I would file charges for sure. This guy belongs nowhere near a baseball field.

Are you sure they're not the Will County Crackheads? They sound pretty much like they're smoking something!

In a league game tonight (Tuesday), I had Monday's home team (DeKalb Liners) as the visitors. In the plate meeting the Liners manager brought up the previous night's incident. Before I said anything, when referring to Vern Hasty of Will County, the Liners manager said, "That guy's nuts. He's absolutely nuts. He definitely has some screws loose."

It's not often a manager rips one of his peers like that.

Not to be cruel, but just sayin', the name 'Vern Hasty' sounds like somebody that may have fallen off his combine a few times. :) I think the Liners manager was trying to distance himself from ol Vern right away!

Let me echo what someone else said earlier: for all that's holy, don't leave your back turned to someone who's irrational. You can, and should, continue to walk away, but you need to see to protect yourself.

Sounds like fun. Why guys still work these leagues is beyond me, but to each his own I guess.

My only real concern is why did you post this with actual names of all the parties (more the umpires IMO) involved? I know both of you and both of your are good umpires, but this only just puts light on people that may not participate in this forum and cannot give their side or perspective. Now everyone in the country (world) knows about this incident in a league that many experienced umpires totally dismiss for all kinds of reasons. Do not take this the wrong way, I am not talking about a lack of professionalism, I just would not have posted this with the names, but certainly would have said posted the incident and the circumstances. Maybe if this made the paper that is one thing, but totally different when no one even knows who is playing in these league or cares for the most part.

That is just my take on this issue.

Peace

My bad. Sorry bout that.

I can understand what you're saying, which is why I've tried to maintain some fairness or decorum by not stating a name and ripping any named individuals here. As far as Vern, he has been in the news and is quite publicly known, and not in a good way unfortunately.

FWIW, he's also the author of 2 baseball books, the second of which is scheduled to be published in September.

As far as why guys work these leagues--we do so for several reasons. I enjoy college baseball. I work multiple summer college leagues, including the Prospect League, the CSBL, Wisconsin State League, and the aforementioned Midwest Collegiate League. In addition, I have assigned the Metropolitan Collegiate Summer Baseball League since 1995. Unlike some other leagues, these utilize 2 umpires per game, and they pay rather well. The quality of ball in some of them is very good (Prospect League and Metro Collegiate League have been the best in that regard).

If one is going to work summer college ball, these are the ones available.

I am only talking about the incident being in the news. I have no problem with you even showing us the report, but with the names that is where I have a slight issue on that level. I am not totally against posting something about this, just saying that the names involved are what I am concerned about. And I am thinking of this from the standpoint of your partner who I know personally as well, if he would be OK with this discussion with his name involved.

I am mostly speaking personally. I know why people like you and others do these leagues. This is your main sport and a way for you to get better and see some decent talent. I do get that. It just sounds like such a headache to deal with clowns like this have no perspective on why we are playing these games in the first place. Then again I did a handful of these games several years ago and I felt more like jumping off a cliff than working these games for the crap you take.

Peace

I mentioned to my partner that I was discussing this on this forum but left his last name out of the posts here, just as I did mine. Sure, they're on the report, but I just left them out of the forum posts.


This incident is a rarity. In all the years I've worked summer collegiate leagues, I can count on one hand the number of major problems I've experienced. Now the quality of the ball--that's a different story. It's also the reason why I don't do many CSBL games anymore. That league isn't what it used to be--lots of "old" guys on the rosters, and that lowers the quality significantly. I just help out its assignor with games in that league before my main summer collegiate leagues start.

Anonymization
 

JRutledge has a point, so I've redacted the names from the portion of the report I quoted earlier.

Next time, don't wait a few days. Call the police right then and there. The longer you wait the better a lawyer can get this guy off. He'll point out that "you had to think about the issue and you were probably steered into filing a complaint against this upstanding citizen.".

Also, you are not acting emotionally by calling the police right away, you are acting as you should. The jerk broke the law! If he robbed you, would you wait a couple of days to think about it? Of course not!

Where do get your logic from............hypothetically speaking?

I've received three e-mails from 4 assigners covering 3 sports advising us that if we puiblish an ejection report in a forum such as this or any public venue, we're done.... for good.

Whether the coach seems to have a history or is publishing a book is irrelevant. I any part of the allegation is proven untrue, the publisher of the information has "lots of 'splainin' to do !! Probably to legal counsel of the accused.

Let the league handle this. Word will get out as to what happened.

I would not let the league handle this -- I would've called the police while on site. However, I wouldn't have posted the ejection report, either, just like I wouldn't have posted the arrest report or the coach's mugshots (if available).

The media will do that. ;)