Don’t eject Mr. Dude for his MLB umpire rant

I’m going to say it, although it has been said many times: Major League Baseball umpires need to check their egos at the door. As the debate for expanded instant replay in baseball develops, the umpires’ arrogance seems to increase.  It’s true.  See, I created a nifty flow chart here the direct correlation between the demand for instant replay and umpires’ arrogance.

The most recent example of such arrogance was demonstrated in the wacky and bizarre 16-inning game between the Phillies and the Astros this past Tuesday.  Let me set you up with what happened here, although there is plenty of video showing the Ryan Howard ejection as well.

Basically, Scott Barry wanted to solidify his position as a certified drama queen by reacting in a theatrical way to an appealed strike on a check-swing by Howard.  Howard became visibly upset when he reacted to Barry’s strike call, defiantly putting his hands on his hips.  Barry proceeded to mirror Howard, acting like a 5-year-old using the “I know you are, but what am I?” comeback.  Howard addressed the home plate umpire saying that he was mad at himself, not at Barry.  Regardless, Barry got his vengeance of douche-tastic proportions by having the opportunity to call Howard out on almost the exact same kind of check swing appealed strike, although on a closer call on the check-swing this time.  Howard threw his bat — no harder then any other player usually does — but that was all Barry needed as motivation to eject Howard, as though the big fella was showing him up.  What followed was Howard going berserk.

This was not an isolated incident. If you think Howard’s rejection was unwarranted, check out what happened last week when Barry ejected Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman in a similar manner. This time Barry thought Zimmerman showed him up after he broke for first on a strike call on a borderline backdoor breaking ball. It’s a presumptuous mistake made by a lot of hitters, but a fairly innocent one at that.  When Zimmerman later struck out swinging in that same at-bat, he threw his helmet and bat in disgust at himself without saying a word.  Barry didn’t like it and tossed Zimmerman, who is really one of the game’s all-around good guys and had never been rung-up before in his MLB career.

It’s very clear from both these objections that Scott Barry, normally a minor league umpire, used emotion as a catalyst to pick a bone with these two players.  Granted, Howard and Zimmerman did provoke him slightly by throwing their equipment, but rarely does a game go by without seeing that multiple times on a regular basis.

I would be remiss if I only mentioned Barry because he is not alone in this regard.  One of his umpire crew-mates for the Phils-Astros series, Greg Gibson, refused to confer with the home plate umpire, upon Charlie Manuel’s request, to seek a second opinion on whether Michael Bourne’s somewhat obvious route outside of the base path should have resulted in an out by the divot created in the grass.

Actions like these are nothing but blind arrogance by umpires that are so power-hungry that admission of guilt or wrongdoing somewhat emasculates their position of supreme caller of the game.  More often than not, on nights after controversial close-calls, these umpires also refuse to speak to the media so they won’t engage in conversation about it either. And that folks is the problem with MLB Umpires lately.  They refuse on every level humanly possible to take any accountability for their actions, right or wrong.  The only umpire I can think of in recent years that has manned up and admitted a mistake was Jim Joyce with his infamous safe call to erase Armando Galarraga’s perfect game.  Joyce was classy and is not one of the umpires I’m speaking of here.

Joyce is in the minority because there are other umpires, like “Cowboy” Joe West, who are more interested in putting on a theatrical show with their cockiness to put themselves in the limelight. (I wonder if Joe’s country music career might have anything to do with that.) Don’t even get me started on CB Bucknor either, the same umpire that tossed Shane Victorino last season from center field without any warning.  Both West and Bucknor have consistently been voted worst umpires by the players.

UPDATE: Ed Rapauno was the arrogant ump who ejected Shane Victorino from Center Field last year. (Thanks to Larry, whose comment corrected our error here at Take Back.)

(Editor’s Note: Bucknor was voted the MLB’s worth umpire in a players’ poll conducted by ESPN the Magazine, with West finishing a close second-worst. Joyce, despite his “perfect gaffe”, was voted Best Umpire.)

The problem here all comes down to the highest authority of baseball right now though, and that is Tweedle-Dee himself, MLB commissioner Bud Selig, the same man who allowed the steroid era to go on under his nose. Selig and baseball hold zero accountability to umpires. If they make a mistake, the worst punishment feels like a small slap on the wrist — if that. There is no system of checks and balances to maintain order amongst the personalities of these umpires and their incredible God complex.

Maybe it’s me, but I feel there’s more accountability and less arrogance in other sports because the threat of instant replay is near to keep the officials in checks.  The closest vanity we see amongst Basketball, Football, and Hockey officials is Ed Hochuli flexing in his tight shirts during the games.  That is why instant replay needs to be expanded to baseball.  It isn’t even so much about getting the call right, but it is keeping balance between the umpires’ egos and the game’s integrity.