|
What?!
That's not what happen though. This is completely different than hearing someone call your partner something. Even if the pitcher said, "I'm going to throw at this guy's head.", Major League umpires have the discretion to warn pitchers EVEN IF THEY ARE INTENTIONALLY THROWING AT THEM. The only thing that McClelland can use here is that he believed that the pitcher was throwing at his head, which the rulebook strictly prohibits. Either way though, he stepped all over Wolf's crank. And not only once. The very next inning, a pitcher threw a pitch inside that Wolf obviously did not believe was intentional, yet McClelland took it upon himself AGAIN to eject the pitcher.
The last time that he did this (as noted above) in the playoffs, he came out the next day and publicly apologized for overruling another umpire WITHOUT being asked, also addressed by the rulebook. Maybe he'll do the right thing, and apologize again. This was nothing more than butting in when it was not neccessary. He should probably worry about his own calls (he missed one at third a couple nights earlier). Either that, or maybe he should start making all of Wolf's calls for him. Nothing like letting a first year full time umpire know that you have absolutely no confidence in him liking overruling him. What ever happened to allowing your crew to work a little bit?
|