Ground Rules:: Brutal is the new profanity
If you happen to find yourself on a ball diamond in these parts during the spring or summer, you may be interested to know that umpires have increased their vocabulary during the off-season.
Bob Moses, a local arbitrator of baseball and softball matches tells us that one of the additions to the official’s lexicon of offensive words is "brutal". As in "What a brutal call, umpie!" That keyword in a statement expressing concerns about the quality of an umpire's judgment will get you the ol' heave-ho from the diamond. And expressing concerns regarding the umpire’s judgment has already affected the game.
"It is difficult to recruit people to umpire local games in the Kingston area," explained Moses, who recounted a recent Umpire's Clinic he offered in town that was attended by one person.
"It seems no one wants the aggravation..."
We participated in a tournament a few years back in Orillia, Ontario at a ball yard located in a unique waterfront setting. Another interesting feature of this diamond was a sign posted on the backstop warning that abusing umpires was a punishable offense under a municipal by-law. We thought this was a satirical artifact promoting local legend Stephen Leacock but as explained to us by the tournament organizer, the law was necessary due to the difficulty the baseball organization had retaining qualified umpires. Apparently there was also a need to legislate good sportsmanship. Today many leagues and organizations are adopting Zero Tolerance Policies on Umpire Abuse which also discourages public dissent.
Although heckling and criticizing the umpire is a time honored baseball tradition and legal in NY state according to an appeals court ruling of July 23, 1987 , we think, as a player or coach it is wise not to abuse officials on the field of play for two reasons. The first reason is you'll be ejected from the playing field and the second, more drastic reason, umpires may decide not to umpire games anymore because who wants the hassle, even if they are getting paid.
And a baseball game played without umpires wouldn't be worth the effort and would seem just a little silly. Imagine grown men dressed in matching polyester costumes, standing in a field cursing and berating another group of grown men also dressed in polyester costumes while exchanging differing opinions regarding the location of a five and a quarter ounce white leather ball related to someone swinging a piece of wood or whether someone reached a point of reference before the arrival of the aforementioned ball.
It won’t be pretty. Be forewarned.
© KingstonDiamondDogs 2009 04 30
Bob Moses, a local arbitrator of baseball and softball matches tells us that one of the additions to the official’s lexicon of offensive words is "brutal". As in "What a brutal call, umpie!" That keyword in a statement expressing concerns about the quality of an umpire's judgment will get you the ol' heave-ho from the diamond. And expressing concerns regarding the umpire’s judgment has already affected the game.
"It is difficult to recruit people to umpire local games in the Kingston area," explained Moses, who recounted a recent Umpire's Clinic he offered in town that was attended by one person.
"It seems no one wants the aggravation..."
We participated in a tournament a few years back in Orillia, Ontario at a ball yard located in a unique waterfront setting. Another interesting feature of this diamond was a sign posted on the backstop warning that abusing umpires was a punishable offense under a municipal by-law. We thought this was a satirical artifact promoting local legend Stephen Leacock but as explained to us by the tournament organizer, the law was necessary due to the difficulty the baseball organization had retaining qualified umpires. Apparently there was also a need to legislate good sportsmanship. Today many leagues and organizations are adopting Zero Tolerance Policies on Umpire Abuse which also discourages public dissent.
Although heckling and criticizing the umpire is a time honored baseball tradition and legal in NY state according to an appeals court ruling of July 23, 1987 , we think, as a player or coach it is wise not to abuse officials on the field of play for two reasons. The first reason is you'll be ejected from the playing field and the second, more drastic reason, umpires may decide not to umpire games anymore because who wants the hassle, even if they are getting paid.
And a baseball game played without umpires wouldn't be worth the effort and would seem just a little silly. Imagine grown men dressed in matching polyester costumes, standing in a field cursing and berating another group of grown men also dressed in polyester costumes while exchanging differing opinions regarding the location of a five and a quarter ounce white leather ball related to someone swinging a piece of wood or whether someone reached a point of reference before the arrival of the aforementioned ball.
It won’t be pretty. Be forewarned.
© KingstonDiamondDogs 2009 04 30