Dear Lord, will beer-leaguers ever learn that cursing out an umpire will never lead to one reversing his/her call? In the last two nights of officiating, I've had to toss two people from games--one a player; the other, a spectator. Both were run for the same reason, cursing and blaspheming an official and his calls.
Tonight's ejection involved a drunk fan. This guy initially joined his team in the dugout as a coach. After my partner asked him to enter the dugout while his team played defense, he left and proceeded to the balcony area of the park. From there, he called to my partner and me after the end of the inning. "Hey, Blue!" he called. From a distance, I could see him shooting us the bird, but I hesitated before doing anything. He then called us again, this time adding, "Fuck you, you motherfuckers!" At this point, both my partner and I ejected the guy and had him escorted out of the park.
Last night's heave-ho aggravated me more than any other ejection that I have had to execute. The first batter in the bottom of the first inning grounded out after taking a first called strike. After being put out, he shouted, "If you don't know the goddamn rules, get off the goddamn field!" In an attempt to keep order on my field and to send a message to both teams, I ejected him. After he refused to leave and kept shouting from the dugout, I delayed the game to have park management escort him out of the park.
The aforementioned player's comments wasn't what angered me. It was the comments of another player from the other team that got under my skin. As an umpire, I know that I can't hold any grudges or any other personal vendettas in mind during any contest, so I must explain now that the following remarks had no bearing on the game at hand. This player--who shall go unnamed--told members of the other team, "This guy is a rookie that does this once a month to pay for his college." Well, sir, this rookie has three years experience, including ten national invitational tournaments, five state championships, one national tournament, and one world tournament. This umpire has survived line drives, errant throws, catchers that couldn't catch, cup checks, and death threats and constantly has worked to improve his game. You, on the other hand, couldn't handle the heat (proverbial and literal) of officiating and quit. Your actions and attitude towards your fellow umpires as a player before, during, and after your service as an official were unbecoming of an umpire and brought shame to yourself and the red shirt that represents your former profession. I thought that someone that supposedly loves the game as much as you do would have more respect for it and the people that work to enforce its rules. Your actions this year and last year (don't think I forgot about having to eject you for throwing dirt on me) have shown that you have proven otherwise.
For you slow-pitch softball players that come across this blog, please remember to be nice to the men in blue, red, green, or whatever color your local umpires might wear. Please know that we are out there because we love the game just as much as you do. Lord knows we aren't out there for the money. We dedicate ourselves to reading the rulebook, going to training clinics, and doing everything else we can to do our jobs better and to make your experience on the field better. We make the calls like we see them, not to give your opponents an advantage. Please keep this in mind before you begin shouting obscenities towards an umpire.
ian
After all of that ranting, I'll leave you with this clip of former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver getting ejected from a 1983 game. If I might add, this is absolutely NOT how an umpire should conduct himself on the field.
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