Umpire tosses the Music intern in minor league game

[George Anderson]

An ump is the same thing as a judge? Again, no way jose....

An ump blew a call. An organist played a nursery rhyme. The ump made himself topic of national discussion. And this is in an environment where people dress up like sausages and race each other....

Not because he was the deciding opinion in a SCOTUS decision but because he was an ump that was too in tune to a tune during a random game.

If umps are arbiters of manners, does he get to run the chubby guy down the left field line who ate with his fingers, has ketchup stains on his shirt and belched between pitches?

No, the actions of the organist made himself the topic of discussion. The umpire simply responded to the actions of organist. Umpires do not eject people, they eject themselves. This organist by his actions ejected himself.

It is real simple guys, whether it is a coach, player, organist, bat boy, scorekeeper or even a mascot. If you make insulting or derogatory comments to an umpire you will be ejected. You may think calling an umpire blind in a nursery ryhyme is not insulting and that is fine but keep it mind it is only your opinion. As I have said many times on the field to coaches that while they are entitled to their opinion unfortunately the only opinion that matters here is mine. Or in this instance with the organist, none of our opinions matter including my own and the only opinion that matters is the umpire that made the call. That is just the way it is guys.

[George Anderson]

Are we really going to compare umpiring to police officers and judges? Geeze........

Compared to your earlier post stating that because a persons name was not used then it is not an insult?? LOL

If I were to make the comment in one of your posts that "you are an idiot" but never addressed you by name that would be ok to you but if i was to say "Hebron Cougar is an idiot" then that is not ok?? LOL

Regardless of this tripe, whether a person addresses me as George, Blue, Ump or anything else, if they say something demeaning such as above then any umpire worth his grain in salt will ejected them. That is just the way it is.

[jojo]

Every time something happens that draws attention to the umpire, the game is potentially cheapened.

[dougdirt]

It was an overreaction. If a fan had yelled "you are blind", he wouldn't have said anything. Heck, I bet if a player in one of the dugouts had yelled it, he wouldn't have said anything the first time.

[George Anderson]

It was an overreaction. If a fan had yelled "you are blind", he wouldn't have said anything. Heck, I bet if a player in one of the dugouts had yelled it, he wouldn't have said anything the first time.

A fan can say whatever they want. They don't matter at the professional level anyway.

Your kididng yourself if you think players are allowed to tell an ump he is blind. That is a no brainer ejection.

[jojo]

No, the actions of the organist made himself the topic of discussion. The umpire simply responded to the actions of organist. Umpires do not eject people, they eject themselves. This organist by his actions ejected himself.

No. The umpire made a decision that made everyone focus on the organist and by extension squarely on the umpire.

The ump made a choice not to ignore something that had nothing to do with actions on the field. He could have handled discreetly between innings. He could have ignored it all together.

He chose engage and display. It's that simple.

[George Anderson]

Every time something happens that draws attention to the umpire, the game is potentially cheapened.

That is an excellent point!!! There is no better example of drawing attention to an umpire than an organist playing something on the organ to mock him. Now let me answer your next response because I know what it will be. "Well George the umpires need to make the right calls ". My response to that is count the times that the umpire was right and the fans were wrong. It isnt even close,so hey lets have an organist draw attention to the ump and a bunch of misinformed fans to rile them up even though the vast majority of the time the fans are clueless.

[dougdirt]

A fan can say whatever they want. They don't matter at the professional level anyway.

Your kididng yourself if you think players are allowed to tell an ump he is blind. That is a no brainer ejection.

I have seen and heard umpires called worse, to their faces, and not toss someone.

[jojo]

That is an excellent point!!! There is no better example of drawing attention to an umpire than an organist playing something on the organ to mock him. Now let me answer your next response because I know what it will be. "Well George the umpires need to make the right calls ". My response to that is count the times that the umpire was right and the fans were wrong. It isnt even close,so hey lets have an organist draw attention to the ump and a bunch of misinformed fans to rile them up even though the vast majority of the time the fans are clueless.

