Too Many Ejection Clips
 

I don't understand the fascination of posting ejection clips. This is professional baseball and as amateurs there's little if anything to be learned. Really all it is is a p***ing contest that gets out of hand.

Who doesn't like watching a good ejection? People like the show.

Great way to learn what not to do.

There's very little to learn watching MLB guys. Honestly, what can young umpires take away from watching Joe West?

How to carry a tune?

So you're the guy when I'm late for an appointment going southbound on the xway has to slow down traffic to check out the guy changing his tire in the northbound lane. Now if it was a "hot chick"............. Don't get bent out of shape just having fun.:D

It's that time of year...MLB, our leagues, the season is winding down, playoff teams locking up spots, rats who know they won't be back, etc. I guess I always find it comforting that as managers are flying out in my games in my leagues (not this summer I'm on the DL), I get reassured that this is all part of our great game when I get to see the same in MLB.

Seriously though, as I watch each one I do critical thinking. Forget the call, what did the umpire do right in the clip (walk away, listen, hands behind the back) or wrong (confrontational, disinterested, belligerent). We watch eject clips at the NCAA clinics; these are refreshers to my mind.

I agree with Kyle directly about new umpires; however new umpires can watch the video and learn from our wise and informed(??) critiques of the clip.

I disagree
 

I try to be peaceful in disagreements, since in my profession outside of umpiring, that is important.

But in one of my three ejections this year, it was an old-time manager who tried to act like Earl Weaver in his prime. Young umpires need to understand how to handle these guys when and if they see them.

Secondly, I believe that watching those kind of discussions can teach how to handle any kind of argument. Even though we live in a major-league PC world, most MLB discussions start out at a lower level then escalate. Seeing how the umpire does or does not try to tamp down the building fire is instructive.

My camps, clinics etc we watch and critique how ejections are handled, body language and how and when partners should get involved etc. I agree extremely useful. Too many of these seem to be for entertainment purposes only. Also what's done at the professional level is not always relevant when working a 12 or 13 years old games which a lot of these guys seem to be doing.

Jim Riggleman learned that if Joe says "if you go your done" that's exactly what he means. A young umpire can learn that if you give a coach a warning and the coach does not heed that warning, then you eject him, which is not what some young umpires on this board have done. They have kept warning and warning and still not ejected. Sometimes, and in some areas, they learn that ejections, even after a warning gets their schedule pulled or reduced. And many times they learn that from the experienced and veteran umps in that area that do not eject either. And what do they learn from these umpires?

I love watching ejection clips. Reaffirms my faith in mankind. People that think we have nothing to learn from MLB umpires are wrong. There are many things, both good and bad, that can be learned from watching every bit of video available.

Consistancy is important.


Attending umpire clinics and completing one of pro schools are other learning alternatives.

Or how not to use the MLB umpirig approach. Here's an example:
YouTube - Earl Weaver gets pissed

I liked the "Boom" that went with the ejection....never noticed that before.

So to make a point about today's umpire's you use a clip from 1972.

So I guess you saw yet another missed play at the plate at Petco this evening.

Yes, I was at the game collecting my Hall of Fame cap. I was in the nosebleed seats, but even from way up there in the Bob Uecker section, Barksdale appeared to kick the living crap out that call. Cabrerra clearly slapped the plate with his hand. As soon as I saw Barksdale not make a call, I knew what was going to happen.

This was in the bottom of the 5th. Barksdale was booed on every pitch for 2 more innings. Funny as hell.

The replay I just saw told me one of two things: either the hand went entirely over the plate and missed it entirely, or he lifted it up before it had crossed the plate fully. I wish I had a better angle.

I saw that replay on BB Tonight, but I called my wife right after the play, and then later she told me that they showed several angles, and one clearly showed his hand hitting the plate. I even questioned her about it after watching the replay, and she was pretty adamant. So was Tony Gwynn. So was Dick Williams. And they're usually pretty unbiased and objective.

Not one angle was from ground or eye level. Barksdale is reputed to have said the hand never touched "down." I couldn't tell from any of the replays.

Wow! I know I'm a fourth generation San Diegan, but still his hand was clearly on the middle of the dish. Ask Eckstein, who was pleading with the PU "I promise you, I promise you!". Now that was funny.

And once the replay was played on some of the monitors, word got around pretty quickly about it. Hats off to Padres fans for not letting up. Usually they're pretty, um, laid back compared to more savvy fans.

Yup, two blown plate calls, two days in a row.

Are you calling my wife a liar?

If my wife says she saw his hand touch the plate, trust me, he touched the plate. She is not prone to exaggeration.

No. Do you call her a liar whenever you disagree?

I simply said that none of the replays I saw were from the same level as Barksdale's view. I believe it is possible that Barksdale was correct in saying the hand passed over the plate. If that is true, it simply means that your wife, due to the limits of the camera angles, could be mistaken.

Or Barksdale could be mistaken. Or, using your logic, Barksdale could be lying.

Personally, I doubt anyone is lying about this. They are all probably telling the truth that their eyes revealed to them.

You know I would never call your wife a liar, brother. But from the angle above the plate that I saw this morning it looked to me like it was entirely possible that his hand never made contact with the dish.


