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mambowking What is most disturbing is the apparent disregard for another man's life. Yes, officiants make mistakes and those mistakes can affect the outcome of a game, but attempting to injure an umpire is the wrong approach. I also have issue with spectators who cheer when an umpire has been hurt. Is this what our society has come to? Have we become prehistorically barbaric? I am a professional umpire at the college, high school and club level. I fancy myself an ambassador of the game and an officiant who works to keep the integrity of the game in tact. I have huge issues with the actions of the battery in this video. I would hope that the coach is investigated as well. This is an example of the lack of respect there is for people in our society. Had I been umpiring, I would have ejected the pitcher, catcher and the head coach. No way I take that! I hope this does not become a trend.
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agon33 The 'duck play' is certainly not the most appropriate way in which to express your discontent with the home plate umpire but I'm amazed at all of you so-called baseball afficianados and 'professional umpires' that have never heard of this nor have seen it happen before. Unfortunately, this is nothing new, folks. I was a catcher at a very high level of baseball and everybody knew of this play, just like a beanball or an aggressive take-out slide. I don't agree with the play thus never called for it but I've certainly seen it on more than one occasion in my travails through baseball. In fact, I recall a nice action photo in Sports Illustrated back in the 70's that shows a MLB catcher ducking both his head and mitt as the ball is headed directly towards the umpires mask. Again, I think this is a cowardly play but for those that are outraged that such a play exists, frankly, you just flat don't know the game as well as you think you do.
Incoming: Conspiracy To Drill High School Ump In Face?
Walkoff Walk —
Matt T sends along an odd story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. In this past weekend's Class AAA State Baseball Championship, the home plate ump took a pitch to the mug after a catcher ducked. The whole affair looked so suspicious that it actually prompted an apology.
"It looks bad, and most people who look at it come away with that conclusion," (Stephens County principal) Friend said. "But there have been whacky (sic) things that have happened in baseball and high schools, and all I'm going to conclude is that it does need to be investigated. If we're found to be at fault, we'll effectively deal with the ...
That's One Way To Protest A Call [Duck]
Deadspin —
We guarantee that this Georgia high school catcher is not the first person to realize that he can duck out of the way of a pitch and nail the umpire, but he's the first we've ever seen actually try it.
We don't see how any reasonable person could not see it as obviously intentional, but they've gotta investigate anyway.
"It looks bad, and most people who look at it come away with that conclusion," [school principal David] Friend said. "But there have been wacky things that have happened in baseball and high schools, and all I'm going to conclude is that it ...
High School Ump Takes Pitch to the Face After Catcher Conveniently Ducks
FanHouse —
Filed under: MLB Video It's not often you see a catcher intentionally miss a high fastball -- I promise, Michael Barrett isn't trying to flail like that -- but that's exactly what the above video from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Walkoff Walk) has in store. That's a AAA umpire in Georgia taking one to the kisser in what looks like a coordinated effort by the catcher to let the ball hit the ump in the face. In the AJC's story about the pitch, the local principal apologized for the incident but didn't believe the throw was intentional: "It ...
Umpire Takes Pitch To The Face
FanIQ Blog —
If you've ever played baseball and had the home plate umpire make a bad call, you've probably said to yourself "Man, I just wish the catcher would take a dive so we could nail the ump in the face with a fastball."
I've never seen, or even heard, of anyone actually successfully pulling that off. But as of today, I have.
Walkoff Walk brings us this bizarre video from the Class AAA State Baseball Championship in Georgia. The catcher for Stephens County High School literally took a dive and the ump took a fastball to the kisser. And guess what, the ump wasn't pleased ...
Hitting the Ump in the Face With a Fastball Seems More Effective Than Simply Arguing
The Sporting Blog —
My initial reaction to this video was that the heater to the ump s facemask was unintentional. The catcher set-up low and away for a curveball and the pitcher threw a fastball. It was a simple mix-up. That seems to be what the coach of the Stephens County, GA high school team claims occurred. But, after reading the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...
