good read I think -

[The Man In Blue]

In reality it shouldn't matter..but umpires are human...If in a game you heard a coach loudly yell good pitch 10 times in 2 innings (and everytime he/she is looking at you instead of the pitcher) when you called a ball you might take that the wrong way too...

I have hit the point that “good pitch/good spot” has become garbage noise that I tune out.

It should be encouragement for the pitcher. More often it is not.

 

[The Man In Blue]

That's cured with one discussion about how sometimes you want to "miss" by not throwing a strike and hope the batter will chase.

Not every strike is meant to be hit and not every ball is meant to be watched.

 

[marriard]

And hopefully what I said shouldn't be insulting to you at all if you aren't one of them. Would be like someone way too many Texans are fat rednecks. Doesn't insult me at ll because I'm not a fat redneck. But I know there are a lot of them out there!

No problem. Believe me, when you have umpired as long as I have, you will eventually hear the power trip comment. It is a bit of a trigger for good umpires because 1) we all know a few officials who we think the same of and 2) you go out of your way to try to never be one of them. You have to have a fairly high level of self-confidence to umpire well and it can be easy to step over confidence to arrogance or at least the perception of arrogance. It is a fine line.

I have two other things I wont put up with as an official.

1) You can't accuse me of cheating for the other team or 'being paid off'. You can question or disagree with my call - good or bad - that doesn't bother me. I've officiated in front of thousands of home fans in college so that doesn't really bother me. But coaches and players don't get to accuse me of cheating. That wont end well for them. Doesn't happen often, and I have never had it in softball, but it will happen sooner or later. There is a VERY high chance it will be the cause of the first time I eject someone from a game.

2) You can't accuse me of being lazy or not trying. I am working hard out there. Thinking about it, it has been many years since that last happened. Hopefully because it is clear I am working hard out there.

 

[inumpire]

And he doesn't have to go to his partner. If he didn't see a tag then, she's safe. And if his partner told he should come to him because you were professional I would have told him he is flat out wrong. Period. Now that being said, if there is any doubt in my mind that I might have missed something then yes, I will go to my partner. But, if no doubt, you will have to live with my call. Not being a jerk, it's what I have been taught at every Umpire camp I have been to.

How can any of the umpires on here, say that a missed tag isn’t a judgement call? then what is it? it was his judgement that she wasn’t tagged?? Plain’t and simple...

 

[The Man In Blue]

It absolutely is a judgment call ... but it is a grey one since it can be one that you could go for help on.

Runner does/does not beat the throw = judgment call, no asking for help.

Missed tag = judgment call (not a rule interpretation), BUT ... it is possible you are missing a element of the play if you had an odd angle or were blocked out ... in that case you are possibly missing information and you can go for help.

I had one over the weekend that I would have gone for help, but the coach couldn’t tell me what I was missing. I had an awkward angle behind the play. I thought I saw it all, but it was possible I didn’t. Ring the runner up and here comes the coach, as I would expect.

Me: Coach, here is what I saw ...
Coach interrupts: Can I appeal that?
Me (since he hasn’t even heard what I saw): Appeal what?
Coach: That play.
Me: That’s not an appeal play.
Coach: But she was safe! You need to go ask him (PU).
Me: Ask him what?
Coach: If she was safe?
Me: She was out.
Coach carries on a little more and mumbles his way back to the dugout.

The next inning the first base coach politely asks me why I wouldn't go for help. I explain that I would have, but the coach never asked and never provided a reason for me to. He just didn’t like the judgment call aspect.

How it should have gone:
Coach: What did you see Blue?
Me: I saw a tag on her knee before she got to the bag.
Coach: It looked like you might have been blocked by the shortstop/behind the play. From my angle, I didn’t think she ever got an actual tag on her. Could you go for some help on that?
Me: Absolutely.