Recently, Detroit Tiger slugger Miguel Cabera got tossed from a game for arguing ball and strike calls with the home plate umpire. Shortly thereafter, Tiger manager Jim Leyland came onto the field to argue some more, and he got the heave-ho too. Good.
I'm too lazy to look it up, so I don't know what rule it is, but I'm positive there IS one in the handy-dandy Major League baseball rulebook that states players arguing ball and strike calls is a no-no. Regardless if it's a pitcher, catcher, or batter -- thou shalt not do that -- at the risk of being ejected from the game. Yet we see it all the time. Like little kids, players are always pushing the envelope to see just how much they can get away with.
There's another rule that says managers shalt not question ball and strike calls from the dugout either. I mean, c'mon, nobody has a better view of any pitched ball than the home plate umpire. Where does a loose cannon like Leyland get off by charging onto the field and ranting that a certain pitch was an inch or two high/low/inside/outside, whatever. When it happens, guys like Leyland were in a sunken dugout maybe 100 feet away. And they think their vantage point from the dugout should trump what the home plate umpire saw and called? Please.
There are those that would claim certain umpires "have it in" for certain teams, and they may have a point. Yet I would submit that most times the teams, be it certain players or the manager, have gone out of their way to aggravate that particular umpire in the past. Hey, umps try to do the best they can while remaining neutral, but they're human too. They have emotions just like everybody else. Keep pecking away at somebody long enough, and it should come as no surprise that eventually the peckee will develop a rather short fuse towards the pecker.
In the above-mentioned Cabrera/Leyland incident, the umpire was one Chad Fairchild. He and the rest of his crew had had a run-in with the Tigers not long before.
Interesting note: While Fairchild currently lives in Florida, he was born in Sandusky, Ohio -- a Buckeye. Could it be that he hates all things Michigan? Nah. Before an ump graduates to the Major Leagues, his body of work has been closely examined, and he's been pretty well screened and vetted over many years to rule out any such potential biases. So I highly doubt Mr. Fairchild could give a hoot who won a game between the Tigers and the Phillies.
Just a thought, but maybe MLB should consider putting the clamps down hard on those that would protest ball and strike calls. A zero tolerance policy. Mouth off at all -- and the player and/or manager is gone. Not one word, or even gesture, shall be uttered or shown in protest. In other words, respect the umpires. People don't seem to realize that while umpire crews get moved around from city to city to call different series', they're like Cal Ripken Jr. used to be. They don't get many games off either. Further consider that during the course of any given game, the umps, rain or shine, never get to leave the field once the game has begun. Players shuffle on and off the field every inning and get a breather. For the most part, managers like Leyland watch most of the game from the dugout, and have the luxury of sneaking down the "tunnel" for a smoke, beer, candy bar, whatever. Not so the umpires. Once the game starts -- they're stuck on the field until it's over. They can't even sit down. No wonder they're so ornery sometimes.
Idle thought: No stats available, but I'm guessing the majority of them eventually develop some Major League varicose veins as well over the years of performing their duties. Tough job, in more ways than one.
Nevertheless, there's a better way when a player or manager disagrees with ball or strike calls by the home plate ump. Again, I still think players should have the zero-tolerance gag order. No more mouthing off to the umps. One word, and they're ejected. Whether they like it or not, accept whatever call has been made. In the long run, it will even itself out. Just play the game and shut up. They're professionals -- so act like it -- rather than a 6-year-old, whose 7-year-old brother just swiped their lollipop.
As for the managers? Make it like the NFL. Give them a red challenge flag when they disagree with a call. It can only be used once a game. That would necessitate the umpire crew reviewing video of the play that just happened. Perhaps they will change their call, and perhaps not. Instead of guys like Leyland charging onto the field and going berserk with their various antics, let them throw the red flag from the dugout -- which is where managers should stay in the first place. They can run onto the field and scream, spout obscenities, spit, kick dust, throw their caps, and otherwise prance around putting on a show that would make a Jerry Springer guest that just swallowed a whole meth lab look like Shirley Temple -- but in the end, it very rarely results in the original call being changed. So what's the point in all the theatrics?
And on some level, the umpire(s) that just suffered the wrath of such abuse might very well file that into their memory banks for the next time. Again, they're human too.
In my opinion, umpires should be treated like a judge in his courtroom. Once it's "game on", they're supposedly neutral, and in charge as well.
Can you imagine what would happen to a guy like Leyland if he threw one of his on-field hissy fits in a court of law, in front of a real judge?
Methinks the Marlboro Man would get ejected alright -- but not down to a plush clubhouse where he can sit in his office, stew, and cower those pesky reporters a while later.
More like three hots and a cot for a couple days in a place with bars on the rooms, while he pondered the errors of his ways, while cowering himself as his cellmates made the pecking order quite clear to him indeed. Nothing gets a man rethinking his priorities like a major dose of humility.
Bottom line? The umpires should be off-limits. Totally. Period. Leave them alone. They get far more right than they get wrong.
Let them do their jobs and play on.
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