Umpire attack

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally posted by whaddayouknow
the judge found him guilty but only fined him a couple of hundred dollars.

I wonder if he the umpire got mad at the fine, jumped the bench, hit the judge 4 or 5 times as he chased him toward the jury box and ripped his black robe off his back into several pieces, if the umpire would have only been fined a couple of hundred dollars.

That just might be the best comment on this whole stitch. Put the shoe on the other foot and see what he thinks.

[SWFLguy]

I worked ASA sanctioned adult leages in CNY
that were run with the cooperation of the
community Youth Bureau. They had policies
in place that prevented a lot of problems.
When I moved here I found the local adult
leagues to be a very loosely run operation. I
worked a few games and walked away from it.
I continue to umpire high school softball, which
is set up with firm rules by the FHSAA and the
local school districts.
Harassment of sport's officials in any form is
not acceptible !

[greymule]

Two weeks ago, in the "handshake line" after a 35-and-over (!) slow pitch game in a neighboring township, the pitcher of one team deliberately shunned the handshake with the opposing shortstop. The shortstop asked the pitcher why he wouldn't shake hands, and the pitcher said, "I don't shake hands with s---."

A moment later, the shortstop attacked the pitcher from behind, grabbing his upper body and slamming his face into the ground. This practically started a riot.

(This did not come out of the blue. I understand that the shortstop has had some sort of martial arts training and has been in trouble for violent behavior in the past. The pitcher is well known for being an instigator.)

A night or two later, when one of the teams showed up for its next game, they found the field cordoned off with police tape, and several officers present informed them that there would be no game that night, since they were conducting an investigation. (This is puzzling to me; I can't seem to find someone who can make sense of this. What were they doing, fingerprinting the field?)

The next I heard, the township was outraged at the fact that taxpayer money was being thrown at such a negative enterprise as this league, and not happy about tying up its police force on softball fights.

But the upshot was merely a 3-game suspension for the shortstop and a 1-game suspension for the pitcher.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by greymule
Two weeks ago, in the "handshake line" after a 35-and-over (!) slow pitch game in a neighboring township, the pitcher of one team deliberately shunned the handshake with the opposing shortstop. The shortstop asked the pitcher why he wouldn't shake hands, and the pitcher said, "I don't shake hands with s---."

A moment later, the shortstop attacked the pitcher from behind, grabbing his upper body and slamming his face into the ground. This practically started a riot.

(This did not come out of the blue. I understand that the shortstop has had some sort of martial arts training and has been in trouble for violent behavior in the past. The pitcher is well known for being an instigator.)

A night or two later, when one of the teams showed up for its next game, they found the field cordoned off with police tape, and several officers present informed them that there would be no game that night, since they were conducting an investigation. (This is puzzling to me; I can't seem to find someone who can make sense of this. What were they doing, fingerprinting the field?)

The next I heard, the township was outraged at the fact that taxpayer money was being thrown at such a negative enterprise as this league, and not happy about tying up its police force on softball fights.

But the upshot was merely a 3-game suspension for the shortstop and a 1-game suspension for the pitcher.

SS should have been given jail time, period. If I'm the pitcher, I'm going after this guy's house, car and any other asset available. The SS asked a question and got an honest answer. What the pitcher did was exercised his right to an opinion and voiced it only after being requested to do so. To me, that is not instigating anything.

The legal system is balless (sorry, Roger, nothing personal) when it comes to taking an affirmative stand. The SS committed an egregious act against a fellow human being. And there is absolutely no excuse for it. Those who want to justify is as "heat of the game and/or competition" are idiots and shouldn't be allowed to roam the streets freely let alone vote.

As noted before, if the lawyers and judges had to suffer from a similar assault, it would be a totally different story.

Sorry for the rant, story just hit the right button.

[greymule]

I found out that those two teams play each other again tomorrow (Monday) night. If I can get back from Newark Airport in time, I'll stop by the field and post any news if there's a riot or gunfight or anything.

Their league uses ASA umpires, but not from my association (different county).