Umpire attacked

[Carl Childress]

The events happened Friday night, 31 March.

4A (second largest Texas school) district game
Teams are tied for first place.
Home 3, Visitors 0.
Bottom of third, R1, R2.
"Thoughts" attributed to the umpires were communicated to me as the State Board member for this area.

The visiting pitcher in the set position gets his sign, lifts his non-pivot foot, and then resets it. Both umpires call "Time. That's a balk!" The predominately home crowd begins to chant "Balk! Balk!" The catcher stands up, but the pitcher continues and releases the ball. The home plate umpire believes the ball is headed in his direction, so he tries to back away, trips, and falls on his back. Coaches and trainers rush to his aid.

MEANWHILE: The pitcher turns to the base umpire and asks, softly: "F**k was wrong with that?"

The base umpire says: "You don't need the bad language. You double set."

Says the pitcher, louder: "That's a bullsh!t call, Blue."

Base umpire: "I told you to keep that language to yourself."

Pitcher, still louder: "I don't care. It's f**king bullsh!t."

Base umpire, not loud: "You're ejected."

He begins walking toward the knot of people attending to the plate umpire, now on his feet.

The pitcher yells, screaming obscenities, and heads for the base umpire. His two coaches grab him before he reaches the umpire and wrestle him away. He continues to scream, then breaks free, rushes to the home plate umpire, and with both hands knocks him off his feet and onto his back. This time, his head cracks hard into the ground.

The boy's father comes from the stands, grabs his son ("Are you nuts? What's wrong with you?") and, with the help of a coach, manages to get him off the field and into the family car.

The plate umpire cannot continue behind the plate. The umpires switch positions and finish the game. Visitors, down 3 at the time, win 13-6.

The UIL requires each school to have an administrator at every game, freshman through varsity. The administrator in charge conferred with the umpires, and asked a question of the plate umpire, which is the point of this post:

"Could you forfeit this game because of that behavior?"

Assume the answer is "yes."

My question: Should the PU forfeit?

[BigUmp56]

I would be awefully hard pressed to forfeit a game, punishing an entire team, for the actions of one out of control player. From your description it sounds like the coaches did everything they could to contain this player. So, my short answer would be no.


Tim.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Carl Childress

The events happened Friday night, 31 March.

4A (second largest Texas school) district game
Teams are tied for first place.
Home 3, Visitors 0.
Bottom of third, R1, R2.
"Thoughts" attributed to the umpires were communicated to me as the State Board member for this area.

The visiting pitcher in the set position gets his sign, lifts his non-pivot foot, and then resets it. Both umpires call "Time. That's a balk!" The predominately home crowd begins to chant "Balk! Balk!" The catcher stands up, but the pitcher continues and releases the ball. The home plate believes the ball is headed in his direction, so he tries to back away, trips, and falls on his back. Coaches and trainers rush to his aid.

MEANWHILE: The pitcher turns to the base umpire and asks, softly: "F**k was wrong with that?"

The base umpire says: "You don't need the bad language. You double set."

Says the pitcher, louder: "That's a bullsh!t call, Blue."

Base umpire: "I told you to keep that language to yourself."

Pitcher, still louder: "I don't care. It's f**king bullsh!t."

Base umpire, not loud: "You're ejected."

He begins walking toward the knot of people attending to the plate umpire, now on his feet.

The pitcher yells, screaming obscenities, and heads for the base umpire. His two coaches grab him before he reaches the umpire and wreastle him away. He continues to scream, then breaks free, rushes to the home plate umpire, and with both hands knocks him off his feet and onto his back. This time, his head cracks hard into the ground.

The boy's father comes from the stands, grabs his son ("Are you nuts? What's wrong with you?") and, with the help of a coach, manage to get him off the field and into the family car.

The plate umpire cannot continue behind the plate. The umpires switch positions and finish the game. Visitors, down 3 at the time, win 13-6.

The UIL requires each school to have an administrator at every game, freshman through varsity. The administrator in charge conferred with the umpires, and asked a question of the plate umpire, which is the point of this post:

"Could you forfeit this game because of that behavior?"

Assume the answer is "yes."

My question: Should the PU forfeit?

I wouldn't forfeit the game, although I would be tempted (if it's allowed) to SUSPEND the game since the plate umpire seemed to get injured fairly badly -- if he can't finish behind the plate he shouldn't have finished on the bases, either.

Is it possible to suspend the game and allow the league/conference to decide?

And I thought I had an exciting day today with my college DH with the 24-1 game in the nightcap.

[briancurtin]

i dont think id take the game away from the other 40 or so players and coaches involved. the coaches did what they could, but the kid needs serious help if hes going to act like that in a game.

i agree with rich though: im not entirely sure about switching positions to finish the game. if i got slammed down to the ground and smacked my head hard enough that i didnt feel well enough to finish behind the plate, im not going to run around out on the bases for the next few innings.

[DG]

I don' think a forfeit is in order here. But maybe a suspension is, and let the conference sort it out. If PU can't continue as PU how can he continue as BU?