Georgia HS Ump Hit By Pitch After Catcher Ducks
SPORTSbyBROOKS —
WALKOFF WALK tosses along this intriguing story about an umpire who took a pitch to the grill during a high school baseball game. high school umpire hit by pitch after catcher ducks What’s unusual is that the ump may have been plunked on purpose . (Video of the high school hit after the jump.) The ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION reports that during the Georgia Class AAA baseball championship on Saturday, Stephens County catcher Matt Hill ducked from a pitch thrown by Cody Martin . As a result, the ball squarely hit umpire Jeff Scott right in the middle of his mask: Stephens County coach Mark Gosnell says the errant throw was just a ...
How to Send a Message to the Umpire
Larry Brown Sports —
I’m quite disturbed I never thought of this on my own. Deadspin shows us a good way of protesting a call by an umpire:
I wonder if those kids got thrown out of the game. No way you can look at that as anything other than intentional. And man, did you see the accuracy by the pitcher on the fastball? That takes some serious skill right there.
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Hey ump, look alive
Siberian Baseball —
My favorite part of the Deadspin write-up where this video was posted is this: The catcher and pitcher say it was a sign mixup. The only way that was a sign mixup is if the catcher had given the sign to "remain standing and catch the ball."
YOU MAKE THE CALL - WAS THIS UMP SET UP??
The Slav's Baseball Blog - BASEBALL 24-7-365 —
The way I see it, you see the catcher initially put his glove up towards the path the ball took, i.e. he recognizes it as a fastball. Then you see an exaggerated dive down and away, as if to block a phantom curve ball. This supposedly provides the cover for the explanation, "I got crossed up". A pretty bad job of acting by the catcher. And given the details of the game leading up to that point, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that pitcher and catcher pulled the old "fiver" on the home plate umpire. If the Georgia High School Association doesn't take some sort of action against the ...
ONE WAY TO GET BACK AT AN UMPIRE
Epic Carnival | Where Sports and Pop Culture Collide —
by DCScrap, on 205th magazine While the players involved say this was an accident, it sure looks suspicious as Stephens County catcher Matt Hill somehow misses the fastball that ends up doinking the ump. Says the principal of the school, "[The tape] looks bad, and most people who look at it come away with that conclusion," Friend said. "But there have been whacky things that have happened in baseball and high schools, and all I'm going to conclude is that it does need to be investigated. If we're found to be at fault, we'll effectively deal with the situation." Now ...
Shoulda been you, Eric Gregg
Right Down Peachtree —
You have, I assume, seen this video of a Georgia high school catcher "accidentally" "ducking" and "missing" the "pitch" that hits the "ump" right in the "face". Awesome, huh? Thanks to frequent commenter Matt_T for the headline, derived from a comment made over at Deadspin yesterday. Matt, like all good Braves fans, will not forgive Eric Gregg his mile-wide strike zone in the 1997 NLCS, even now that Gregg has advanced to the next round of spiritual playoffs. Oh, and that catcher's gonna be in a world of hurt soon.
Umpire gets owned by a pitch
Hail Mary Jane —
During a recent High School baseball game in Georgia, a catcher ducked when the pitch was coming and it ended up hitting the umpire right in the face.
Hiliarious video.
Let this be a lesson to all umpires/refs.
I don’t know if that was intentional or not but it sure looks like it ...
Did this catcher intentionally duck a pitch that hit the ump?
Big League Stew —
They say the great thing about baseball is that there's always a chance you might see something that you've never seen before. They also say high schoolers are prone to do stupid things. But have those two maxims ever collided in such strange fashion? Take a look at this clip from a high school game in Georgia, which some believe shows a catcher intentionally ducking his pitcher's pitch so that it pegs the umpire. It's almost so unbelievable that you have to take a look and judge for yourself. So exactly what was going on to make the catcher bail on the pitch like ...
They’re calling it “umpiregate”
umpbump.com —
Let me set the scene. It’s the fourth inning of a deciding game three between Stephens County and Cartersville for the Georgia Class AAA Championship. There’s a runner on second. Stephens County pitcher Cody Martin winds up and throws and, suddenly, the catcher ducks and the pitch sails by smacking off the umpire’s face mask. What happened? According to reports, the incident was retaliation against umpire Jeff Scott, who had called out nine Stephens’ players on strikes. From the AJC ...
