Uncle Charlie Yakker's Baseball Rants

A look into the mind of baseball fanatic.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Umpires overreactions are ruining great games

I dislike the fact that umpires have such a quick trigger when throwing a player/manager out of a game.

Don't get me wrong. I know they have a tough job. I wouldn't even want that job at a Tee ball game.

Umpires are becoming too much a part of the game. For example, tonight while watching the interleague rivalry between the Mets and the overpaid team from New York.

Late in the matchup Gary Sheffield pounded a pitch off the glove of Mets fireman, Aaron Heilman. Second baseman, Marlon Anderson stretched out to get the ball and made an excellent snag. He throws to first for a bang-bang play at the first base bag.

C.B. Buckner, the first base umpire immediately calls Sheffield out. Sheffield reacts by slamming his batting helmet into the ground. Simultaneously, C.B. ejects Sheffield from the game. The heat of the moment, playing for the struggling pinstripers, Sheffield overreacted. That said, he was showing passion and determination that he has for the game of baseball. Fans drop a ton of cash to attend a game of this magnitude and they are obliged to see a player with the desire to win. There is simply no way Sheffield should have been thrown out of the game.

As soon as Sheffield realized he had been tossed, he turned on C.B. and got his moneys worth. Veins popped out and words, that I choose not to repeat, flew from Gary's mouth. It was truly a sight to see.

Having that said, I'll repeat myself. Gary Sheffield should not have been thrown from the game for his origonal reaction to the out at first base. If C.B. had made the call, as an umpire should, Sheffield may very well have gone directly to the dugout. He threw him out of the game before the player said a word. He threw him out, almost before the helmet left the head of the runner.

Not only do you have umpires calling balls and strikes with an ever changing, personal strike zone, they also get way too involved by ejecting players. Their objective should be to keep order in the game. They should not alter the entire game by using "the power" to punish players, teams, AND the fans.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aside from him over-reacting which we've all seen, Buckner is about as blind as a bat and is an instigator

Tuesday, June 27, 2006 7:58:00 PM  
Blogger Uncle Charlie Yakker said...

CB does it again. Today, watching a Toronto / Cleveland game CB made some inconsistant calls on balls and strikes. Casey Blake turns to him and says "thats not a strike". Instead of being professional about the situation, CB tears his make off and immediately turns to a raging maniac. Coaches and players come out to save Blake from the showers.

Luckily Blake stayed in the game, but it's just like CB to be out there causing problems. One way or another, he missed the call. The he has the gall to tear his mask off and yell at a player.

Monday, September 04, 2006 12:02:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The two previous pitches were in the exact same area (outside) and Buckner called them balls. He's inconsistent.

Monday, September 04, 2006 1:57:00 PM  
Blogger Uncle Charlie Yakker said...

CB does it again.

Tonight in the first inning of the Cleveland/Toronto game, CB Buckner took the angle on a liner off the bat of Vernon Wells.

Casey Blake makes a shoestring catch as he's sliding across the fake grass in Toronto.

Buckner CLEARLY missed the call and signaled that the ball hit the ground. Wells was credited with the single.

It's too bad for Cleveland that the out was not recorded. Having that said, I was acually excited to see Buckner make such a blatent mistake. He blew the call. He knew he blew the call. The greatest part is that he realized immediately that he'd made a mistake.

To his credit, when Blake obviously disagreed, Buckner just ducked his head and listened to the rant. Finally Buckner had to eat crow.

The manager for Cleveland came out, chewed on CB for a while and then got the crew cheif involved.

It was obvious that they all agreed the ball was caught, but they could not change the call.

It's too bad that fans even know the name of an umpire. We only know them because they screw up. It seems most fans know CB all too well.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006 5:42:00 PM  

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