I was attending an MLB game a few days ago and I saw some behavior by the PU (who will remain nameless) that I'm not sure was entirely appropriate. Right after the plate conference and a couple of minutes before the game starts, I'm sitting in my seat in the fourth row, right behind the plate, when a very attractive young woman (I'd guess early 20's) comes down to the front row and takes an empty seat. PU looks over at her and she puts her hand to her ear in the shape of a telephone and mouths the words "Call me." He holds up five fingers to her and mouths the words "Five o'clock." (It was a 1:20 game so I guess he figured he'd be out of there by 5:00.) At this point a couple of people nearby who have also observed this ask the woman "Do you know him?" She grins from ear to ear and just nods yes. She motions to the PU where her seat is (somewhere up in the terrace), he gives her the "OK" sign, and she goes back to her seat.
In the middle of the first inning the PU is standing on the third base line when the woman goes back down to the front row, but this time she goes over to the wall near where he is standing. He sees her coming and he walks over to meet her at the wall. She kisses him on the cheek, they exchange a few words, he reaches into his ball bag and gives her a BALL! They say goodbye and she goes running (actually bouncing) back to her seat with a huge smile on her face.
I never saw them interact again for the rest of the game, but I couldn't help but remember what I had witnessed whenever there was a close play called by the PU. Remember the old line "Got somewhere to be, Blue?" for an umpire who seems to be calling close plays consistently for the defense? Well in this case I knew for a fact (as did anyone else who witnessed the whole thing) that Blue had somewhere to be. I'm not saying it affected his umpiring, but it was enough to put that little seed of doubt into one's mind.
My question really is whether this kind of public display of affection is appropriate by an MLB umpire during a game. Any thoughts?
Chet
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