Game Administration

  • Arrive at the game site no less than 15 minutes prior to game time and find your partner.  Remember to carry your schedule with you in case your partner is running late or goes to the wrong field.  That way you will be able to contact him/her.
  • Check the field quickly.  Look for holes in the fences, debris of any kind on the field and anything that may be unsafe.  Check to make sure the bases are down.
  • Let the manager’s know you are at the site and that you will be on the field 5 minutes before game time.  If there is no game preceding yours get them together and make sure they know it is up to them to make sure they each get infield time.
  • Conduct a pre-game with your partner.  You should go over responsibilities (who calls what bases when etc.) and any rules that you may be unsure of.  The FIELD umpire should bring out a watch and put it in his/her pocket to keep the time.  Do not wear a watch on the field.
  • Be on the field, ready to go no later than 5 minutes prior to game start time to conduct a brief (less than two minutes max) plate conference with each team’s manager.  During this conference no one on either team should be on the field.  Assistant coaches and team captains may come to this conference but the manager of the team MUST be present.  The plate conference should include ALL of the following.
    • Introductions all around
    • A quick review by the plate umpire of the ground rules of the site (they will be posted soon)
    • A statement from the plate umpire that sportsmanship is expected from everyone
    • The following question posed by the plate umpire to each manager.  “Are your players properly equipped according to rules for today’s game?”  The manager’s must respond “Yes”
    • An announcement of the game time (if there is no preceding game, then the game time is the SCHEDULED start time) and break the conference.
  • Once the plate conference breaks up, the home team should take the field.  Give the pitcher eight warm up tosses.  It may be a good idea for the plate umpire to look at a couple of pitches before the inning starts (note: if you do this in the top of the first inning, do it in the bottom of the first inning as well).  Give the visiting teams pitcher eight tosses in the bottom of the first inning as well.  After that, give each pitcher five warm-up tosses to start each inning.  If a team brings out a new pitcher, give him eight tosses to begin.  If a player is injured or ejected, give the replacement as many pitches as he needs to get ready.
  • Keep the game moving.  In between innings encourage the players to hustle on and off the field.  Encourage the managers to warm the pitchers up if the catcher is not ready.  Make sure any player who warms the pitcher up is wearing a helmet with a mask weather they get down in a crouch or not.  Do not permit the pitcher to take more than his allowable warm up tosses but do not deny him tosses if he wants to take them because he was slow to get on the field.
  • Once the game ends, leave the field.  If you have another game, go to a press box or other area designated for the umpires.  Conduct a brief post game with your partner to discuss anything that happened during the game.  If anything happened that I need to know about let me know.  

You should contact me (Dave Maher) when:

  • If you tried to contact your partner before the game and you were unable to, call me if game time is less than 24 hours away.  If the game is more than 24 hours away, send me an e-mail.
  • If you made contact with your partner, but he or she is not at the field 10 minutes before game time, call your partner first.  If you find that your partner is running late for some reason, I want to know about that after the game, but you don’t have to call me if you know he or she will be there.
  • If you cannot make contact with your partner call me at that point.  You should understand there is not much I will be able to do about this, but I want to hear from you anyway.
  • If, after you call me to report your partner is not there, your partner shows up, call me back to report that.
  • If you had to work a game alone, I should have already known that, but send me an e-mail to that effect after the game anyway.
  • If a game did not play for ANY reason that I was not aware of, send me an e-mail as soon as possible and explain the circumstances.  The possible reasons include things like rain, lightning, a team not having enough players or a problem with the field.
  • If a game did not finish for any reason, send me an e-mail.  In other words if you got to the game and started, then saw lightning and you were not able to finish let me know.  I do not need to know if the game simply did not go 6 innings because time ran out.
  • If a player was ejected from a game for unsportsmanlike conduct, send me an e-mail that night and explain the circumstances.  If a player was ejected for throwing his bat accidentally I don’t really care about that, but if he threw it in anger I want to know about that.
  • If a manager or coach of a team was ejected for any reason, send me an e-mail that night and explain what happened.
  • If any incident occurred where you had to contact the police or if anyone spoke to you or acted in a threatening way, call me right away and let me know what happened.
  • If a rule situation comes up that you are not sure how to handle, send me an e-mail at your convenience and I will try to get you an answer.
  • If anything happens at a game and you are not sure if I need to know about it, send an e-mail anyway.

How to write a game report

Things to consider when writing a game report.

  1. Be brief - Your report should be no longer than a short paragraph
  2. Be specific – I will need the following pieces of information in each game report:
    • Date, time and site of the game involved
    • The situation on the field at the time of the incident
    • If a player was involved what was the jersey number? Which team?
    • If a coach was involved, was it the manager of the team?  The manager should have introduced himself at the plate conference.  If it was not the manager, don’t worry about who it was, we can find that out.
  3. Do not generalize.  Tell me what happened and that’s all.  Do not try to tell me or the league what should happen next, that is not your responsibility.
  4. Here is an example of a well written report (hopefully you will not have to write one of these)

On June 2, 2008 at Barcroft Field # 1 in the 6pm game between the Astros and the Pirates the manager of the Astros was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct.  In the top of the 3rd inning with no runners on base and no outs, an Astros runner was called out at first.  The manager came out of the dugout and, in an exaggerated, discourteous and unprofessional manner told me I got the call wrong.  I asked him to return to his dugout and, when he refused I ejected him from the game.

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