People have to think of bat flips the way the KBO does.
I used to umpire youth ball and most fields weren’t fully fenced in. So we had a lot of grounds rules, usually where an invisible line drawn from the backstop parallel with the foul line but 10 yards or so past it was the invisible boundary of play. Most of the time it was just a way to stop play when the shortstops throw to first ended up in the parking lot. But occasionally I would have to rule a no catch when some kid ran way past the line and made an awesome grab. I always hated having to do that, and usually got heavily booed by the parents when I did it.
I like your idea though. It’s implemented in Finnish Baseball.
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I umpired games in college and shortly thereafter during the summers. It was everything a 19/20 year old kid could want- outside, fresh air, fun, paid in cash immediately after the game, free food from the snack shack. Only had to toss a kid once and coach once. However the parents were the nut worst. It was mainly the parents thinking their 11 year old little Johnny was going to make it to the big leagues. Sorry Karen, not happening. Cops had to be called more than once too (Not by me but by others when parents from opposing teams got into it). Mind you this was just rec ball where all the families where from the same town and all went to the same schools. Just mind blowing to me.
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Take that, get rid of the base running, reduce teams to 3 players, and play in the sand. Then you have…
The tournament has a history of adult themed team names, often with variations of the sport’s equipment — namely bats and balls — that are seen as explicit enough to discourage most youth attendance. Over the years, the tournament gained a reputation for its hedonistic and sexual overtones…The tournament is much more than “beer, babes, and bats on the beach.”
Legend has it ABC Wide World of Sports (a big deal at back in the day) wanted to televise the OTL Tourney, but insisted that the infamous team names be censored. OMBAC said lol @ that.
Lol at the river being in play. What a great sport that looks like
I definitely heard chirps from the parents on occasion. There were a few really rude ones. We had the authority to toss rude fans but I never pulled the trigger despite probably having the justification.
I only ever got to do the arm whip tossing motion one time, and of course it was negated by the fact that he was arguing the last out of the game, which I didn’t realize at the time. There was a hit into the outfield, and they went to first with it. Whether the runner legitimately ran past first and should be safe or made a rounding motion and is live is a matter of judgment. I wasn’t focused on him the whole time, but IMO he was far enough into fair territory that he was fair game. He also thought he was live, because once he realized the first baseman with the ball was between him and the bag, both players went in to what only happens in youth ball known as “the dance.” The fielder is flailing his arm all over while the runner jukes every which way trying to avoid the tag. The runner does a decent job of avoiding contact, but with no real momentum towards first it’s only a matter of time before one of the first baseman’s air punches lands and I ring him up.
The coach, a short portly fellow who I would impolitely describe as a walking heart attack, lets out a loud “WHAT!?!” before running on to the field and screaming in my face like he’s Billy Martin. To this date I cannot get this image out of my head. The guys blood pressure must have hit boiling levels because his face turned a shade of purple that no human beings face should ever get. I was trying not to laugh, but also wondering if this guy might be experiencing some sort of medical emergency. Eventually he calmed down a bit, but wouldn’t stop arguing or let it go, so I tossed him. At which point he yelled’ THE GAMES OVER UMP!" resumed his tirade, and returned to purple. God dammit that was funny.
I seriously considered going to pro umpire school, but the idea of dedicating 10 years or so of my life for meager wages only to possibly be told “nah kid, you’re not gonna make it” just didn’t sit right.
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Did the same. Honestly, parents are mostly terrible people. They’re driven by delusions of grandeur because they offload all of the hopes and dreams they never fulfilled onto their kid and get pissed when they fail because it’s like them failing again at life.
Even worse are the adult teams. It’s because guys like these are way too common:
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Good point. Nobody should ever take Jim Rome seriously.
Edit: wait, did you edit your post?
I remember my dad actually got into it a little with an ump when I was a kid. It wasn’t his fault, though.
My brother was in Little League, I was in Senior League (whatever 7th and 8th grade league is called now, I don’t remember - it was Senior League where I played). Little League umps were often 7th and 8th graders, but not usually by themselves.
My dad was an assistant coach on my brother’s team, I was watching the game. One of the umps was a 7th grader, who was a dickhead. I don’t remember the play - an out call to end an inning, I think - but my dad asked the kid ump about it when the inning was over. He wasn’t arguing or anything, just wanted to talk about it.
The kid ump suddenly got all up in my dad’s face and basically challenged him to step to him and argue. My dad was all like “wtf?” but kept his cool and let it be.
After the game, when we were all in the car, my dad finally exploded. He ranted about the kid and called him a pecker. For whatever, reason, I still have this memory of my brother and I in the backseat and one of us asked, “What’s a pecker?”
My dad turned around and yelled, “IT’S A PENIS!”
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MLB just announced a bunch of Cardinals games would be rescheduled as a series of doubleheaders yesterday, should be interesting to see the plan to reschedule those as 5 inning triple headers or something.
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lol, took him a minute, but you could hear he got it right at the end.
Also, this is why it’s fun to have a live organist at the park
Yeah those team names are pretty uncensorable and can’t be said on tv either
Yeah ATL sports have elite organists.
The Braves one does a great job of customizing the music for each player.
And Sir Foster for the Hawks is a legend.
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When I was a kid our church organist was also the back-up/stand-in guy for Riverfront Stadium. He took our sunday school class for a tour once, which was a highlight of my young life.
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I’ve known the SF Giants organist since we were both babies
https://twitter.com/sfgiants/status/1246163127139315714?s=21
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That’s super cool. Hogan does good work
Also totally forgot, its HR King day.
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Baseball should be shut down until they put him in the Hall. Absolute joke.
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