Umpires - S/D

you can be bad at your job and still be discriminated against ; some of these complaints sound fairly valid

http://deadspin.com/veteran-mlb-umpire-sues-commissioners-office-for-racial-1796613520

yeah my first thought on this was "oh god why did it have to be angel hernandez of all people" but it's easier to swallow when the other guy is joe torre lol

kinda just seems like something joe would do, use his dumb bureaucratic post to shit on an ump he had a feud with a decade ago

https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/07/20/joe-west-umpire-major-league-baseball

Look: We know you’re getting paid $25 million a year, but before you step into the batter’s box and try to hammer a fastball, you’re damn well going to say hello to Joe West.

You have no choice. If you don’t greet him before your first plate appearance, West will hold up the game. He is the only umpire who does this, but so what? He is the only umpire who does a lot of things, like moonlight as a country-music singer, which has made him the only umpire with three nicknames: Country Joe, Cowboy Joe and the Blue Cowboy. He has a website, umpirejoewest.com, where he sells umpiring equipment, including a chest protector he invented, the WestVest. There is a reason Royals reliever Peter Moylan splits the umpiring profession into two groups: “There’s umpires, and there’s Joe West.”

Other umpires work games; West controls them. He is the only umpire who stands between managers and other umpires on his crew, effectively ending arguments before they begin. Arguing with West directly is just as futile. When Ron Gardenhire managed the Twins, he went to dispute a call, and West warned him, “Don’t step in my dirt.” He meant the dirt around home plate. Gardenhire put one foot on it and was ejected before he opened his mouth.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFwrgUWV0AI2J-z.jpg

is this a Joe West incident?

Will Little just threw a pitcher and catcher out of game on the same close pitch. Embarrassing. Bring on robot umps. pic.twitter.com/tnajBzV0Nu

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) July 27, 2017

i'm still mad at whoever tossed adrian beltre for moving the on-deck circle

imagine

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2017/08/08/report-umpire-joe-west-suspended-three-games-for-bashing-adrian-beltre-publicly/

what the hell, that's totally undeserved

the suspension that is, not the comments on Beltre. dude is a whiner.

though I do support him getting a 3-game suspension just for being a dick in general

rare angel hernandez footage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfqq48OEDdo

Kinsler was asked if he was surprised how quickly he was ejected: "No, I'm surprised at how bad of an umpire he is." Angel Hernandez

— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) August 15, 2017

Kinsler on Angel Hernandez: "He needs to re-evaluate his career choice. He really does."

— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) August 15, 2017

Kinsler asked if he wanted that on the record: "Yeah. If I get fined for saying the truth, so be it."

— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) August 15, 2017

Fair amount more here. Uh...WOW.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2017/08/15/kinsler-angel-hernandez-hes-messing-baseball-games-blatantly/104635246/

Ian Kinsler!!!

— Rick Sutcliffe (@Sut_ESPN) August 15, 2017

Angel Hernandez went up to Kinsler and shook his hand. Kinsler did not seem comfortable with it. But shook with him anyway

— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) August 17, 2017

Some umpires across Major League Baseball wore white wristbands Saturday, a show of solidarity after Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler was fined -- and not suspended -- for harsh criticism of Angel Hernandez earlier this week.

"This week, a player publicly and harshly impugned the character and integrity of Angel Hernandez -- a veteran umpire who has dedicated his career to baseball and the community," the World Umpires Association (WUA) said in a statement. "The verbal attack on Angel denigrated the entire MLB umpiring staff and is unacceptable."

Kinsler, speaking after the Tigers' 3-0 loss to the Dodgers in Detroit on Saturday, said he didn't care much at all about the umpires' protest.

Ian Kinsler did not disclose the amount of the fine, but did note that he had no regrets for what he said about umpire Angel Hernandez.

"I really don't think too deeply into it. I hope they wear the white wristbands for the rest of their careers. I don't care. I said what I felt and what I thought. If they take offense to that, that's their problem.''

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20389152/umpires-ban-together-ian-kinsler-criticism-angel-hernandez

At first, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he didn’t care if the umpire’s union was staging a protest against what they consider a lack of support from Major League Baseball.

“I couldn’t be less concerned,” he said. “I don’t even care.”

But then he looked deeper into the content of the umpire’s protest, particularly the part where Ian Kinsler’s rant against umpire Angel Hernandez earlier this week was at the center of it, and that the umpires thought Kinsler’s fine with no suspension was too lenient.

