Bad Sportsmanship or Hard Nose baseball??

Yeah

I love that one. Team is getting it handed to them 15-1 in the 4th. His team is walking on and off the field. They have no idea what a cut off play is or how to hold runners. They are acting like clowns in the dugout. But Coach is going to run out and challenge a balk call? Dude please go back to the dug out. Take the freakin stop watch out of your back pocket. Take off the Oakleys the sun went down an hour ago. Put your clip board up and take the pencil out from behind your ear. Quietly go back to your dug out and let this end. Spend more time teaching your kids how to actually play and less time trying to act like you know how to coach. Yeah and the Blackberry strapped to your uniform belt aint gettin it either. lol

 

LMAO

 

There is an art to dealing with umpires....

I learned that long time ago.... and the good ones know when you are taking up for your players. I had a situation a few years ago when I had to take up for my players. I went to "discuss" a call with an ump. When I got out there, he said, "Coach I know you are taking up for your players but you know i cant change my call. So we will stand here and you will nod your head, point your finger, and then go back to the dugout, won't you coach?" He winked, i nodded, and after a few minutes of us shooting the bull, i went back to the dugout to the cheers of the fans" Later in the year we had the same ump again and we ended up getting a close call.... Lesson learned. I didnt try to show him up and neither did he me...

 

Classic

Excellent! I ventured over from softball and read this. One of the best posts ever!

 

Good coaching

This happened last week, late in a big conference game, we're up about 3-0, 2 outs, a runner on 3rd, and a 2-2 count on the batter. Opponent's Head Coach is 3rd base coach, and our sophomore pitcher has a slow windup and is NOT pitching from the stretch. So just as our sophomore starts his slow windup, the runner at 3rd starts home, the coach starts screaming "NO, NO, STOP, COME BACK, PLEASE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, OHHH THE AGONGY !!!" while waving his arms, running down the 3rd base line chasing his runner. Of course our sophomore stops his delivery, and then miraculously the raving lunatic coach running down the 3rd base line suddenly stops and coherently points to our pitcher and says "That's a Balk !!!".

Of course he's right, and it's the only run they scored in the game, but to me that's good coaching, and good experience for our sophmore pitcher.

Not to spand two threads (about son's experience), but a few years ago in JV game, my son is pitching and a similar play is pulled on him. He
stops his windup, then throws home to get the runner, but it's an obvious balk. I talk to him afterward saying you either need to pitch from the
stretch, or be prepared to speed up your windup if the runner on 3rd starts home - "you have to be aware of what the other team could try". Of course he knows all that, and how stupid do I think he is ? A few games later, he comes in the bottom of the 7th, with a 1 run lead and runners on 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out. I know the opponent team just wants to tie at this point, and I'm imagining all the things they could try, suicide squeeze, etc. Much to my delight, he pitches from the stretch and gets the last 2 outs, and they win, and the crowd goes crazy.

So after the game, I compliment him on how alert he was to pitch from the stretch, "probably you learned from that other game". His response was -
"did I pitch from the stretch ? I wasn't even aware of that, just went in to relieve and started pitching". The end of my even trying !!!

 

Yeah I heard about that coaches move the other day. Look, I'm as competitive as the next guy but I dont think an adult getting under the skin of a 16-17 yr old pitcher is being competitive...I think it's being bush. Teach the boys the right way to play the game and let their actions on the field decide the outcome.

 

Props to a local coach...

Always strong East Rowan was getting it handed to them 9-1 last Friday night by West Rowan, when there was a call which clearly was controversial (could've gone either way). The East assistant coaches went BALLISTIC but head coach Hightower told them to get back and let him handle it, which they did. Hightower simply walked up to the ump, the ump told him what he saw, and Hightower returned to the dugout. When he returned to the dugout, his assistants were still bitching about how the ump "missed that one",,, Hightower just replied "aw tonight we stink anyway".

Using good judgement in the heat of the moment is also a sign of a very good coach,,,,, Hightower is one of the best in this area, he knew there was nothing to be gained in arguing that call, given the circumstances.

 

A "good" ejection

In a tournament game last week the pitching coach, who was coaching first base, got tossed for arguing balls and strikes. In my mind he helped his team win by getting ejected. Here's what happened...

Game was close, pitching coach's team had made up a 4 run deficit but rally ended on a strike out looking. Last two strikes called appeared to be a good six inches off the plate inside and strike zone had appeared to be a "moving target" all night.

As the pitching coach returned to the dugout on the third base side, he passed the plate umpire and without looking at him commented about the strike zone. This is assumed because he did not say it loud enough to be heard by anyone but the ump. The umpire escalated things by then loudly speaking to the coach "What did you say!" The coach, still not looking directly at the ump said in a normal voice "You heard me".

The umpire then made a big gesture and tossed the coach from the game. The coach then turned to face the ump who again yelled "you're out of here!"
The coach then proceeded to get his "monies worth" by pointing out the umpire's inconsistent zone, his arrogant attitude, his "home cookin'" calls and his poor taste in dress and maybe something about his lineage... the usual stuff coaches would like to say to umpires.

What resulted was the intensity of the pitching coaches team went up a few more notches. His pitcher came out and completely shut down the other team and they scratched across another run to win the game 5-4.

The Head Coach kept his emotions in check the whole time and after his assistant was tossed he focused his now fired up team to get the job done with a "us against the world" approach.

I thought this was some of the best coaching I have seen at the high school level in a long time and it showed the growth of a couple of young coaches that will be very good as they gain experience.

 

This happened last week, late in a big conference game, we're up about 3-0, 2 outs, a runner on 3rd, and a 2-2 count on the batter. Opponent's Head Coach is 3rd base coach, and our sophomore pitcher has a slow windup and is NOT pitching from the stretch. So just as our sophomore starts his slow windup, the runner at 3rd starts home, the coach starts screaming "NO, NO, STOP, COME BACK, PLEASE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, OHHH THE AGONGY !!!" while waving his arms, running down the 3rd base line chasing his runner. Of course our sophomore stops his delivery, and then miraculously the raving lunatic coach running down the 3rd base line suddenly stops and coherently points to our pitcher and says "That's a Balk !!!".

Of course he's right, and it's the only run they scored in the game, but to me that's good coaching, and good experience for our sophmore pitcher.

I couldn't disagree more! The game is being played by the players..the coach has his role and gamesmanship as previously described by Braves is part of it. But a 40-year-old man outfoxing a 15 year-old sophomore pitcher with in-the-game antics is totally bush and embarassing. The day I see a top-level HS coach running down the third base line screaming his head off to create chaos and get a cheap run is the day I find something else to do with my time. The part of the woods I come from, he'd be lucky if he didn't get his ass handed to him in the parking lot!!

 

True