VIDEO: Little League Umpire Literally Walks off Field After Getting Heckled by Parents
After being heckled mercilessly by parents, a little league umpire completely walked off the field.
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- May 29, 2015
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My son showed me that last night and asked what I would have done. I know the guy was frustrated and at the end of his rope, but he should have handled it more professionally. I hate to criticize him because that was beyond ludicrous.
So many things to be disgusted about in the video, but the one that jumped out most to me are the adult hecklers acting like junior high bullies who think their behavior is excusable and the umpire should continue to take it.
This points out another fantastic reason why umpires should never work a game solo. This guy had no partner to try to be the buffer.
My advice: Call the coaches out to home plate and lay it out for them: we have three steps coaches. The first is this all stops now. If that doesn’t happen, we have passed the point of individuals being excused from the game, so step 2 is you inform the crowd that this game is being finished without them and you clear the park. Yes, they have to leave. Step 3 is this game becomes a forfeit.
So many things to be disgusted about in the video, but the one that jumped out most to me are the adult hecklers acting like junior high bullies who think their behavior is excusable and the umpire should continue to take it.
This points out another fantastic reason why umpires should never work a game solo. This guy had no partner to try to be the buffer.
My advice: Call the coaches out to home plate and lay it out for them: we have three steps coaches. The first is this all stops now. If that doesn’t happen, we have passed the point of individuals being excused from the game, so step 2 is you inform the crowd that this game is being finished without them and you clear the park. Yes, they have to leave. Step 3 is this game becomes a forfeit.
Have you had any situations when you felt it really got out of hand?....If so, how did you handle it?
- May 29, 2015
- 3,794
- 113
I had a varsity baseball game where my partner and I did leave the field until the crowd was under control (they were mainly acting towards each other, with just a little directed at us).
After a number of incidents with fans by the third inning, 4 fans being dismissed from the game, and the home team’s head coach declining to take care of things, we called the coaches out to home plate and offered an ultimatum: take care of it or we are done.
The home coach balked again (”I have to face these parents every day, you can’t put me in that position.”). I advised him he controlled them or kept the AD on site to do it (she kept leaving to go over to the softball game). He declined again.
At that point the visiting coach said “You don‘t need the AD, you need a police officer.”
I looked at my partner, got the nod, and said “We’re done then.”
We walked off the field. The AD came over pretty quick at that point.
We gave it about ten minutes and discussed it with the AD. Several more fans left before being told to. We agreed to back on the field: as long as the AD remained there and with the awareness that any further issue would result in a forfeit against the next offender’s team. We also asked that she discuss the coach’s responsibilities with him afterwards.
Despite the coaches and the fans, the kids were actually being models of good behavior. We didn’t feel it was appropriate to punish them.
I have turned down further contracts with that school for the last few years. (Softball was a whole other can of worms that I blacklisted them for, but now that they have hired a new coach, I will work those again.)
After a number of incidents with fans by the third inning, 4 fans being dismissed from the game, and the home team’s head coach declining to take care of things, we called the coaches out to home plate and offered an ultimatum: take care of it or we are done.
The home coach balked again (”I have to face these parents every day, you can’t put me in that position.”). I advised him he controlled them or kept the AD on site to do it (she kept leaving to go over to the softball game). He declined again.
At that point the visiting coach said “You don‘t need the AD, you need a police officer.”
I looked at my partner, got the nod, and said “We’re done then.”
We walked off the field. The AD came over pretty quick at that point.
We gave it about ten minutes and discussed it with the AD. Several more fans left before being told to. We agreed to back on the field: as long as the AD remained there and with the awareness that any further issue would result in a forfeit against the next offender’s team. We also asked that she discuss the coach’s responsibilities with him afterwards.
Despite the coaches and the fans, the kids were actually being models of good behavior. We didn’t feel it was appropriate to punish them.
I have turned down further contracts with that school for the last few years. (Softball was a whole other can of worms that I blacklisted them for, but now that they have hired a new coach, I will work those again.)
@The Man In Blue, If I were him, I probably would have handled it the same way.
The parents from the rec leagues around here are, IMO, a bunch of self-entitled blow-hards and think their kids are playing for the Chicago Bandits at the rec level.
Several years ago I had a 12U TB team comprised entirely of rec players moving up to TB. I have a parent/player contract that totals 18 rules. One of those is "Parents and players are reminded that the way you act reflects upon the coaching staff, the team and the organization as a whole. You are expected to respect, at all times, the coaches, the umpires and our opponents. If at any time you fail to act with class and decorum, you will be asked to leave the team."
