Never understood why umps don't do this more often

[El Oso]

We’ll, the barista doesn’t have someone else upset when them, when they make a mistake, just the customer, in softball, if you reverse your call, the other coach will be on you, so unless it is so obvious, you got to let a bad call stand, because if you do reverse your call, coaches will be on you all game about calls. Mind you this is more a one umpire thing, if working with a partner, I would definitely look to get the right call, even if I was the one who called it wrong.

Who the heck is talking about reversing a call? When did the goal posts get moved in this discussion?

 

[radness]

...there are opponents the umpire officiates between.

Where one team gets the call the other team can get irritated.

The umpire may have good judgment in their officiating but unfortunately sometimes even with all good calls the officiating can seem lopsided.
Because the closer calls may have seemed more important to a coach and/or there may have been more against their team.

 

[kennykozman!!]

I have seen it. I have done it. Notice how subtle the acknowledgment was, if the camera wasn't laser focused on the ump and in super slo mo no one other than the pitcher sees it. It's not like you stand up, call time, and announce it to the crowd. I may just say something to the catcher, like "hey, she throws that again I'll reconsider". "Or tell her I'll see that for what it is next time" or something like that. No one but the catcher would know. On the super rare occasion that I've kicked one so bad I thought I owed the coach something I have subtly said something between innings. But again, no one other than the coach would know.

I have told the catcher "I missed that one you can set up there again and its a strike"

 

[kennykozman!!]

Still waiting on that HC who filed a protest 2 weeks ago to come over and tell me he was wrong........LOL

 

[marriard]

First - If I KNOW I got something wrong; I am BEATING UP ON MYSELF. Bad calls can stick in my mind for days - and in some cases, years. I have said this before - there is about 10 calls that I have made over the years that STILL come to mind when I think about them. It literally makes me wince every time I remember them.

It takes a HUGE amount of game experience and game management skills to know when it is OK to openly admit blowing a call, how to admit it, who to admit it to and the ability to manage any potential aftermath. You have to have a reason WHY you are going to say something (beyond looking for forgiveness) - if you are a good official, as I said, you are ALREADY beating yourself up about it.

Because if you get this wrong, then it can go REALLY wrong. You better be sure what the reaction is going to be.
You may luck out most of the time and nothing happens, but the reality is you can be putting yourself in a bad position unnecessarily.

I will give you an example; and this was not a softball game but a different sport.

I was working a game and my partner admitted he botched a call to the coach. The coach screamed at him "What good does that do me now???", started to go through all the other calls he thought my partner had also got wrong, and then the entire coaching staff were on my partner for the rest of the game questioning every call to a point where it escalated into a several ejections. Total misread. Did it because he felt bad about the call...but totally the wrong thing to do in that circumstance.

It is generally NOT an ego thing as many people think or an unwillingness to admit to a mistake. If I know I blew it, then I know it. Probably heard from the coaches/crown/players/etc as well. It may come across as an ego thing or 'making the game about them' because the official is trying to find the best way to manage it and either lacks the ability, training or experience to effectively do so. It is natural for most people to become aggressively defensive when in a situation you don't have control of - especially when your role is to be part of the control.

My advice to new umpires if to NOT openly admit you made a mistake on a judgement call in softball/baseball (i.e. ball/strike), but instead use your blown call to help you focus more on the next play. On rule corrections, it is keeping your calm, have a clear time line of WHAT happened, and an explanation of what your ruling is... and then move the game on. Never raise your voice as an official. Get your focus back, and a series of good calls will generally (hopefully?) make the bad call a distant memory.

So have I done it? Absolutely. Picked my spots, felt good about how it would be received, felt it was the right spot to help move forward.
Botched a call in a college game early in the season (stupid rule change/different in NFHS v NCAA); had to get with the coaches and calmly explain what I did wrong, that we have ruled what we could based on my mistake and now the game will move on...

 

[MoJo]

One strike on batter, and I called a high pitch a strike. As soon as I called it, I knew I was wrong, but I can't say " no no, that was a ball".

Why not?

First - If I KNOW I got something wrong; I am BEATING UP ON MYSELF. Bad calls can stick in my mind for days - and in some cases, years. I have said this before - there is about 10 calls that I have made over the years that STILL come to mind when I think about them. It literally makes me wince every time I remember them.

It takes a HUGE amount of game experience and game management skills to know when it is OK to openly admit blowing a call, how to admit it, who to admit it to and the ability to manage any potential aftermath. You have to have a reason WHY you are going to say something (beyond looking for forgiveness) - if you are a good official, as I said, you are ALREADY beating yourself up about it.

Because if you get this wrong, then it can go REALLY wrong. You better be sure what the reaction is going to be.
You may luck out most of the time and nothing happens, but the reality is you can be putting yourself in a bad position unnecessarily.

I will give you an example; and this was not a softball game but a different sport.

