Foul!

Back in October, I wrote a blog entitled, "Knowing Your Role." It talked about the positive impact back up players had in the Phillies championship run. Today, its just the opposite. On Wednesday, umpire Joe West, in his 34th season as an umpire, called two balks on Chicago White Sox pitcher, Mark Buehrle. The balk is at best a confusing play in baseball. A pitcher is not allowed to deceive the runner at first and therefore must abide by several rules to avoid the call and keep a runner at first. Left handed pitchers have always had an advantage as they're facing the runner and need only to stride toward first. There is an imaginary 45 degree line running from the pitcher's mound to the first base line. If you're foot lands on the home plate side-it's a balk. It is the least called rule in baseball. On Wednesday, Joe West called it on Buehrle in two successive innings. The last call, in the third inning, resulted in Buehrle being thrown out of the ballgame. His manager, Ozzie Guillen, was thrown out after the first call in the second inning. The last time Mark Buehrle was thrown out of a game was in 2005.

Who do we pay to watch? Is the umpires? No. Is is the manager and coaches? No. Final guess-is it the players? Absolutely! I saw a reply and saw a close play that is almost never called-certainly not twice in a ballgame. To make matters worse, West waved Guillen away before he could ask what Buehrle did. Unfortunately, Mr. West has a history of turning the spotlight on himself and making him the issue. A great umpire is seen and not heard. He is the one who keeps calm while all the emotion swirls about him. He doesn't or shouldn't create the issue-he should subdue it. Not so on Wednesday and not so in recent history.

Do you see this happen at work? Are there folks in your organization whose chant is "Me,me,me,me...? " How do you help them realize they are negatively impacting the organization? For many organizations, nothing is done. In most cases, it's not unlike a child seeking attention. For successful organizations, individuals are coached on their positive and negative actions on a routine (weekly or bi-monthly) basis. Without this constant correction and input, a culture starts to get corrupted and it spreads. Building a good team takes time, patience and perseverance. It also involves a lot of spade work to get it just right. Perhaps Major League Baseball needs to prune some of its own and make sure everyone knows their role.