probably not going to have anything

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to do with little league at all next year. He's, he's going to be, you know, moving up

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from majors. Both of his boys are going to junior ball next year. So if anything, he's

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going to be up in juniors. So you won't have to, to deal with him. You know, and if he

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said, if you want to just work minors, you know, work minor games for us, we can do that

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too. What, you know, whatever you want to do, but just please, you know, don't make

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a decision yet. And he says, I, I am personally sorry that you've had to go through this.

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Which, which I appreciate. Um, but it was, it was kind of a, he's just going to let the

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problem alleviate itself instead of grabbing the coach and saying, you're done because

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now you're screwing with our umpires and people don't want to umpire for us anyway. I mean,

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this whole season, we've only had really two reliable full-time umpires and that's myself

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and my friend, Darren, the one that I, I absolutely love working with. We're the only two umpires

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that the UIC can send out a text and say, Hey, I've got a game tonight and I don't have

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an umpire for it. Can anybody work it? And Darren and I will usually jump and say, yep,

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I'm in. So, I mean, I, I, I appreciate the league president calling me. We had a good,

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a good conversation. We talked probably 15, 20 minutes. You know, we had a good chat,

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but I, I just, I don't know how I feel about the way that the situation was handled because

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it wasn't even really handled. It was just, Oh, well, he's probably not going to be around

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next year anyway. So you're not going to have to worry about him. Well, that's great. But

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what if next year, another coach does the same thing and starts riding me every game?

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Are you just going to sit there and hope that they're not part of the league the next year?

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Anyway, I'm getting off on a, on a rant here. Um, so yeah, again, um, if, if you're a coach

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listening to this, basically be nice to your umpires. If you have an issue with a call,

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go up with a calm voice, calm demeanor and say, Hey blue, Hey ump, Hey, whatever their

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name is. Can we, can we just have a chat about that? Or, Hey, I have a question about that

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call that you made. You know, you do that to me. We can stand there and have a conversation.

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Not a problem. But when you start yelling at me, calling me the worst umpire you've

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ever seen and stuff like that, I'm honestly not going to listen to a word you say. I'm

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just going to turn around and walk away from you. So that is it for this edition of the

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blue crew diaries and umpire podcast. Uh, sorry, this one ran a little bit long, but

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sometimes I just get off on a tangent and it's hard to shut me up. So as always, thank

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you very much for listening. Be sure to check out all the other episodes, uh, here on the

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podcast. Also be sure to check out the YouTube channel where, uh, podcast episodes are also

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listed. Um, at some point I might put out some videos to who knows, we will see what

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happens, but hope you all had a great season. Enjoy the off season. If it's that time for

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you, if not, keep plugging away at it and I will see you on the diamond.