At that point, he called reporters back into his office and was much more fired up, calling the union’s action “petty.”

“To single out one player is completely wrong and goes against what the sport is,” Ausmus said. “It's a team sport. There are often arguments between players and umpires, managers and umpires, coaches and umpires, and it's part of the game. To single out one player as a union is completely uncalled for.

“I've been a part of many arguments, and there are many things said both ways, player to umpire and umpire to player.

"To act like anyone's innocent in a particular argument is not only unfounded, it's a lie.”

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2017/08/19/ump-union-blasts-mlb-kinslers-lenient-punishment/104756494/

kinsler, hernandez,, MLB, the union, and ausmus are all wrong

None of the umpires at Comerica Park are wearing white armbands as Justin Verlander makes his first pitches to Curtis Granderson.

— Jason Beck (@beckjason) August 20, 2017

yikes

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/8/21/16181980/home-plate-umpire-hit-by-pitch-head-leaves-game-red-sox-indians

lol timing

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20421613/mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-says-computer-umpires-available-sooner-later

I wonder who they hire to play the game at Umpire School so the students can practice.

good question!

maybe ask here https://twitter.com/HWumpireschool

Ah, college and high school teams, according to their website. So, unpaid labor.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/incredulous-responses-to-bill-millers-strike-zone

damn i know it was bad but wtf why even have a strike zone ffs

imagine what the score would've been if he called those all correctly as balls

shit is pure vertiginous

Dale Scott has retired after 4 concussions in 5 years.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/MLB-ump-Dale-Scott-retires-rather-than-risk-more-12423444.php

Ex-MLB umpire Dale Scott downloads on 32 seasons behind the plate... and why Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are HOF’ers https://t.co/XIKiKTtyaT

— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) January 3, 2018

this is pretty good (plus dale scott was a top-40 dj in the late seventies and has the radio voice to prove it)

uploads, canzano, uploads! and even that is sort of wrong.

Michael Fulmer, after reviewing the video, told home plate ump Pat Hoberg that there were 10 pitches in the strike zone that he called a ball. Said Hoberg apologized. Fulmer said it was the worst strike zone he'd ever seen

— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) July 14, 2018

Sensitive umpire Laz Diaz turns baseball game into extended temper tantrum: https://t.co/cJpIGFgA71 pic.twitter.com/25SsdJrxGg

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) September 15, 2018

i'm surprised umps don't lose their cool like that more often, tbh

@Buster_ESPN
Didi Gregorius was safe; for a third time tonight, Angel Hernandez will have a call overturned.

wow, who could have guessed

he's fucking suing mlb?!

no idea who these people are, but

MLB's senior umpire, ALCS Crew Chief Joe West, fell one pitch shy of perfection in Game 3, correctly judging 159 of 160 callable pitches for a plate accuracy score of 99.4% as Boston's Red Sox defeated Houston's Astros. West's score sets a UEFL record, as this is the first time our system has ever tracked an umpire missing just one pitch during a postseason game.

https://www.closecallsports.com/2018/10/joe-west-sets-record-in-near-perfect.html?m=1

joe west is apparently joe westing

joe west in the field
west in the field
west in the field
west in the field
ong gone, long gone, long gone, long gone
joe west in the field

I get that Tanaka missed his spot and Sanchez didn’t do a great job framing this, but when the result is a ball right down the middle... https://t.co/7v4rRiiWrr

— Jon Tayler, Smiling Politely (@JATayler) June 5, 2019

gotta love this guy

Officiating is incompetent in all sports. Either he had something in his eyes or he has money on the outcome

— And with the 15th pick the Habs select... (@CJ_Casselman) June 5, 2019

when i think back to my childhood in the 70s and 80s it's stunning how much better umps are at calling balls and strikes now. you used to have umps who'd have "their zone", often low and an extra inch or two off the outside edge. pitchers would be rotated specifically for particular umps. just ridiculous.

another big difference from the baseball of my childhood, which i guess tangentially relates to umpiring, is how pretty much any contact of any kind - bat, dirt, plate - results in the catcher grabbing a fresh ball from the umpire. the decadence! the daintiness! where do all those barely-used balls go???

just realized there's probably a long read or five answering that last question

They are all sold for money duh

they're sent to Nigeria to be recycled, but instead get incinerated.

electronic balls/strikes officially starts tonight in the atlantic league: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/07/10/baseballs-robot-umpires-are-here-you-might-not-even-notice-difference/?utm_term=.22147a3229e8

stealing first!!!??