Tht wasn't my next question. My next question is why does an ump get to absolve himself from responsibility for his decisions?

This one made a bad call then made the decision to make an even worse one. It's easy to forgive the first one but the second one was unnecessary and silly.

[Plus Plus]

Yeah I can just picture the start of a major league game.
The PA announcer intones "All rise." The fans then quietly stand up. The PA annoucer then states: "This baseball game is in session, The Honorable Umpire John Doe presiding. Hear ye, Hear ye, all players having pitches to throw and bats to swing, come forward and you will be allowed to play. God save major league baseball and this Honorable Ballpark. You may be seated."
The game then proceeds quietly. After a few innings a fan slips up and quietly exclaims "Let's go Reds"! Umpire Doe immediately fines the fan $100 and has the baliff take the fan from the ballpark.
Attendance should boom.

Or, you can picture this:

In a courtroom, evidence is presented. The judge rules in favor of the defense. The prosecution yells out "JUDGE, ARE YOU BLIND?" Someone on the prosecution pulls out a harmonica and plays "3 blind mice." That person ends up in jail, fined, or something of the like.

Or this, since using public authority figures to parallel baseball authority is not being received very well:

In a restaurant, someone orders a burger. The burger is ordered to be cooked medium, and the diner decides that the burger was cooked medium well. The diner yells out to the server, tells the server that he is blind and that the chef is blind, and pulls out his iphone to play "3 blind mice" on youtube. The diner would either be thrown out or would get some sort of "special" burger on the return.

I can't believe that the sophomoric actions of the PA announcer here are being ignored, and that the person being harassed while doing their job is being vilified.

[thatcoolguy_22]

Judges hold people in contempt for less than nursery rhyme singing. Maybe they should grow a thicker skin as well?

[/I].

Holy Hyperbole, Batman! Now instead of the home plate umpire we can have the Honorable Umpire Quick. Line refs are bailiffs? Maybe we can walk through a metal detector and get patted down by security upon entering the stadium? Sit in silence as ball and strikes calls are handed down from above? ITS A BASEBALL GAME! The interaction with fans/umps/players/organists/whatever is apart of the draw. I'm an air traffic controller and someone playing something like 3 blind mice after I screw up is the least of my worries. Umpires are slowly becoming primadonnas. They are a part of, not the, game.

[defender]

In most youth sports leagues, nobody is allowed to argue or say anything bad to or about the officials. No warning, instant ejection.

In pro sports, paying fans get away with most things short of throwing stuff on the field. The teams and their employees are held to a higher standard. playing the song is flagrant disrespect. Maybe the ump should have let it slide, but I don't have a problem with the ejection.

[thatcoolguy_22]

I can't believe that the sophomoric actions of the PA announcer here are being ignored, and that the person being harassed while doing their job is being vilified.

He's being vilified because he dropped the largest weapon in his arsenal on an organist. There are other ways to handle the situation. He chose poorly.

[George Anderson]

Gents, this should put this little exercise in I am not sure what to rest.

b.Each umpire is the representative of the league and of professional baseball, and is authorized and required to enforce all of these rules. Each umpire has authority to order a player, coach, manager or club officer or employee to do or refrain from doing anything which affects the administering of these rules, and to enforce the prescribed penalties.
c.Each umpire has authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in these rules.
d.Each umpire has authority to disqualify any player, coach, manager or substitute for objecting to decisions or for unsportsmanlike conduct or language, and to eject such disqualified person from the playing field. If an umpire disqualifies a player while a play is in progress, the disqualification shall not take effect until no further action is possible in that play.
e.Each umpire has authority at his discretion to eject from the playing field (1) any person whose duties permit his presence on the field, such as ground crew members, ushers, photographers, newsmen, broadcasting crew members, etc., and (2) any spectator or other person not authorized to be on the playing field.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info...s_interest.jsp

[George Anderson]

I have seen and heard umpires called worse, to their faces, and not toss someone.

Not at the pro level.