Tim.

Were you watching the game when it happened?

Piniella just got run for arguing and pointing to where F4 was way off the base on a DP ball. I had the runner as safe, myself. We'll have to see replays. I think the throw drew F4 well off the base. Guccione kicked it big time.

And the Cubs broadcaster then correctly analyzed why the call didn't qualify as a "neighborhood play," since the throw drew F4 off the base.

I saw a delayed telecast on one of my MLB channels. (I have the Comcast full MLB package.) Same camera work, including replays, a couple hours later.

I then saw replays from at least four different cameras on ESPN, none of which could prove BigUmp56's post incorrect. And none of which could prove your wife's opinion incorrect. That's all I'm saying, I have seen no visual evidence that proves Barksdale was correct or incorrect. All I have is what he said, and inconclusive video.

Yeah, from that angle I couldn't tell either. But from David Eckstein's angle, which was kneeling about 10 feet from the call, with as good a look at it as Barksdale had, swore up and down that the hand touched the plate. Not that you can trust a rat, normally, but Eckstien's a pretty square shooter, and was probably being honest.


http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...k65Dc/610x.jpg



I wish I had the next frame of this!:

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...lgbbM/610x.jpg

Okay, I just saw the replay that my wife was talking about prior to the start of today's Padres/Mets game. It was from the 3rd base dugout camera with a zoom lens, and his hand smacked that plate as plain as day, to which Tony Gwynn again said that it was an "obviously blown call."

Caberra touches plate
 

Can you post a link to the video?

I saw that one...makes me think that it was a missed call.

Admittedly I'm biased, but Len Kasper seems to get it right more often than not. It was a poor call..........


Tim.

The story and the video (which is pretty conclusive, really. I don't see how any umpire among us here could come up with a different conclusion after watching this):

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | NYN@SD: Black is ejected arguing a play at the plate - Video | padres.com: Multimedia

He had to have not been looking at home plate.

That was really bad.

Ow!!!

Goodness gracious... something is up these days.

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | FLA@PHI: Victorino is ejected from the game - Video | phillies.com: Multimedia

Oh yes, dog days of August. Just another way of showing up an umpire and not getting away with it. These are always the ones that the players, coaches, and managers will say, they didn't do anything like bump the ump or cuss the ump. They love to do the hand motions and chirp from the dugout which makes the umpire look like the bad guy and they expect to get away with it. Guess it didn't work.
This is why they are called rats, and no matter how well a player may act towards all umpires most of the time or to you personally, eventually there will be that defining moment when it will become him or you and who do you think they are going to try and make look bad. Themselves, wrong. Umpiring is an adversarial role, so never let your guard down or turn your back.

Combination of the heat and a big rat in center field waving his arms once too many times I guess. Of course the Phiily Faithful homers, er...broadcasters thought it was ridiculous. I wonder what they would do if we stood around them all day and raised our arms in disbelief of the things that they say, trying to incite the crowd against them.

Eddie Rap is one fine umpire, at least they got that part right. Victorino was probably mouthing off earlier. I'm sure it wasn't his first gesture of the day, and he is right in Eddie's sight all day long.

I thought "today's" umpire's watching ejection clips was the topic. Guess I missed the part where time frame limitations were set on materials that could be introduced.

Eddie Murray was not playing in 1972

Some of the Weaver clips are some of the best out there you tube has a few of the really good ones...even w/ audio on a few of them

I find the ejection clips on MLB dot com and youtube are beneficial and humorous.

You can learn from watching some of the best umpires in the world how to handle situations, and how not to handle situations. You can learn from their good calls just as well as their mistakes. We can learn from watching their ejections.

Plus, I for one find it hilarious for a manager or player to get what they've earned.

Finally, who can argue with the comedic value of these clips? From Haller's famed " Ha Boom!" and " you're gonna be in the hall of fame for ****in' up world series" and Joe West stare down from a week ago, they make for cheap entertainment.

And it definitely seems as though many, are easily entertained here.

These are professionals dealing with professionals. As amateurs which 99% of us are it's not always a good idea to emulate what they do. eg. The skipper comes out Joe what the f**k you got? Professional acceptable High School I don't think so.

The other problem with these clips is that we're not privy to the conversation. It's easy to eject. The tough part is knowing what to say and when to say it to keep them in the game. That being said when their behaviour becomes unacceptable dump them.

I see MLB EJ as just entertainment. Mainly b/c you don't know the entire conversation of what got the EJ. Also, once the ejected player/manager is done, none of us should be left to continue talking to him. Our partner should be escorting him immediately and no show to be seen.

To me, the only important part would be what was said/done to earn the EJ. That is the only useful part of the videos b/c everything after that is pure show. Such as the Crawford EJ video, for most of us, once the HC got ejected, he would be escorted away and the umpire would not be yelling back at him like that.

I like watching them just as much as the game. But, I don't see any real value in them. If any would be worth seeing, it would be College ones to see appropriate behavior and actions by the umpires. MLB EJ are entertainment, college/HS ones contain more valuable points.

Doesn't everything you've said here fall under the category of "just plain common sense?"

Yes and doing lots and lots of games and being mentored by and working with some great officials over the years.