First tournament of the year, we had a very young (18-20 I'm guessing) and inexperienced umpire who blew a couple of calls early in the game. My parents started chirping but there was one father who started getting loud and obnoxious with his comments. After the second comment, I went out and told him to pipe down, After the third comment, I walked over to his daughter and told her to pack up her equipment. When she was done, I called time, took her out to the stands, looked at Dad and told him to please take his daughter home and to please not come back. You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet and the looks of consternation? It was bad. But for the rest of the year, the parents were model spectators.
As a side note, I took the player back the following week (after an apology and a little begging by Dad) but he wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the team at any time for the rest of the year.
The parents from the rec leagues around here are, IMO, a bunch of self-entitled blow-hards and think their kids are playing for the Chicago Bandits at the rec level.
Several years ago I had a 12U TB team comprised entirely of rec players moving up to TB. I have a parent/player contract that totals 18 rules. One of those is "Parents and players are reminded that the way you act reflects upon the coaching staff, the team and the organization as a whole. You are expected to respect, at all times, the coaches, the umpires and our opponents. If at any time you fail to act with class and decorum, you will be asked to leave the team."
First tournament of the year, we had a very young (18-20 I'm guessing) and inexperienced umpire who blew a couple of calls early in the game. My parents started chirping but there was one father who started getting loud and obnoxious with his comments. After the second comment, I went out and told him to pipe down, After the third comment, I walked over to his daughter and told her to pack up her equipment. When she was done, I called time, took her out to the stands, looked at Dad and told him to please take his daughter home and to please not come back. You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet and the looks of consternation? It was bad. But for the rest of the year, the parents were model spectators.
As a side note, I took the player back the following week (after an apology and a little begging by Dad) but he wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the team at any time for the rest of the year.
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- Feb 15, 2017
- 391
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Excellent. Bravo!! In my opinion that’s what is lacking in general- coaches with spines. I give the parents a pre-season discussion regarding what doesn’t fly and I always tell them I have an itchy trigger finger. I’ve only had to have 1 very brief conversation over the years and the dad was super apologetic the minute I started. Really was expecting some fireworks. I always tell them I have 12 to look out for and Im not going to let a parent give other players a misunderstanding of what is acceptable and what is not.
- May 29, 2015
- 3,794
- 113
I was reading an article a little while back that suggested a more mild version of that @YOCOACH: take the player out of the game and send them on a walk away from the game with the parent. Have the player explain “I cannot play with you acting like this.” If the parent calms down, the kid comes back in.
It is sad that parents and fans need to be trained like puppies.
I do applaud your actions though. You can have the best “conduct code” in the world, but it means nothing without enforcement and accountability. That’s something many coaches don’t want to follow through on.
My comment on the umpire’s professionalism may have sounded a bit harsher than I intended. I definitely don’t fault him for calling the game off and walking away. The “teacher” side of me would say: I would have liked to have seen him a) engage the coaches in crowd control rather than talking to the crowd himself, and then b) bring the coaches together and explain what was happening rather than just storm off in a huff. It wasn’t a good look, but I agree it needed to be done.
It is sad that parents and fans need to be trained like puppies.
I do applaud your actions though. You can have the best “conduct code” in the world, but it means nothing without enforcement and accountability. That’s something many coaches don’t want to follow through on.
My comment on the umpire’s professionalism may have sounded a bit harsher than I intended. I definitely don’t fault him for calling the game off and walking away. The “teacher” side of me would say: I would have liked to have seen him a) engage the coaches in crowd control rather than talking to the crowd himself, and then b) bring the coaches together and explain what was happening rather than just storm off in a huff. It wasn’t a good look, but I agree it needed to be done.
In this umpire's defense, we have no idea what preceded his actions. We umpires never want to directly talk to idiot fans, but sometimes when we've asked the coaches to handle it and they don't, we really have to resort to matters that go against how we've been trained.
This spring at a local HS game, the parents were being extremely obnoxious as was their reputation preceding them. Some of the umpires in the association have already told the assignor they won't work at that school because of the parents, but I felt I could handle things. I personally blew off their vitriol, but I could see that my partner on the bases was getting flustered, especially when he called interference on one of the team's runners even though the runner didn't make contact with the fielder (which isn't a requirement to rule interference). They were yelling and screaming that the runner never touched the fielder, what is the runner supposed to do, yada yada.
I talked to my partner briefly between innings and could tell he was getting antsy, so I went over to talk to the head coach and asked her if she would do something about it. And she responded with, "Ahh, they're just fans being fans," and turned and walked away. That spoke volumes to me that she was afraid to deal with them. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the guy who introduced himself to me before the game as the site administrator was nowhere to be found. These fans obviously were given free rein to do what they want.
