baseballrules

Major League Baseball has told an umpiring crew that it mistakenly used video review last Thursday to determine if a ball hit by Tampa Bay Rays’ Pat Burrell bounced into the stands at Tropicana Field.

Mike Port, Major League Baseball vice president of umpiring, told crew chief Gary Cederstrom about the error. This was the first mistake since baseball began using replay last August. Replay is to be used only on potential home runs involving boundary calls to determine if a ball was fair or foul, of if the ball cleared the wall, or if a fan interfered.

The play occurred with Tampa Bay leading the Philadelphia Phillies 10-4. With two outs in the seventh inning, Burrell batted with Carl Crawford on first base. Burrell hit a drive to left-center field that bounced into the seats. Crawford rounded third base and headed home. Umpires went to the replay to check to see whether a fan touched the ball as it bounced up.

Following a video review of one minute and 36 seconds, the umpires ruled the ball cleanly skipped into the seats, called it a ground-rule double and sent Crawford back to third. Carlos Pena ended the inning with a pop fly. The Rays won 10-4.

Had interference occurred on the play, the umpires could have awarded Crawford home plate. This, however, is an umpire decision that is to be made with the assistance of replay.

Back on May 14, Baseball Rules!!! mentioned the two young men who were “umpiring” a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees from seats behind home plate.

Recently, they were at it again to the delight of fans in DC.

Fake umpires Tim Williams and Joe Farrell have season seats in the first row behind home plate in Toronto and they are dressed from head to toe as umpires. For the entire game, Williams and Farrell mimic the calls of the umpires, raising their arms and bellowing out strike calls, sticking up their fingers to let fans behind them know the count and brushing one hand over the other emphatically to signal foul tips.

“There are seven billion people on the planet. Do you know how many of them travel to another city to fake umpire a game? You’re looking at ‘em,” Williams said as they visited Nationals Park recently.

Williams and Farrell, who have a bit of a cult following in Toronto, took their show on the road and traveled to Washington for a three-game series between their hometown Blue Jays and the Nationals.

During a Friday night game, a 2-1 Nationals win in extra innings, Washington team president Stan Kasten approachd Williams and Farrell to shake their hands and compliment their work. Scores of fans visited them during every half-inning to get their picture taken with the faux men in blue, while others take delight in either cheering or heckling their calls.

“We were out in the tent (a beer garden just across the street from the ballpark) having beers before the game, and we took 38 pictures with people,” the pair explained. “They thought we were the real guys going to get juiced up before the game. We were like ‘No, no, we’re not gonna be on the field tonight, we’re just fans.’”

“We love baseball, we love umpires, we love the Blue Jays and we like having fun. That’s it,” said Williams.

Williams and Farrell have authentic umpire uniforms. They have the short-brimmed hats, the official major league umpire shirts with numbers stitched on the sleeves, gray slacks, masks (which they only don when the Jays are pitching), clickers to track the count, brushes to clear dirt off of home plate and ball bags saddled to their right hips. Every time the actual umpire behind home plate throws a new ball to the pitcher, they dig into their bags, pull out a baseball and follow suit.

Williams and Farrell are traders at the Toronto Stock Exchange and they got their equipment after a chance meeting with a few umpires (they neglect to name which ones) at a local steakhouse.

The umpiring crews doing the games always notice them.

“Oh yeah, yeah, [the real umpires] laugh.” Farrell says. “Did you see C.B. Bucknor over at second base? Can’t even control himself! He went into a conniption when he saw us.”

They were planning to visit with Blue Jays players in the clubhouse Saturday in Washington. And next month, when the Jays head to New York for a series with the Yankees July 3-5, Williams and Farrell will be in their customary seats in the first row behind home plate at new Yankee Stadium. Ordinarily those seats, located in the Legends section, would cost more than $1,000, but they were such a hit on a YES Network broadcast last month that the Yankees arranged to have them fake ump the July series.

They amused and befuddled YES color man, and ex-major leaguer, Ken Singleton.

“[Singleton] couldn’t even put a sentence together,” Farrell says. “When we rung up Alex Rodriguez in [the fourth] inning, he goes ‘multiple umpires ring up A-Rod,” and Ken Singleton’s a pretty serious stiff, eh.”

“He’s a very strait-laced guy and he couldn’t even put a sentence together,” Williams confirms happily.

Despite these comments about Singleton, he is has a very good sense of humor that comes through on the broadcasts. He is one of the most natural and informative former players in the booth.

“While that game was going on, I had a best friend in a bar in New York, and he’s watching the Yankees,” Farrell continues. “Even before he told them he knew us, there were 500 people in the bar who loved us. They were going ballistic. And he goes, ‘I can get ‘em to wave,’ and [someone in the bar] goes ‘What’s that guy’s name?’ Our friend says ‘Farrell,’ and he had 500 people in the bar going ‘Farrell! Farrell!’”

