Part XXVI of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! It’s now been one year since “Obnoxious Parents and Ruthless Coaches” was released, and the reviews have been phenomenal! People everywhere are loving this book, especially those who have been involved with youth baseball and have seen the insanity I’ve written about…

Part XXV of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! It’s kind of an “unwritten rule” in all sports, that assistant coaches are supposed to be “seen and not heard”. What this means in youth baseball is that the first base or third base coaches, who are often not the manager, are…

Part XXIV of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! People who criticize youth baseball because “IT’S SO SLOW!” unfortunately are sometimes correct, and often the way a coach runs his team is the reason why. Being fairly certain I can speak for most umpires on this subject, we love working games…

Part XXIII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! Nothing makes umpires dislike the job more than lopsided games where one team is absolutely destroying the other one. Most youth leagues, in an effort to try to make these painful games slightly less painful, will have a “mercy rule” which basically…

Part XXII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! A fellow umpire once described to me a coach who was in his words, “The nicest, most polite, pain in the ass I’ve ever seen”. Usually if a coach is “a pain in the ass” to an umpire, the coach is mean,…

Part XXI of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! When coaches are ejected from games, the reason is often one that can only be described as something like “really stupid, and completely unnecessary”. A few years ago, a coach argued with the plate umpire about a pitch that hit the dirt…

Part XX of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! For what is often called “a simple kid’s game” baseball has a lot of rules, some of which don’t come into play very often. Things like the “infield fly rule” or “slide or avoid contact”, among other rules, are often misunderstood by…

Part XIX of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! If a baseball game has more than one umpire, some coaches will try to “appeal” every call they disagree with, which they can’t do, but try to do anyway. “Blue, could you ask your partner for help on that call? He might…

Part XVIII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! A veteran umpire I know has a unique way of dealing with parents who don’t hold back letting the umpire know their opinions about how they think the umpire is doing. Sometimes parents who pay a lot of money for their child…

Part XVII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits! Alcohol and obnoxious parents watching their kids play baseball is not a good combination. Some parents can’t behave when they aren’t drinking, so what would they be like when what little common sense they have to begin with gets sent packing? A…