First Ejection

[tones3778]

Last night I had my first ejection ever. High School aged kids, Rec ball. No runners on base, Batter hits grounder to the left side. Good throw nails BR by half a step. BR turns around, looks right at me and takes off his helmet. He begins jumping up and down and says, "Oh my God! You're kidding me!!!" I immediately tossed him and the Head Coach (at third base) never said a word about it. The first base coach did have a gripe about the call but not the ejection. Should I have been more lenient with the player or did I simply confirm his desire to no longer participate?

Tony

[archipelligo]

Hard to say Tone, without seeing it. IF he threw his hat, yeah, no problem, but just a quick jump and not too loud gripe might be borderline. A quick glance at his coach and if you make eye contact, he might be smart enough to get his player in line, but maybe not. Rec ball is hard to govern sometimes, it's usually the players not good enough for their HS team and sometimes they are idiots. But if it's your first, you'll find that it won't be your last, if you stay in it long enough. I almost got a girl this year, never woulda figured that before.

[JonUmp]

If he just took off his helemt, and didn't throw it, and just said "Oh my God! Are you kidding me!" Then I don't think anything there warrents an ejection. Personally I would have warned the player, "Hey! That's enough!" and hopefully the 1st base coach would get the idea and help get him on his way. If he kept arguing, then i'd dump him.

[bamatazz]

The one question that you have to ask yourself is "Is he trying to show me up?" If in your mind you think that he was, then dump him. From what you have said, if that happened to me.....If he just took his hat off and said what he said then it would just be a warning to let him know that enough is enough. With him jumping up and down like you said that he was, dump him. To me, that is the same as if a coach is "arguing" a call and is throwing his arms all over the place. He is bringing attention to you the is not justified. Dump him.

Regardless of what we say here, if you feel you were within the rules to dump him, then you should be fine with that. Sometimes you have to pull the trigger quicker than you feel like you normally would. It all depends on the situation and the people involved. Sometimes you have no choice but to dump them.

[Ozzy]

I think you went a bit far. I would have just looked him in the eyes and said "Do I look like I'm kiddding?".

But you did what you had to do and guess what? You're not a virgin anymore!

[j3rseyBoy]

I almost got a girl this year, never woulda figured that before.
Don't worry, you just have to find the right girl. I was 16 and down the shore—

Wait...you we're talking about baseball?!

[archipelligo]

Yeah, I remember my first, we were both 16, but it was true love....either that, or she had never had that much beer before.

[bamatazz]

j3rseyboy,


You nailed that one. LMAO!!!!!!!!!

[j3rseyBoy]

It's easy when you're looking at a 3-0 meatball down the pipe...

[tones3778]

Thanks for the replies. Looking back on it, I think it would have snowballed if I didn't dump him. I talked to two varsity players that were at the game, and they both said the toss was necessary. I also realized that the head coach is the President of the league. I would expect him to say something if the ejection was out of line. Either way, it is done with and I'm comfortable with my decision.

tones

[tones3778]

Well it took more than 3 years for my first, but only 48 hours until the second. Tonight I had a game in the same league (NFHS rules), but one age group younger (13-15). My partner was the Head Coach/League President from the first ejection (he did agree with that one by the way). The one was a little bit easier to call. Bases loaded with two outs and B1 hits a shot over F8's head. No fences so BR is trying for a HR, but F2 catches the ball about 10 ft up the 3rd base line. BR is still about 10 feet away, but he continues into F2 extending his arms and shoving the catcher to the ground (ball comes loose). I say, "He's out and he's done for the night for malicious contact!" The only one to argue is the First Base Coach who tries to tell me that he played catcher in HS and there is no such rule. My partner and I laughed and told him to go buy a rule book. At least I won't have any more this week (no games until next week!).

tones

[j3rseyBoy]

My partner and I laughed and told him to go buy a rule book.
You might want to eliminate that from your repetoire...

Imagine your reaction if the coach told that to you. What would you do? Run him, of course! If you want to be respected, give the coaches the same courtesy.

[tones3778]

It was an unusual situation where my partner was the President of the league and he knows the coaches well. The comment was made more as an honest suggestion rather than a "screw you" type message. There have been plenty of times I have had to bite my tongue in more competitive leagues.

[startthecar]

Tones:
i agree with all the above -- good advice from all and it shows that each of us has a trigger, magic word -- something that a player or coach does to throw themselves out of a game (because we don't run 'em, right?)
it is one of the most effective tools we have in terms of game management because it is unique to each of us.
i mean aside from profanity, physical contact and so on.
you might find you'll let a coach get away with "that was a bad call."
"you are a bad ump" on the other hand ...
anyway, good luck. they already know (and the word will spread) that you won't be pushed very far.