The Williams and Farrell world tour is only beginning. In addition to the New York and D.C. trips, they are planning to be in Oakland for a series that will span the end of July and the beginning of August.

The Delaware Valley Umpires Association held it fifth annual golf tournament with proceeds going to athletes in this area of New Jersey in the form of scholarships.

The DVUA awarded a pair of two $1,000 scholarships to Bordentown High School softball standout Nicole Walls and Ewing High School baseball star Nick Cifelli.

“This is one small way that we try and give back to the schools and the athletes we see on a regular basis when we umpire,” said Dave Sipe, president of the DVUA. “We’re not always the bad guy. We actually like what we do and not very many of our umpires are in it for the money. And we love to give back to the community.

“Our umpires love what they do and even if they didn’t get paid for what they do, I think a lot of these men and women would still umpire because they care about the game and about the student-athletes.

“One thing I want people to understand is that being an umpire and working with coaches and players is a cooperative effort on everyone’s part, and we just want to give back what we can, when we can. Today we gave out two more scholarships to two very deserving young people. Hopefully, in a small way, it’ll help them with their college expenses.”

Perry Lewis has decided to hang up the chest protector and mask for good.

After more than 30 years of calling balls and strikes behind the plate at the high school and college level, the longtime Eaton, Colorado, baseball umpire has decided to retire. Lewis, who is 50, decided he wanted to spend more time with family. He will continue to officiate football and basketball, but is giving up the sport he loves the most.

“The greatest sport that has ever been invented is baseball,” Lewis said. “Obviously, when you go out and watch T-ball games all the way to the major leagues, the game itself is just unique. It is a great game, or it just wouldn’t be America’s pastime.”

After high school graduation in 1977, he became an umpire, and he has seen good and bad along the way.

He was working a playoff game in Erie one season when an intoxicated father threatened to shoot the umpiring crew. When the police arrived, they found the man in a nearby camper passed out with an unloaded shotgun.

Lewis also remembers a game between Fort Lupton and Valley in La Salle when a Valley player hit a ball down the third base line that hit a footmark about three feet foul in the all-sand infield and bounced back over the bag into fair territory. Lewis called it fair, drawing the ire of former Fort Lupton coach Charlie Lewis. He asked Perry how it could possibly be fair when he saw it bounce foul to which Perry replied that until the ball gets to the bag, anything can happen.

“Charlie said ‘I am going to go get the rule book,’ and I said ‘when you bring it back, I will bet you the title to my house against yours,’” Lewis said. “Charlie came by me about two innings later and said, ‘Do you like orange carpet?’”

Northridge High School Coach Mike Huston said: “The biggest thing with umpires is that you get some guys that maybe go out and they just go through the motions, but the good umpires go out and they are working hard all the time. That is what he does.”

What does Independent League’s Long Island Ducks Mascot Quack Erjack have to do with umpiring or the rules of baseball? Absolutely nothing, but I thought, with the rainy weather in the northeast continuing for a third week, that he could help me make the statement that the weather has been for the birds.

Many games at all levels have been through long delays or canceled.

Quack Erjack looks happy here during a recent game. The skies were overcast but not a drop fell from the sky that day, and the Ducks won this one with a walk off hit in the bottom of the ninth.

New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi was ejected from tonight’s game against the Atlanta Braves for arguing a pick off out call at first base. Yanks outfielder Brett Gardner was picked off. Well, really he was safe. First base umpire Bill Welke either had his eyes closed or just didn’t know what he was doing. As Gardner’s hand grabbed the corner of the base, the first baseman’s glove was in sweep mode to apply the tag on the arm.

He was clearly safe. No question. On TV, you could easily see that it was a bad call. No, an terrible call. Girardi argued, and I am guessing by reading lips that he said he could see that his player was safe from the third base dugout.

But, Girardi will get fined and likely Welke will not be asked by MLB to explain his call. When is MLB going to hold umpires accountable? Not for the bang-bang calls that are too close for the naked eye, but for the obvious errors that they make on the bases and with the strike zone.

I hope Welke sees the play on tape and that he offers an apology to Girardi tomorrow. He should pay Girardi’s fine.

Back on May 28, we reported here that the wife of Oklahoma’s Connors State College head baseball coach had allegedly attacked umpires after the game.

Now the update: she has been banned from future games.

Sheri Lee Keith, 45, the wife of coach Perry Keith, has been charged in Washington County District Court with two misdemeanor counts of assaulting umpires during the National Junior College Tournament.

