Sic semper tyrannis
“Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.”
- Blaise Pascal
Somehow, I doubt that Pascal had major league baseball umpires in mind when
he wrote that line. That’s a shame. Baseball umpires, somewhere along the line, have stepped across the line that separates impartial judges from arbitrary dictators who hold the entire game in thrall.
Umpiring has always been a source of high blood pressure for fans and players alike. That’s because it is based on judgment. At one time, that judgment was founded, in theory, on a fairly consistent set of rules. The strike zone was well defined and known to everyone with the slightest familiarity with the game. No longer. It now seems to be as fluid as a political promise.
One game, the zone will approximate the size and shape of the state of Idaho. The next game it will be more like Tennessee. This is unfair to everyone. The pitchers have to spend the first three innings of each game finding out where a particular umpire’s strike zone is. By the time they have found it, it is often too late. Same for the batters. They have no idea what they need to swing at until their last at-bat, if then. When you see the batters, pitchers, managers and announcers from both teams expressing astonishment at what is and is not a strike, there is something seriously wrong. It is time for Major League Baseball to exert some of its generally misused authority and insist the umpires adhere to some consistent standard. Even Idaho is OK as long as we know what to expect.
Now, umpiring excesses have gone beyond the strike zone. Now, they’re deciding games on judgment calls that have no basis in reality.
Case in point: a recent game between the Seattle Mariners and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The teams were tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 10th inning. Tampa Bay, the home team, had men on first and third with one out. The batter hit a fly ball to shallow left, which the fielder caught.
The Mariner shortstop broke for third to backup any throw that might take place. Replays clearly showed that the runner at third saw the catch, because he didn’t tag up and leave the bag until the ball was caught. He knew that he couldn’t make it to home because the ball was not hit deeply enough. So, while he broke for home, he quickly returned to the bag.
At this point, the third base umpire took over. He ruled that the Mariner shortstop had obstructed the view of the runner and awarded the runner home base. The game was declared over. This would have been just another bad call if it had not decided the game.
Baseball researchers scrambled to find a precedent. There are none. Had a Mariner player actually interfered with the runner, that would have been a justification. The runner was not even touched. Again, the runner clearly saw the catch made, so there was no interference with his vision, either deliberately or accidentally.
So why was this call made? We’ll probably never know. Umpires don’t have to justify their often mystifying decisions. Obviously, there was a big brouhaha over the call. Seattle manager Bob Melvin, a rather placid type, was so outraged that he continued his protest as the lineups were exchanged the next day and was ejected before the game even started.
Frankly, even if the call was reversed, it wouldn’t make any difference to the Mariners dismal season. The Mariners can lose on their own without any help from the umpires. The fact that the decision was allowed to stand, however, does not bode well for our national pastime. Judgment calls cannot be appealed.
Since television replays unequivocally showed that the call was totally false, action needs to be taken. Umpires are being allowed far too much latitude in controlling the game. The umpire who made this outrageous call should immediately be demoted to the farthest reaches of the minor leagues where he can relearn the rules. The rest of the umpiring crew should be severely reprimanded for not reversing his call.
It’s a sad day for the players and fans alike when games are decided by the judicial branch. Raise hell, baseball fans. It’s time to put the tyrants in their place.
12:13:52 AM 
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