[SAump]

I cannot see a forfeit after three complete innings of play. Perhaps if it were after five innings or if order could not be restored. I would probably suspend the game for thirty minutes to allow both sides an opportunity to cool down. It may also help the umpire who was injured in the attack to regain his composure. I would definitely not put up with any other shenanigans after the physical contact occurred. I would request that the school administrators request additional security personnel.

I would also have another plate conference before resuming the ballgame. Both coaches will be on notice that the ejection threshold will be much shorter. Coaches must understand that if ejected, they will have to schedule a trip to explain their actions to UIL officials in Austin, TX. If a player is ejected, they may be subject to suspension from school for insubordinate behavior, as well.

Kudos to his father for his actions to take responsibility for his son. I would be hard-pressed to allow such behavior to go unpunished. I think the umpire's association would be within their rights to request from the athletic director that the one player's elgibility be forfeited for the rest of the season. The visiting team may have won the game, but I think they should lose the player.

[Dave Davies]

C2, I'da Stagger Lee'd that sucker.

Dave
****

[PeteBooth]

Originally Posted by Carl Childress

The events happened Friday night, 31 March.

"Could you forfeit this game because of that behavior?"

Assume the answer is "yes."

My question: Should the PU forfeit?

Papa C IMO the first thing that should have been done is call 911. I am assuming Texas is like NY.

Over the years our assignor has told us that the days of "being Mr. Nice guy" are over. We do not need to take abuse. As coaches/ players/fans see people doing a night in jail plus "other" type fines should cause them to think before they act in the future.

I have a question?

It has been my experience that unless a kid has emotional type problems (and even if he does), that this isn't the first time this kid acted that way. Did "other" umpires turn a "Blind eye" in dealing with this kid before. I am not saying that he "clocked" someone before but perhaps he was restrained in prior games or yelled obsentities at officials and nothing was done.

Now to the ultimate question? Should the PU have forfeited the game.

My answer YES

and if the "powers that be" overturned the forfeit, then the umpires association of that league should stick together and refuse to service them again.

Now to Reality and the Major Problem:

As we have seen Umpires are their own worst enemies, meaning there will almost always be some umpire or some umpire association willing to take the Game FEE and service the League. We are seeing this now with the minor League umpires. Someone will do those games.

Therefore, if ALL umpires or umpire associations are not on the "same page" incidents such as yours will happen.

Pete Booth

[ozzy6900]

Originally Posted by Carl Childress

***SNIPPED***
The plate umpire cannot continue behind the plate. The umpires switch positions and finish the game. Visitors, down 3 at the time, win 13-6.
***SNIPPED***

This brings back painful memories for me. Simply put, Carl, were it my game, I would do the same thing that I did 4 years ago. Help my partner up from the field, help him to his car, dial 911 and get a policeman there! I would never, NEVER return to the field under any circumstances!

[mbyron]

I agree that the game cannot continue after the assault of an official. I would say the same thing about any high school athletic contest.

I also agree that suspending the game would be the right move. In the heat of the moment, I'm sure I would be tempted to forfeit. But that's a blunt weapon: and there's some justice in the claim that this individual's actions should not determine the fate of the entire team.

The advantage of suspension is this: if cooler heads determine that forfeit is the right way to go, it can always be applied afterwards. On the other hand, it is (as someone noted) much more difficult to reverse a forfeit.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I agree that the game cannot continue after the assault of an official. I would say the same thing about any high school athletic contest.

I also agree that suspending the game would be the right move. In the heat of the moment, I'm sure I would be tempted to forfeit. But that's a blunt weapon: and there's some justice in the claim that this individual's actions should not determine the fate of the entire team.

The advantage of suspension is this: if cooler heads determine that forfeit is the right way to go, it can always be applied afterwards. On the other hand, it is (as someone noted) much more difficult to reverse a forfeit.

I would NEVER declare a forfeit here. Suspend the game and let someone else make the decision to forfeit.

[officialtony]

It seems to me, based on all the information presented, that the two umpires decided that, excluding the assailant, everyone remained in control of themselves and did their best to prevent any further problems.
Call the police.
Arrest the assailant.
Remove him from the area.
But, if the umpires were comfortable continuing, I am in their corner. I don't see ANY reason to forfeit.
Even the assailants dad ( a parent ??? ) was upset at and disapproved of his son's actions.
It just sounds like everyone execpt the assailant was in the right frame of mind.
Play baseball.
After all, isn't that why we are there?

[blueskysblue]

Thanks for clarifying the "moved foot" part - now I see it!

[PABlue]

I belive my actions would have leaned towards suspending the game. BUT and this is a big but,if there were no other players or coaches involved and tempers were not a consideration I can see why the umpires involved continued the game. If the attacked umpire felt well enough to continue sometimes the competitive spirit of a person won't let them just quit.
I also firmly belive that the player should have been held at the game site by the game administrator away from the field till the proper authorities could have been contacted to handle the situation.
My thoughts are with our Texas brothers in arms and hope that firm action is taken on this situation.