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Umpire Memories

    Like most things, the more you do something the better you get. Experience on the diamond is no different until that curve ball comes at you and just sort of jumps out and smacks you in the face. This happened to me one night and the result was something I had never incurred before.

    I had thrown a few hockey players out of games, but this night would be the only time I ever threw a ball player out on a baseball diamond.

    Bob Senff and I were down in Reston doing a senior baseball game. I was behind the plate calling balls and strikes and Bob was covering the bases. It was a very uneventful game, just sort of a run of your mill ball game in the summer heat in July. Both teams did not have many players. The visitors had 11 players, and the hometown Rockets had 9.

    In the bottom of the inning number 6, they only played 7 inning games, a player from Reston did not like the call I was making on balls and strikes. He let me know he was not happy about a particular strike. I let him vent for a bit when all of a sudden he turns and throws his bat from the batter’s box all the way to the screen, almost hitting a teammate. He turned back to me to give me a bit more of the business so, I threw him out of the game. This meant Reston could not field a team as they now only had 8 players. The visitors won the game and off the diamond we went. Nobody said a word. Bob had come to home plate where I was standing and said, the game was over. I said yes, it is.

    On the way back to Virden, Bob and I talked about the incident as it had to be reported. I felt bad because we did not finish the game. I never ejected a player before that had caused a game to end, so I was upset at the whole situation. Bob assured me that I really did not have much choice in the matter. I had let the player vent, probably more than I should have, but nevertheless I had taken the verbal abuse. Sometimes if you just let a player vent, they eventually walk away and simmer down. In this case he threw the bat. You can not do that! Bob felt the team would address the issue with the player. I think that is exactly what happened because we went down to Reston many more times that year but never saw the player who had thrown the bat play again. Problem solved.

    That was a learning experience for me, one which never happened to me again!