Umpires - S/D

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/images/2004/04/17/zQdAYJ8N.jpg

You could even hear him doing it when you listened to radio broadcasts of the games he was calling.

Destroy - Angel Hernandez

I've heard Gary Darling needs to be destroyed but I only saw the one game this year where he got into it with the 'Stros. I wouldn't search him out though.

Also destroy: any ump that walks towards a disgruntled pitcher and instigates an argument.

While you're at it, destroy the replacement ump who ruled that the ball nicked the helmet and not the bat from his position beyond second base.

Tony Randazzo is his name, according to ESPN. I don't recall seeing him before, but destroy!

here's another step, past QuesTec, w/ Zone Evaluation:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4034138&name=Neyer_Rob

via Neyer:

http://awfulumpiring.wordpress.com/

destroy all obvs.

I hadnt seen that Victorino ejection (in CF) til now

That Marlins/Astros play at the plate last night was really odd. Hermida very easily beaten by the throw, but Pudge stood over the plate with his glove up and his legs beside the plate (like he was too shocked about Hermida being sent to react normally). Hermida reached plate, tagged high, called out.

the marlins tv guys were musing that pudge was preparing himself for a collision since the ball beat hermida there by so many feet and that pudge was taken by surprise by the slide and reacted slowly

Jerry Crawford:

http://twitpic.com/dodfr

Situation: bases loaded, Red Sox leading 5-1 in the fifth.

Thanks, Jerry!

god joe west is awful

iyho do you think "bad calls" are increasing or merely a byproduct of broadcast/web technology improvements?

I always say I like the human element in baseball, unless it negatively affects my team and then its some bullshit.

Posnanski called out the 'human element' garbage this weekend.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/10/10/replays-the-thing/

When I was a kid I read an autobiography by some umpire, but for the life of me I cannot remember his name. Even after pulling up a list of every MLB umpire during the last century, I cannot figure it out. He was an umpire during the 80s, and he was incredibly fat. But most umpires were incredibly fat back then. He was known as a "funny" umpire, and his book would be filed under humor. His book included many passages describing arguments with Earl Weaver et al., and how many times managers would storm out onto the field and scream stuff like "I agree with your call 100% I'm out here because I've gotta show my players and our fans that I care about this team and I want them to win! I don't mean to embarrass you, keep doing your job and I'll keep doing mine!", before storming back to the dugout.

Whoever you are, mystery funny umpire, you are searchable.

It's Ron Luciano.

he committed suicide.

Yeah, car/garage/CO poisoning IIRC.

I used to enjoy reading his books though.

Not trying to make light of a man's suicide here ... but in life, he was a funny guy, and umpires' memoirs are still undervalued quantities in the baseball lit market!

Durwood Merrill wrote a pretty good one, too.

"I never called a balk in my life. I didn't understand the rule." - Ron Luciano

Good lord. RIP, I had no idea.

Cuzzi had called it foul, negating a leadoff double, and he spent much of the next 24 hours trying to figure out what happened. Part of it, he thinks, was playing an unnatural position - baseball only uses umpires along the outfield foul lines in the postseason and for the All-Star Game.

"We're not used to playing that far down the line,” Cuzzi said. "The instant the ball is hit, we usually start running. I think I may have been looking too closely at it. I never had a feel for where the left fielder was on the play."

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-6-36/Chewing-on-Cuzzi-s-call.html

The location of the left fielder does not matter, dipshit.

Cuzzi had called it a strike, negating a leadoff walk, and he spent much of the next 24 hours trying to figure out what happened. Part of it, he thinks, was playing an unnatural position - a plate umpire isn't usually scratching his ass during the postseason or the All-Star Game.

"We're not used to standing that way behind the catcher," Cuzzi said. "The instant the ball is thrown, we usually start watching. I think I may have been looking too closely at it. I never had a feel for where the hitter was on the play."

if his glove is in fair territory when he (nearly?) touched the ball, it might

xp

That's true, although in this case, the ball, the fielder's body, the fielder's feet, and the fielder's glove were all in fair territory during the entire play.

but he was too close to notice.

So it didn't make any difference where the fielder was, i.e. the ball landed in fair territory, so it was fair, there's no other possibility.

I guess that umpires are trained to watch the fielder's glove and feet on a play like this, and if the ball isn't caught, only then they focus on where the ball is? For plays at first base, for example, umps aren't supposed to watch the ball, they're supposed to watch the bag and listen for the sound of the ball hitting the glove.

