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Originally Posted by GarthB
And I believe that others are trying way too hard to excuse the basic act: a grown man slapping a 12 year old kid in the face.
There was no excuse for that violent behavior. The kid didn't "make him do it". He is the grown up, supposedly in charge of his actions and he decided upon an act of violence. This is reprehensible behavior and has no place at 12 year old level baseball game.
Do I have a bias? Of course. I am biased against violence towards children and I am biased against adults who cannot control themselves.
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Decaf is probably in order here...you've taken the basic premise of this thread and manipulated it to serve your view. The thread asked if we would eject the coach for slapping a kid in the dugout. That is cut and dry. No, most seasoned umpires understand where their limits extend to. In the actual case - a LL game with veteran officials, TV crews and a host of LL admins - no action was taken against the individual.
While the adult's behavior was reprehensible, had an umpire ejected the coach for this action, this board would be alive with laughter. Ejecting this coach would be a mistake - serving as a witness in a criminal complaint would not. I would safely guess that most of us have had a parent slap/spank/hit us. It never was a good experience, but most of us would have been wards of the state by today's standards.
A coach in the Chicago area actually punched one of his players a few years ago. He was not ejected, but relieved of his position after over twenty years at the helm. Both authority figures acted appropriately.
We can disagree all you want about what we would do away from the field, but that is a horrible comparison. I wouldn't tolerate some guy calling me a M-F in a grocery store but I listen to fans do it all of the time when I'm umpiring. If an official is touched by a coach or player it leads to an ejection. Off the field it could lead to an arrest for assault or battery. Let's stick to the topic and on-field responsibilities.
Another member asked if the coach had slapped the kid on the mound would it be any different? If the kid had swore that loud, the coach probably wouldn't have had to come out to accost him. The kid would have been on his way. For what it's worth, I have seen plenty of parent-coaches who grab, pull and mistreat their players over the years - typically it's Daddy manhandling Junior. Just another reason why many of us hate small ball.