Inside Look at a Typical Senior Baseball Game

July 27, 2003

 

Macky Prosthesis

OldFartsMSBL Presdent

 

Dear Macky:

During the game between Seascuds and the Po' Ex's in the 38 Division, I ejected a player. The following are the circumstances leading up to and following the ejection.

 

The game was played at Las Lumbaba High School starting at ~12:50 PM. I was the plate umpire. Teary Dicksin was the field umpire.

 

During the game the catcher for the Po's, Potos Lanatos, continuously complained about ball-strike calls issued to his pitcher. In the top of the sixth inning, he called out on a called third strike for the third out of the inning. He complained loudly about the call and made some derogatory comments to me as he walked to the dugout. He continued the derogatory comments when he returned to the field with in his catcher's gear. He loudly said, "you don't belong here" at which time I ejected him.

 

First he argued about the ejection, saying that he had not done enough to be ejected and that he was staying. I repeated that he had been ejected and that he game would be forfeit if he did not leave the field. He continued to refuse to leave the field, saying that he wanted the game to be forfeit so it would be "on me".

 

The Po' players convinced him to leave the game. He started to leave the field, when charged me and made physical contact with me. Several Po' players rushed between us and physically restrained him. One of the Po' players was knocked to the ground during the tussle.

 

He broke free from the Po' players and confronted me again. He swore at me, threatened me, and spit in my face. I turned away from him. The Po' players got him calmed down enough to get him into the dugout.

 

Another player took over the catching duties and the game was played to completion.

 

Lanatos remained in the dugout during the remainder of the game in spite of repeated requests to leave the field. During this time he made several more threatening comments about me.

 

                        Respectfully,

                       

                        Toasty Magoo

Cc: Crewchief Magoo

 

Mackey,
 

"One of the Po' players was knocked to the ground during the tussle."

That was me!  I'm his handler; I failed. When he broke free, all he ended up doing was yelling right into the umpire's face. It was kind of anticlimactic.

 

 "During this time he made several more threatening comments about me."

Didn't happen.

I didn't see any spitting.

The umpire was very earnest about his job, but had a really lousy strike zone on both sides. I think it's a vision thing.

He did maintain his equilibrium and the game continued; Potos became calm and quiet.

-HotDogg, Po's

 

----- Original Message -----
From: Dicksin, Teary
To: orderindacort@rightwing.churchofbaseball
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 6:93: AM
Subject: Sunday's Ejection

Problem started previous inning when batter (Potos (?)) was called out on strikes and yelled at Toasty Magoo. Strike call was consistent with Magoo's zone during the game - lower

knees and outer edge of plate.

Between innings Potos the catcher for the Po's supposedly said "You don't belong here" to Magoo and he was ejected. I did not here the first "You don't belong here"

but he kept repeating it after he was ejected. When I reached home plate he flat out refused to leave the field and kept saying his team would forfeit. I talked to him

about whether he really wanted to forfeit because the game was close and very competitive. While # 30 of the Po's was telling me they would not forfeit the ejected

player really exploded. He threw his own player (#30) on the ground and charged Magoo. For a few seconds I thought he was going to hit Magoo but they stood there nose to nose with the ejected player doing all the yelling. Magoo was very composed and did not say anything further.

A few other Po's players and myself finally got Potos away from Magoo when he noticed that Magoo was documenting everything. On his way to the dugout he yelled some more about Magoo not belonging and said that he had had other run ins with him. When he got to the dugout he spent an inordinate amount of time looking for the pencil so that the score book could be kept up to date. Really weird. #30 kept saying "Forget the pencil and get out of here" but he never would.

Before the inning started I asked Potos to leave the dugout and even though he said he would he never did. I asked #30 to assign a player to him and make sure nothing more was said. Neither Magoo or I forced him to leave so the game commenced and was finished without further problems.

 

HotDogg's response:

>>While # 30 of the Po's was telling me they would not forfeit the ejected player really exploded. He threw his own player (#30) on the ground and charged Magoo. <<

That was me. I'm his handler; he didn't throw me to the ground. I blocked him well enough but should have tackled lower. I underestimated his long legs. I haven't been working out. It was funny.

He didn't explode at me; we were playing Red Rover and he picked up a little steam, that's all. Did a good job.

>>he spent an inordinate amount of time looking for the pencil so that the score book could be kept up to date. Really weird. #30 kept saying "Forget the pencil and get out of here" but he never would.<<

I think he spent a reasonable amount of time to focus away his anger and concern himself with the team's duty to keep stats. That's a perfectly reasonable and calming thing to do. This exercise succeeded. We don't want any health emergencies. I've done it myself when there are magoo umpires about.

-HotDogg, Po's