- Jun 1, 2015
- 501
- 43
One thing I CANNOT STAND that I hear more and more in youth baseball/softball (Little League) levels is unruly parents saying to their kids, "Next time he/she is in the base path, you run them right over." I've umpired for 12 years and have had maybe 3-4 collisions like this - I'm fairly sure all of them were unintentional simply based on the reactions of the players, etc. I always make it a point to talk to the defensive players during time-outs/in between innings to tell them how to play things if situations like that come up again (ex. 1B-man on the inside corner of the base watching a play to LF when the runner goes for 2nd and collides with the fielder). I've even had parents confront me between innings about the call, stating what they said to their kids, and my immediate response is, "Well now that I know this, if your son/daughter does it again, both them AND you will be ejected and banned." I've even had to do that to a RELATIVE of mine. It's one thing to know situational awareness, of course. It's another thing to just not be a complete d**k about it for the sake of victory. If any of my 16U girls ever did it intentionally, they'd be picking their opponent up off the ground before sitting out the rest of the day, because unsportsmanlike conduct is something I refuse to tolerate.