When I went back behind the plate, I called a pitch a ball that the fans, including the lady keeping the official book, didn't like. I could tell it was her because she was sitting right behind me and to my right. I said to myself, "This shirt stops now!" and loudly called Time. I took off my mask and walked back to her and told her loud enough for others to hear, "Ma'am, do you know who you are?" She looked at me rather oddly, so I answered, "You are the scorekeeper of this game, right?" She said yes.
So I said, "That makes you an official of this game, just like my partner and me. The three of us are a team out here. We call the game, and you keep track of it. If there's a question about the score, the count, the outs, the batting order, whatever, I come to you, as a member of my team. And because you're on my team, I will not tolerate you making negative comments about us on the field. You have to support us, just like I'm here to support you. Do you understand?" She replied, "Well, you need to be consistent..." And I immediately interrupted her and said, "And YOU need to keep your opinions to yourself! If you can't do that, then you need to give the book to someone else who CAN!" and I walked away.
She stayed quiet the rest of the game, and the fans tended to settle down a little bit. But was I pleased by the outcome? Not at all. I would've much preferred that the coach handle it or get the site administrator to do it. But since they wouldn't, I felt I had to take matters into my own hands a bit.
This spring at a local HS game, the parents were being extremely obnoxious as was their reputation preceding them. Some of the umpires in the association have already told the assignor they won't work at that school because of the parents, but I felt I could handle things. I personally blew off their vitriol, but I could see that my partner on the bases was getting flustered, especially when he called interference on one of the team's runners even though the runner didn't make contact with the fielder (which isn't a requirement to rule interference). They were yelling and screaming that the runner never touched the fielder, what is the runner supposed to do, yada yada.
I talked to my partner briefly between innings and could tell he was getting antsy, so I went over to talk to the head coach and asked her if she would do something about it. And she responded with, "Ahh, they're just fans being fans," and turned and walked away. That spoke volumes to me that she was afraid to deal with them. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the guy who introduced himself to me before the game as the site administrator was nowhere to be found. These fans obviously were given free rein to do what they want.
When I went back behind the plate, I called a pitch a ball that the fans, including the lady keeping the official book, didn't like. I could tell it was her because she was sitting right behind me and to my right. I said to myself, "This shirt stops now!" and loudly called Time. I took off my mask and walked back to her and told her loud enough for others to hear, "Ma'am, do you know who you are?" She looked at me rather oddly, so I answered, "You are the scorekeeper of this game, right?" She said yes.
So I said, "That makes you an official of this game, just like my partner and me. The three of us are a team out here. We call the game, and you keep track of it. If there's a question about the score, the count, the outs, the batting order, whatever, I come to you, as a member of my team. And because you're on my team, I will not tolerate you making negative comments about us on the field. You have to support us, just like I'm here to support you. Do you understand?" She replied, "Well, you need to be consistent..." And I immediately interrupted her and said, "And YOU need to keep your opinions to yourself! If you can't do that, then you need to give the book to someone else who CAN!" and I walked away.
She stayed quiet the rest of the game, and the fans tended to settle down a little bit. But was I pleased by the outcome? Not at all. I would've much preferred that the coach handle it or get the site administrator to do it. But since they wouldn't, I felt I had to take matters into my own hands a bit.
VIDEO: Little League Umpire Literally Walks off Field After Getting Heckled by Parents
After being heckled mercilessly by parents, a little league umpire completely walked off the field.
I have mixed feelings. Lots of them.
I don't know what happened before the video - and in most ways it is inconsequential. I don't know how it got to the point it got to.
But what makes me sad is that I have seen several social media threads on this video - and there is a good, solid 25% of posts piling on to this official about being paid, or needing thicker skin or just being better or... the list goes on. Yes, 75% have been in support, but the thinking of this other 25% - how they think that because the umpire gets a few $$$ they can behave however they want towards him and is it HIS fault is just disturbing. I saw a few posts where people posted that they didn't think the crowd went far enough and should have behaved even worse and how much of a bigger 'man' they would have been if the umpire acted that way if they were there.
But this isn't new - the real thing is that is new is that it can go global now. That incident in Cali becomes known in NY the next day. These parents ALWAYS existed. These incidents ALWAYS happened. We just have more and more awareness of how widespread it is and there are now WAY more opportunities for it to happen (partly because there are also WAY more games being played and more $$$ involved). For the most part, these are not new personalities or problems.
