How Much Guff??
When Charlie is asked how much static or guff an umpire should put up with he refers back to one of his mentors. “Joe Ferguson, an Umpire-In-Chief in pro-ball would tell me to always remember that it is possible that you could be wrong. In your own mind you are right, but you could be wrong. So give the coach his say, within reason, as long as he stays on the subject. But once you tell them ‘that is enough, don’t take another word!” Charlie remembers an Ottawa Legion game in the 1970’s as a good example of this. “Ron Kruse was the Ottawa coach and I was umpiring the bases. There was a close call at homeplate and Kruse came flying out of the dugout to argue with the homeplate umpire. The argument went on and on, Ron wouldn’t give up. I finally went in to help the other umpire and told Kruse, “that’s enough, play ball!” Kruse then began to walk back to the dugout, Charlie remembers, beginning to laugh. “Well, Kruse stopped and pivoted on his foot back towards homeplate, but before he too