High School Ump Beaners Fined $1,000
FanHouse —
Filed under: MLB Video Surely you remember the Georgia AAA high school baseball players that oh-so-intelligently conspired to bean an umpire in the state championship series. Why, of course you do: it was hilarious. As expected, the players involved are being punished. Or, their school is. Oh no:
The Georgia High School Association fined Stephens County $1,000 and placed the baseball program on "severe warning status" Wednesday for an incident in the Class AAA championship series last weekend in Cartersville. [...] GHSA executive director Ralph Swearngin, who ...
Dodgers Draft Older Brother of Ump-Hitting Pitcher
Walkoff Walk —
Yet another plot twist in the conspiracy between a high school pitcher and catcher to bean an umpire emerges as the Los Angeles Dodgers have drafted the pitcher's older brother, shortstop Ethan Martin. In case you've forgotten, Martin was called out on strikes during the fourth inning of a high school championship game in Georgia, argued the call with the umpire, and threw his batting helmet in disgust. The next inning, catcher Matt Hill ducked out of the way of Ethan's brother Cody's fastball, thus beaning home plate umpire Jeff Scott directly in the mask.
While Ethan Martin wasn't directly involved in the incident and ...
Friday Video Blowout
SimonOnSports —
Everyone needs something to keep them occupied on Friday afternoons so the Friday Video Blowout was born. Spend your next few minutes, laughing, crying of laughter, pissing your self, whatever, but mostly wasting your companies time. ...
Apparently, It Doesn't Pay To Go After Umps [Bad Idea]
Deadspin —
Update Time! You know that crazy kid who ducked to let the ball hit the umpire behind him? Well, he is suffering some lingering ramifications.
The kid, Matt Hill, was supposed to walk on at Gordon College. Not any more.
Friend said he talked with McClanahan and Gordon College president Lawrence Weill in hopes of changing their minds. "The incident is so totally out of character for this kid, but the penalty has taken away his chance to play baseball for the college of his choice," Friend said. "It bothers the family that this one pitch has taken on a life of itself and ...
Random Update: June 7, 2008
Playing for Peanuts Blog —
As I polish off Episode 4 and try to figure out why my web videos look like shit when I upload them... Here is a Random Update: SCL Fans Left Holding the Bag - Scott Adamson of the Anderson Independent-Mail points out that fans of the Anderson Joes and other teams in the South Coast League have yet to receive a refund for the canceled 2008 season. MLB Doesn't Get It - From the Creators of "Let's Look The Other Way During the Steroid Era" comes "Let's Deface the Statue of Liberty for a Quick Buck." Coming to a ...
Ump Hit By Pitch
Sports Blog - football, basketball, and baseball —
I’m very late on this, and from what I heard the catcher lost a scholarship because of this, but I figured I’d point it out. It isn’t much, just a guy doing a really, really bad acting job. His excuse is that he thought it was a curve ball — still. It’s bad.
Kill the umpire!
Wax Heaven —
(Pardon the foul language. I am not happy right now)
I hate you guys. All of you. I can’t wait till the day we get instant replay and you fat, loud, obnoxious assholes become obsolete in the game of baseball. You are the worst thing that ever happened to baseball since….well, I don’t know.
You guys just cost my ...
Walkoff Walk's Year in Review: Our Top Ten Posts
Walkoff Walk —
Most blogs and newspapers we read do their year-end nonsense during that week between Christmas and New Years, when there are usually few breaking news items and even fewer people reading. Not us. We took a big fat break and didn't think far enough ahead to do a year-end review until now. After all, we're not exactly a forward-thinking blog here: we still haven't done our "Top Players of August" post.
So on that note, here are the top ten most viewed blog entries during the eleven months of 2008 that Walkoff Walk existed, in reverse order:
10. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel: The Walkoff Walk Interview: Our own ...