Otherwise, I have no clue what Cuzzi is talking about.

xpost

While federal laws prohibit Major League Baseball from discussing injuries of employees, FOXsports.com has learned that the sidelined umpires include crew chiefs John Hirschbeck (testicular cancer), Charlie Reliford (back), Jerry Crawford (back), Tim Welke (concussion), Ed Montague (concussion and neck), Gary Darling (ankle and foot) and Rick Reed (stroke).

Other umpires who are sidelined by injuries include Kerwin Danley (concussion), Alfonso Marquez (back), Brian Runge (details unknown), Bill Hohn (back) and Ed Hickok (concussion).

holy crap!

Concussions from foul tips??

From looking at replays the next day and smacking themselves in the head.

laz diaz is the worst

Sheehan on Aybar's neighborhood play:

"Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, maybe 995 out of a thousand, Cabrera is called out. Last night, Jerry Layne, at random, called him safe. He suspended the de facto rules in favor of the de jure ones in extra innings of a playoff game. It's good for baseball that the Yankees didn't score in the inning, leaving the call as an afterthought.

You cannot run the game a certain way 99 percent of the time, then randomly decide to make a by-the-book call in a high-leverage moment. It turns the game into a farce. We see this now and again, an umpire calling a runner safe, or denying a batter first base for not making an effort to get out of the way of a pitch, and it becomes a nightmare every time. If the umpires want to have a set of rules separate from the ones in the book, fine, but they can't go back and forth between the two at will."

(several BP commenters disagree)

Pretty sure the "problem" was that the umpire WAS going by the rules in the book, and according to the production team, Aybar had actually touched second on every other force at second prior to that.

Bill (New Mexico): What do you think of the MLB move to install "veteran" umpires in the World Series after all the umpiring screwups of the post season so far? Will it actually help? Color me skeptical.

Eric Seidman: A lot of these blown calls have been from veteran umpires. In my mind there is no solution other than a correction-based system. Either the umps need to correct each other or someone needs to be watching the game capable of making corrections. If official scorers are simply watching the game and making decisions why not something for umpires?

Long... but well-done:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20100606%2FSPORTS02%2F6060457%2F1318%2FHow-ump-went-from-Ohio-to-bigs-to-national-scrutiny&;template=fullarticle

(could be xposted tot he kisckass media thread?)

http://twitter.com/DSpxp/status/24543405780

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- New York Yankees catcher Russell Martin said plate umpire Laz Diaz decided on an unusual way to punish him for arguing balls and strikes.

Martin said Diaz wouldn't allow him to throw new baseballs back to his pitchers after fouls during New York's 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.

"Laz Diaz is a d---. Write it hard," Martin shouted as he came into the clubhouse.

Martin said the ball ban was put into effect after he and Diaz exchanged some words over strike calls early in the game.

"He said that it was a privilege that I had to earn, for me to throw the ball back," said the catcher, a seven-year veteran and three-time All Star. "That's never happened to me before. I even told him, because there's guys on base, I like to keep my arm loose. Nope. 'I'm not letting you throw the ball back.' That's pretty strange, to me. That's a good story, huh?"

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!!!??

i don't condone this, but it's definitely funny

the umps really hate that banging on the dugout roof thing gardner does

It doesn't get worse than this.

Umpire Joe West blew 16 calls on the night, but none were worse or more significant than this one to Brett Gardner. It missed the zone by 5.23 inches. #Yankees v #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/lJfMyKh4is

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) September 21, 2019

joe west in the field

HEATED IN THE BRONX!

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone has been EJECTED from today's game for arguing balls and strikes with umpire Joe West.#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/UekksepE2U

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 21, 2019

Michael Kay mentioned today that West's first ejections were Steve Henderson and Joe Torre (1977).

Jeff Passan, CC Sabathia, Jessica Mendoza: bring on the robots

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27947161/how-one-blown-strike-call-game-5-illustrates-mlb-need-robot-umps

New for the 2020 MLB season: Much like NFL referees have done for years, umpires will be mic’d up and tell fans in attendance and those watching on television and listening on radio if reviewed calls are upheld or overturned. They may also explain rules, if necessary.