I was working a game and my partner admitted he botched a call to the coach. The coach screamed at him "What good does that do me now???", started to go through all the other calls he thought my partner had also got wrong, and then the entire coaching staff were on my partner for the rest of the game questioning every call to a point where it escalated into a several ejections. Total misread. Did it because he felt bad about the call...but totally the wrong thing to do in that circumstance.

It is generally NOT an ego thing as many people think or an unwillingness to admit to a mistake. If I know I blew it, then I know it. Probably heard from the coaches/crown/players/etc as well. It may come across as an ego thing or 'making the game about them' because the official is trying to find the best way to manage it and either lacks the ability, training or experience to effectively do so. It is natural for most people to become aggressively defensive when in a situation you don't have control of - especially when your role is to be part of the control.

My advice to new umpires if to NOT openly admit you made a mistake on a judgement call in softball/baseball (i.e. ball/strike), but instead use your blown call to help you focus more on the next play. On rule corrections, it is keeping your calm, have a clear time line of WHAT happened, and an explanation of what your ruling is... and then move the game on. Never raise your voice as an official. Get your focus back, and a series of good calls will generally (hopefully?) make the bad call a distant memory.

So have I done it? Absolutely. Picked my spots, felt good about how it would be received, felt it was the right spot to help move forward.
Botched a call in a college game early in the season (stupid rule change/different in NFHS v NCAA); had to get with the coaches and calmly explain what I did wrong, that we have ruled what we could based on my mistake and now the game will move on...

Simple "get the call right" gets rid of all the BS above. Even with balls & strikes.

Every dad, mom, gmom, coach, spectator, player would respect a simple correction. None care if you "internalize" your mistakes. We want the correct calls and not the BS.

 

[heman1202]

Why not?

Simple "get the call right" gets rid of all the BS above. Even with balls & strikes.

Every dad, mom, gmom, coach, spectator, player would respect a simple correction. None care if you "internalize" your mistakes. We want the correct calls and not the BS.

Yeah, just simply "get the call right." Easy peasy.

Who is right/wrong? What is right/wrong?

Every mom, dad, coach and whoever else is there seems to think everything is a strike/ball/out/etc. based on who they are rooting for.

I think the ump is the most impartial of the bunch, I trust their judgement. There will be close calls that do not go your way, its part of the game.

If there was a call close enough to argue ball/strike where it impacted the game severely, I would be having a talk with my batter about swinging, not the ump (well maybe both, lol).

 

[marriard]

Why not?

Simple "get the call right" gets rid of all the BS above. Even with balls & strikes.

The rules say that. Once I call it a strike, it is a strike. Once I decide it is a ball, it is a ball. And I have to live with that decision.

Every dad, mom, gmom, coach, spectator, player would respect a simple correction. None care if you "internalize" your mistakes. We want the correct calls and not the BS.

35+ years of officiating plus being around sports my entire life indicates that this statement is total BS.

I just gave an example of what happened when my partner messed up and admitted it at the wrong time. I have many more from every level and every sport I have been involved in.

I see many coaches - and spectators - arguing after VIDEO REVIEW over turns a call

Almost every game someone yells at the umpire for THE CORRECT CALL. Forget getting a call wrong - you regularly get abused for getting it absolutely 100% right.

Every time I get with my partner and we change a decision (or even don't change a decision) - no matter how obvious - people get upset because we got together and "Got it right".

The only thing you said that is even remotely true is that "No [one] care if you "internalize" your mistakes." - and frankly I am not asking any one to care. I am just telling you how good officials do actually care and how it feels when you do kick a call.

 

[radness]

The rules say that. Once I call it a strike, it is a strike. Once I decide it is a ball, it is a ball. And I have to live with that decision.

That simply is a fact.
And everybody else in the ball game has to live with that decision also. Being that balls and Strikes are not arguable that fact should tell everybody to
take some responsibility for the situation and the bat in your hand and/or the ball flying out of it.

With that there are people who simply do not want to take the responsibility and put it into the batter's hands.
instead they want to fault the umpire for the batter not doing their job. Or thinking the pitcher hasn't done there's.

Say this because it is clearly noticeable in softball game, after softball game, after softball game, how consistently inconsistent the area called the strike zone is. If people don't want to apply that inconsistency is also a fact...

They simply leave themselves in the complaint department pointing a finger instead of taking responsibility and winning the game!

"Learn to be a better softball player and whatever the umpire does will not matter!"
~Turbo

 

[flash277]

Why not?

Simple "get the call right" gets rid of all the BS above. Even with balls & strikes.

Every dad, mom, gmom, coach, spectator, player would respect a simple correction. None care if you "internalize" your mistakes. We want the correct calls and not the BS.

Where's the BS here?........If I called "strike" and then said "no, no that was a ball" You'd probably be the first parent jumping up after every close pitch yelling for the call to go your team's way, that's why I can't overturn a ball/strike call.