No thread about Bob Davidson ejecting a fan?

[JJ]

Maybe he needed more material for his book...

JJ

[jwwashburn]

...................

[JRutledge]

To be fair, do we know what he ejected him for?

Peace

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

To be fair, do we know what he ejected him for?

Supposedly, a homophobic comment: Davidson says he ejected fan because of slur - Welcome to Charter.net

[jkumpire]

That's a tough sell in an MLB park, but if he heard it, and his bosses buy the report....

[JRutledge]

That is good enough for me if he ejected him on that basis. This is why I do not jump to conclusions on things like this because I would have done the very same thing if players in the game were called certain things.

Peace

[GoodwillRef]

I live in WI and at Brewer games ushers don't to a very good job of policing drunk fans...they usually choose to ignore them.

[BK47]

quite hilarious. I saw the thread made national news on my yahoo the other day however did not watch it untill now. Thanks Brian for the humor.

on a different note, what do you guys think of the first play with Craig Counsell? Seems like the correct call as he appeared to not even attempt to touch the bag. His body was facing center field and looked a good 2-4 feet behind the base. If he had at least tried to stretch his arm out and try to touch the base then the call would not have been made. But he made no attempt.

[GoodwillRef]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

That's a tough sell in an MLB park, but if he heard it, and his bosses buy the report....

What are you saying? It is okay to say anything at a MLB park today?

[jkumpire]

Originally Posted by GoodwillRef

What are you saying? It is okay to say anything at a MLB park today?

First off, no it is not okay, and that is why they have ushers and security people to deal with issues like this. My impression is it is their job to deal with this stuff, not an umpire trying to call a professional game.

Second, I am surprised that Mr. Davidson found the right person to eject, in a park with 10-20k people in it. If he got the right guy, great.

Third, weren't you taught not to get involved with policing the stands or fans unless there is a major problem in them? Normally IMO you should ignore the fans unless there is some very, very good reason to have to deal with them, esp, in an MLB park. In HS sports, you are always told to get a site manager or head coach to deal with the problem. NCAA Baseball is the same way.

Fourth, Mr. Davidson is really going against standard practice, and where do you draw the line? If some fan in the 4th row calls him #$$&##@&%@&**), does this ejection allow him to start throwing out paying customers? It's a slippery slope he is close to getting on, I hope he is careful.

That is all I am saying. And MLB brass have not liked things umpires have done in the past, and have fined umps and even suspended them. I could see Mr. Davidson getting fined for this act, if for no other reason than to make clear this is not an umpire's job, to deal with bad behavior off the field by fans, unless it affects play on the field.

[tjones1]

Originally Posted by yawetag

Supposedly, a homophobic comment: Davidson says he ejected fan because of slur - Welcome to Charter.net

Fair enough.

I was watching the game when it happened. The announcers were saying stupid stuff (these were Cardinal's announcers) ... but that's nothing new.

When it happened, I just figured the dude had a laser pointer or something like that...

[jwwashburn]

A "homophobic slur"?

I am really afraid of those ******s? Or, did he call Davidson a ******?

If this is reported widly, I can guarandamntee you that Bob has heard only the beginning of this.

Doesn't a Major League umpire have anything better to do than listen to fan comments, get offended and then actually try to figure out who said it?

Davidson is a cartoon.

[rbmartin]

9.01 (a) The league president shall appoint one or more umpires to officiate at each league championship game. The umpires shall be responsible for the conduct of the game in accordance with these official rules and for maintaining discipline and order on the playing field during the game.
(b) Each umpire is the representative of the league and of professional baseball, and is authorized and required to enforce all of these rules. Each umpire has authority to order a player, coach, manager or club officer or employee to do or refrain from doing anything which affects the administering of these rules, and to enforce the prescribed penalties.
(c) Each umpire has authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in these rules.
(d) Each umpire has authority to disqualify any player, coach, manager or substitute for objecting to decisions or for unsportsmanlike conduct or language, and to eject such disqualified person from the playing field. If an umpire disqualifies a player while a play is in progress, the disqualification shall not take effect until no further action is possible in that play.
(e) Each umpire has authority at his discretion to eject from the playing field
(1) any person whose duties permit his presence on the field, such as ground crew members, ushers, photographers, newsmen, broadcasting crew members, etc., and
(2) any spectator or other person not authorized to be on the playing field.

I'm sorry. I dont see anything here directing the umpire to police the language of the fans unless it is impeding the game in some manner. And please dont use the "(c) Each umpire has authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in these rules." argument. What's next , the umpire dictating the price the vendor asks for peanuts?
Unless the language is in some way making it impossible to play or officiate the game, let the police and stadium authorities excercise crowd control, Umpires take care of what happens on the field.