— Pedro Gomez (@pedrogomezESPN) January 27, 2020

"that call i just obviously fucked up is not reviewable. please stop throwing beer bottles at me"

that took long enough

crew chief gary cederstrom has retired after 31 years

nic lentz has been hired full-time; you may remember him as the subject of aaron boone's 'savages' rant last year

kerwin danley is the first african american crew chief

For you umpiring nerds:

Ryan Blakney, Ramon De Jesus, Nic Lentz, Chris Segal and Jansen Visconti are now full-time umpires.

Gary Cederstrom, Dana DeMuth, Mike Everitt and Jeff Kellogg are retiring.

Kerwin Danley, Dan Iassogna, Alfonso Marquez and Jim Reynolds are crew chiefs.

— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) February 27, 2020

Pitch framing in 1884: pic.twitter.com/aBmr3bJ9AQ

— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) April 10, 2020

MLB considers Joe West a high-risk individual. He plans to return for this season despite that.

"I don’t believe in my heart that all these deaths have been from the coronavirus." https://t.co/PuWfDq1OQC

— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) July 7, 2020

man joe west, fuck you

as always, he's the star

MAS QUE UN CLUB

MAS QUE BEISBOL

I just read that piece.

Fuck Joe West. Fucking waddling, ignorant Florida man.

wut pic.twitter.com/fZ1xGZeKQm

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 22, 2020

what is happening

E1 🚨 🚨 🚨

Most bizarre “error” of the year pic.twitter.com/oFB81HNMkl

— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) April 28, 2021

ANDREW MCCUTCHEN WAS RULED OUT OF THE BASE PATH ON THIS WHAT ARE THE UMPS WATCHING??? pic.twitter.com/YdM1FuS4L9

— Ben Porter (@Ben13Porter) May 2, 2021

lol yankees

Full count, two outs, bottom of the 9th, winning run on third, and umpire Gabe Morales blows a huge call to send the game to extras.

This called strikeout to Rougned Odor missed outside by 4.55 inches.

The Yankees lost in extra innings.#Yankees #RedSox pic.twitter.com/8sj43qLBiw

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) June 7, 2021

Umpire Angel Hernandez was the lowest rated umpire on the day, missing 19 calls for a correct percentage of 85.3%.

He rang up 6 batters on pitches that were outside the zone and called a strike to Jean Segura that missed inside by a season high 6.47 inches.#Brewers #Phillies pic.twitter.com/pmmt1ELJJ6

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) April 25, 2022

That Segura call, good god.

haven't they implemented the robo-strike zone in some minor leagues? i'm curious about what it tends to do to league-wide offense, both in the short term (first few weeks as everyone adjusts) and more long term

also, as i think mookie and others have pointed out, what it does with the value of catchers, particularly those who specialize in pitch-framing

i knew exactly what inspired this revive the second i saw it!

i don't particularly like bumgarner, but this is straight bullshit from dan bellino

The difference between MadBum's and Hernandez's hand checks is striking. pic.twitter.com/CRPOuRXBUE

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) May 4, 2022

Why would he even do that?!

hahahaha

He appreciated hands

He’s a hands on kind of ump

MadBum is great, he is just old school and has a temper. Ump is in the wrong here as he was baiting him.

really want the giants to break some unwritten rules next time he faces them. i don’t think he would like that very much!

bellino wasn't even the home-plate ump -- he was just fucking with MB and i kind of wish the latter had decked him

Full clip:

MadBum got ejected and lost it after words were exchanged with the ump following getting his hand checked 😳 pic.twitter.com/PZQuvUrYvk

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 4, 2022

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33868753/umpire-dan-bellino-issues-apology-ejecting-arizona-diamondbacks-pitcher-madison-bumgarner-taking-full-accountability-decision

fUlL aCcOuNtAbIlItY

ridiculous

pic.twitter.com/JWIvC8ZdrB

— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) June 5, 2022

that was dumb af. i also loved Maldanado trying to cover Presley's mouth with his glove!

https://theathletic.com/3355774/2022/06/08/mlb-umpire-angel-hernandez-lawsuit/

seems like that thing where you're not supposed to ask a question of a witness you don't already know the answer to

lol MLB just buried angel hernandez

https://defector.com/mlb-court-filing-says-umpire-angel-hernandez-is-an-unaccountable-jerk ($)

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34497311/mlb-argues-umpire-angel-hernandez-3-overturned-calls-2018-alds-cost-world-series-spot (non-$)