Umpire attack

[dejavuyou]

Sunday, August 14. 5:30pm. A coed softball game begins and I am the lone umpire. A play at the plate whereby someone other than the catcher is standing right on the plate. The runner comes in, elbows up. and collides with him. Then the ball comes flying by. I'm in a position between the mound and home plate on the third base side.

I miss the first half of the collision. My head turns a step after, when the ball goes that way. The guy standing on the plate then charges and shoves the runner. I initially call him safe but change that to out because of the collision.

I eject the person standing on the plate for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The right center fielder is now between second and the mound and he's yapping. I point at him and tell him to return to his position. I didn't even have time to realize that it was the third out. It is frozed at two on my clicker.

The right center fielder turns to go out and tells me he's going to kill me. I didn't believe I heard him and asked him to repeat that. He then tells me he's going to beat the sh... out of me. I eject him from the game. He then charges and punches me on my neck below the back of my ear.

I called the game immediately.

His teammates pulled him back after that shot and just walked away.

Deep contusion. Totally unnecessary.

I have now determined that either the league doesn't want to give me the contact information for this guy or that the league doesn't have the information. I am pressing assault charges against this individual.

I'm wondering how often this happens.... Before this I felt safe as an umpire, a team of one.

Vocal abuse is rampant. I believe, as an umpire, we hear 100% and must ignore 50% of that which we hear. I don't know if it would be any different had I ignored this person but that animosity seemed so profound at the time. I know I'm pursuing this charge because it is a crime against my being. I think umpires are generally respected. I don't think i was attacked by a vicious ball player. I think i was attacked by a vicious person playing ball. He's now banned from the league. Strange thing tho is that the league denies knowing who he is....

It's part business. Mostly fun. When it's criminal it doesn't make sense.
Thanks for listening
George

[Rachel]

Call the police. I think that the league will know who it is pretty quick. Even as such I don't think that league should have the sevices of any umpires until the umpires are satisfied with the support they are given. Life's too short to put up with that #%&@!

[Steve M]

Since when does criminal activity make sense to anyone. I agree with Rachel - "Call the police. I think that the league will know who it is pretty quick. Even as such I don't think that league should have the sevices of any umpires until the umpires are satisfied with the support they are given." Your organization should let it be known that there will bo zero umpires until your organization is satisfied with the results - and any umpire who works that league should be banned from your organization, maybe even permanently.

[dejavuyou]

Thanks Rachel and Steve....

It happened at 6:15pm. I was on the phone to 9-1-1 at 6:20 after I walked towards the outfield.

A police officer came by when I got home from work and gave me the phone number of the person working on my case. She was very helpful by telling me exactly what to do and what to expect at that point.

I don't know if I am comfortable getting back behind the plate yet. I consider myself to be a good/fair/fun guy put in this situation who, apparantly, couldn't leave the demons of his life home or whereever he practices violence and lashes out at authority.

The actual event was so surprising because me being defenseless with only the power to make a game go smoothly and fairly was forced to make instant ejection calls and then got attacked. The only thing i had in my hand was the clicker. I recall still holding it tight when I walked away.

I feel comfortable going public on this forum because of an intrinsic desire to make whatever things i can, right. When and if it does make it to a newspaper I'm sure there may be some kind of investigation in the structure of some of these leagues. Everything goes wonderfully except when something goes horribly wrong. I really feel cast adrift.

They called me today to do a playoff tonight but I'm supposed to rest and heal.

Have a great night everybody,
George

[livs4sball]

Hang in there George. I don't know you and this is the first time I have posted on this board but I had to comment.
You are doing the right thing. That guy has no business being in any type of sport with that attitude.
An umpire can only take so much, being struck by a player is more than one should take. Good luck.

[IRISHMAFIA]

This is exactly why I keep my cell phone in my equipment bag with my rule book.

Whatever you do, George, don't back up. I know a lot of umpires don't want to be perceived by the players as a hard-nose and will let things like this go.

Stick with it. I would hope you have the support of your association. If not, find somewhere else to umpire, but umpire. Don't let a few idiots force you to give up something you like to do.

Good luck,

[greymule]

He's now banned from the league. Strange thing tho is that the league denies knowing who he is....

