Harper Being Harper

[Thunderheads]

There was an interesting discussion on MLB Tonight, and Harold Reynolds was going through Hudson's day. Lots of chirping from the bench. But that's not the point. 

 

My point is that a player in his third? Fourth? year in the league is constantly rolling his eyes or chirping when a call doesn't go his way. He'll do it on the first pitch and he'll do it on the third. It's been like that since he got up. The "the ump makes it about himself" argument is lame and a cliche by this point. Is the expectation for the umps to be verbal punching bags? 

In basketball, jawing like these players do at times earns you a technical foul. Another one and you're done. I don't hear refs "trying to make the game about them." 

In football, any disrespect towards the refs gets you an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and will probably get you a nice chunk of your paycheck diverted elsewhere. 

Hockey's not so bad, simply because they limit who can say things and when. Thou there is the occasional bench minor penalty. 

Soccer gets you a yellow or red card for mouthing off. The baseball rule books simply say that a player can be removed from the game if he's violating sportsmanship laws. And these umps have spent at least a decade in the minors — with a ton of focus on game management skills — to make sure they can deal with the benches. Why are they treated like umps are the teenagers in this situation? 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: MLB Network needs to have a former umpire on staff for these things. 

​my partner and I was were just talking about this yesterday before our game ....and he thought Bruce Froemming would be a good choice?! @Trakes2

[TheRockawayKid]

I was thinking Jim Joyce when he retires. It's early in the morning, and I can't think of another "well respected by everyone" umpire right now. If you know of a good one who's retired, I'm sure that could work.