You also have to understand how little training, support and development opportunities there are for umpires. As I have posted before, often 2 hours of training or less (none of which involves handling coaches or crowds) and out you go in many cases because there are so few umpires... and in many cases because those two hours are all that is available but also because none of the sanctions, org and anyone else are willing to invest in developing their umpire groups. New officials are 'thrown to the wolves' because there is no other choice - it is not a situation that is set up for success.
Sanctions currently rely on posts saying 'Stop it' - which is a joke - plus the willingness of the umpire groups to freely spend their time to do it all on their behalf - and many do because a vast majority of them are really doing it because they DO want to and DO want to give back or to the game. It isn't enough.
After 30 years umpiring various sports at various levels, I feel I can handle almost anything (almost). I generally call a pretty good game (even when I am 'off'), I know how to manage away from a lot of traps and scenarios, I know how to manage coaches, players and yes, even crowds. Over the years I have been lucky enough to have some great mentors and people who have freely given their time and knowledge to me without any expectation of any sort of return. They were and are just good people. But most officials don't have all that experience to call on or don't have the mentor or the pairing with an experienced partner to support them. I vividly remember my younger years and some of the mistakes I made and the wrong approaches I used which led to situations that didn't need to happen.
Just like you don't expect a beginner player to have great skills, you can't expect a beginner umpire to have great umpiring skills either. They need the time to develop - and it just doesn't exist.
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- Dec 11, 2010
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Great post Marriard.
I’m not an umpire. I can’t solve all the problems. I do have some experience “officiating games” where the “players” on one side were extremists and the “players” on other side are protesting against them.
Both sides are trying to draw the officials into any reaction. By any reaction I mean a change in tone of voice. A glance at something outside the fence. A CLUE that you have noticed them. A HINT that you are irritated. When they see any hint of reaction, they will single you out and go to work on you. They will make you their personal project.
When you react to a crowd, no matter how small that reaction is, you are ceding control of yourself and that real estate to that crowd. You are giving the crowd control. You are allowing them to externally manipulate you.
Officials with the ability to keep a poker face have less problems. Officials who IGNORE what is going on outside the lines are harder to manipulate. It is harder for the pigs to drag that official into the mud to wrestle with him. When things get bad, ask yourself this: did you come to officiate and be a professional or did you come to wrestle with the pigs in the mud? If pigs like to wrestle in the mud, do we want to give them a place to do it? Are you a pig that likes to wrestle in the mud? If you can’t overcome the urge to do that, you cannot be an official.
To be fair, I don’t know what happened before the video started. I don’t know if this ump was drawn in to the bs. Maybe he was trying to ignore it. What I see, however, from his body language and eyes is a man who is not in control of himself. He has taken it personally, and has incorrectly determined that a crowd heckling him is somehow about him. (It isn’t. It is about control). He thinks he has the right to be hurt and offended. He allows the crowd to run him off. I’ll be damned if I would EVER let a crowd do that. Until they are throwing stuff or throwing punches, I would never allow a crowd to get the upper hand.
He is a victim because he allowed himself to be a victim. And the crowd won.
Don‘t let them draw you in. It’s what they want.
I’m not an umpire. I can’t solve all the problems. I do have some experience “officiating games” where the “players” on one side were extremists and the “players” on other side are protesting against them.
Both sides are trying to draw the officials into any reaction. By any reaction I mean a change in tone of voice. A glance at something outside the fence. A CLUE that you have noticed them. A HINT that you are irritated. When they see any hint of reaction, they will single you out and go to work on you. They will make you their personal project.
When you react to a crowd, no matter how small that reaction is, you are ceding control of yourself and that real estate to that crowd. You are giving the crowd control. You are allowing them to externally manipulate you.
Officials with the ability to keep a poker face have less problems. Officials who IGNORE what is going on outside the lines are harder to manipulate. It is harder for the pigs to drag that official into the mud to wrestle with him. When things get bad, ask yourself this: did you come to officiate and be a professional or did you come to wrestle with the pigs in the mud? If pigs like to wrestle in the mud, do we want to give them a place to do it? Are you a pig that likes to wrestle in the mud? If you can’t overcome the urge to do that, you cannot be an official.
To be fair, I don’t know what happened before the video started. I don’t know if this ump was drawn in to the bs. Maybe he was trying to ignore it. What I see, however, from his body language and eyes is a man who is not in control of himself. He has taken it personally, and has incorrectly determined that a crowd heckling him is somehow about him. (It isn’t. It is about control). He thinks he has the right to be hurt and offended. He allows the crowd to run him off. I’ll be damned if I would EVER let a crowd do that. Until they are throwing stuff or throwing punches, I would never allow a crowd to get the upper hand.
He is a victim because he allowed himself to be a victim. And the crowd won.
Don‘t let them draw you in. It’s what they want.
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