Hmmm. "Although we did ban the player, we don't know who he is." Yes, that is rather strange.

They called me today to do a playoff tonight but I'm supposed to rest and heal.

I just declined a Sunday playoff game in a modified league where the last time I worked (2 years ago) I had to boot two guys off the premises. One had threatened me; the other had flung his bat against the backstop and called me a bunch of foul names. I was the regular ump in that league, and both guys were suspended for 2 weeks. However, I felt that the sanctions should have been more severe, so I now refuse to go back there.

The guy who struck you should be charged with assault and battery the same as if he had hit you on the street.

[ChrisSportsFan]

Just a couple of things I'd like to add;

George, you said this was coed? They acted like this in front of their wives/girlfriends/female players? WOW!

Here in my area, ballparks have reputations. Some allow the players to run the show and umpires will get MF'd several times a night. Some fields say that if it offends the umpire, he needs to handle it according to the rules (I have worked there and choose to not go back). The fields I work at are ZERO TOLERANCE and I will tell you, we have the most courteous teams in probably the whole city. They are very competitive but you have zero complaining or arguing.

You really need to follow thru to the fullest. Don't let this turkey get away with anything and definately don't let them chase you away from what you enjoy doing. Whenever you decide to come back, someone might try and test you, hopefully you will deal with it professionally and according to the rules so that your reputation will stay intact.

Good luck and keep us updated.

[TexBlue]

Along with all the others, I condemn the actions and mental makeup of someone who would act lkie that on a field. I also would never call in the park again, unless they ban the guy for life. There is too much fun to be had at the ball park to put up with that nonsense.

I hope you keep calling and find another group to call for. What is your umpire's group doing? Are they still sending blues out there even without the name of the player being given up? Have the police arrested him or even contacted him?

Keep us abreast of the situation and good luck to you in the future games I hope you call.

[CecilOne]

There are some people who think assault and battery or similar crimes are not the same in sports situations. Don't let them get in the way of prosecuting this case.
Hope you heal quickly and "get back on the horse".

BTW, I think allowing verbal abuse and drunkenness can lead to physical abuse.

[mccann]

Go after the person who attacked you. You deserve better than what you received. I was wondering was his name on the lineup card or do they use them in the coed league.

[bkbjones]

A couple of us talked about this today, and about a similar thing that happened not far from here.

I would hope the person in question is being charged...and if either the league or the city stands int he way, they have to umpire their own games.

There is no room for any of this. Of course, we all know that. But we need for cities and counties and leagues to get tough, too - and for our umpire assocations to buckle down on them. I would hope your umpiring association would somehow address the court, even if only through an amicus brief.

[Superdog50]

You know, I saw this happen about 12 years ago at a tournament at the University of Southern Mississippi over a call that was right. The player in question went absolutely crazy. He hit the base umpire4 or 5 times as he chased him toward center field and actually tore his powder blue shirt off his back into several pieces. Needless to say assault charges were filed. The guy did not even show up for court and the judge found him guilty but only fined him a couple of hundred dollars. What a joke. There are a lot of gutless judges around who don't know how to send the right message in these types of cases. They just give them a slap on the wrist. Anyway, stick with it and don't let them stop you from your livelihood.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by Superdog50
You know, I saw this happen about 12 years ago at a tournament at the University of Southern Mississippi over a call that was right. The player in question went absolutely crazy. He hit the base umpire4 or 5 times as he chased him toward center field and actually tore his powder blue shirt off his back into several pieces. Needless to say assault charges were filed. The guy did not even show up for court and the judge found him guilty but only fined him a couple of hundred dollars. What a joke. There are a lot of gutless judges around who don't know how to send the right message in these types of cases. They just give them a slap on the wrist. Anyway, stick with it and don't let them stop you from your livelihood.

You know, at the NCs the umpire makes the team keep the bats in to dugout. During local games, I don't care where they keep them as long as they understand three things.

1. If a live ball hits them, I will rule a blocked ball;
2. If the defense trips over them while making a play on the ball, I will rule INT;
3. I will not hesitate in confiscating one of the bats to protect myself from some idiot ballplayer.

[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.