Connors State President Donnie Nero and Athletic Director Bill Muse said in a prepared statement last week: “The college does not condone inappropriate behavior from its employees, students, or fans who attended Connors State College functions. The college will take the appropriate actions against such individuals who exhibit improper behavior or judgment at events in accordance with the college’s staff and student handbooks and in regards to established proper fan and or public conduct at events where Connors’ students or employees participate.”

The wife entered a not-guilty plea to the charges earlier this month and was released on her own recognizance by Special Judge John Gerkin. She is due back in court on September 9.

Witnesses told police that Keith barged into the umpires’ locker room (after a game in which Connors lost to Eastern Oklahoma State College) and began cussing out the officials as they were changing to street clothes.

Keith hit home-plate umpire Michael Lentz a couple of times before umpire John Williams stepped in to stop her, a court affidavit alleges. She allegedly grabbed Williams around the throat and also scratched him on the arm, hand and face.

Congratulations and thanks to all the umpires who participated in this weekend’s prostate cancer awareness campaign as we celebrated fathers. MLB umpires and those in many minor league games across the country raised awareness about this disease and urged men to get tested and catch it during its early stages.

Umpires wore blue wrist bands. MLB players also had blue ribbons on their uniform jerseys. I was at an Independent League game on Father’s Day to see the Long Island Ducks–a wonderful day courtesy of my son. The three umpires officiating that game wore the wrist bands. However, I can’t recall the Ducks bringing attention to the campaign to fight prostate cancer on the stadium scoreboard or over the PA system. I could have just missed it, and apologize to them if I did. Maybe they should have done more to create attention for the cause.

One of the major drivers behind this campaign is Ed Randall and his Bat for the Cure campaign. Randall has handled minor league play-by-play, PA duties and now hosts a fabulous Sunday morning baseball show on WFAN radio in New York City. He said the disease is the second-leading cause of cancer death among men, with 240,000 new cases expected this year. He is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with the prostate cancer during 2002.

The umpires’ wristband program began last year with support from minor league baseball and the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation.

I believe Ed got his sports broadcast career off the ground at WFUV-FM in New York while a student at Fordham University. I haven’t been able to confirm this, but I believe I am correct. At least, I hope I am correct. I hope Ed sees this posts and gets in touch with this blog to let us know, because I also started my career at WFUV-FM while a student at Fordham.

Takeshi Hirabayashi came from Japan to learn about umpiring in the professional leagues of the U.S. He has had some interesting experiences in the minor leagues. His thoughts about American and Japanese baseball are interesting. Great story about him in The Virginian-Pilot.

In West Burlington, Iowa, an umpire emptied the stands at a high school baseball game, ejecting the entire crowd of more than 100 fans. Umpire Don Briggs did not have any problems with the student athletes during last week’s game between Winfield-Mount Union and West Burlington. He said the fans became unruly after a fifth inning controversial call.

The umpire borrowed a cell phone to call police as a precaution. West Burlington police officer Al Waterman said no one was arrested and he did not witness any bad behavior. However, he arrived only after police were called.

Briggs has been umpiring high school games in Iowa for nearly 10 years.

“I know it sounds like I’m the bad guy — but it was the crowd,” Briggs told the Des Moines Register. “If I got the control to ask one person to leave, I feel like I can ask them all to leave.”

The incident began when Winfield-Mount Union coach Scott McCarty came out to argue whether a ball that had been hit was foul or fair. While the debate was going on, West Burlington coach Jeff Housel tried to score his runner from third base, claiming no timeout had been called.

When Briggs sent the runner back to third, he said the home West Burlington crowd became unruly. There were no school administrators at the game at the time, and McCarty declined to remove any of the offending fans, so Briggs took it upon himself to clear the park.

“In one area, most of the people were really being mouthy — not all of them, but most of them,” Briggs said. “And they don’t say nothing when you look at them. They waited until you turned your back.

“I can get it to the point where we can play it safely with the kids. There was a lot of people yelling and arguing, so I made the decision. The kids were great, so I didn’t have any problems with the kids.”

After 40 minutes, fans were allowed to return under the premise that “anyone making a negative comment toward the officials would be ejected from the premises and could be charged with disorderly conduct,” according to the Burlington Hawk Eye newspaper.

Both coaches believed that the umpire’s decision to clear the crowd was a bit over the top.

“I’ve heard a lot worse during a game, I guess I’ll say that,” McCarty said. “But it turned into a playoff atmosphere after that [delay]. People were cheering, making plays. [West Burlington] had a great diving stop. It turned into a heckuva game.”

West Burlington, perhaps inspired by their revitalized crowd, rallied from an eight-run deficit to beat Winfield-Mount Union, 12-11, with the winning run coming on a steal of home in the seventh inning.

“Like I told the other coach after the game,” Housel said, “this is one you’ll never forget.”