Political Games - Where the fuck’s the reset button?

Ah, thank you Doug Eddings. You just proved my point.

For those of you who don’t know Doug Eddings, let me explain. He was the home plate umpire for last night’s Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Chicago White Sox and the L.A. Angels of Anaheim, in Chicago. The game was tied in the bottom of the 9th with an 0-2 count, 2 outs. The third pitch was very low, the batter swung… and then the fun began. The umpire signaled third strike, continued watching the batter, and held his fist in the air to signal 3rd out. The batter took one step towards the dugout, then broke for first, as one would do when a called third strike hits the dirt. Upon reaching first, he is ruled safe. The Angels [fielders] had been heading to the dugout, thinking the game over. They were pissed, understandably. The White Sox scored on the next batter to win the game. So what does this have to do with “my point”?

In a blog post several months ago, I called my state’s junior Senator Rick “Man-on-Dog” Santorum “dumb on baseball” because he said the game of baseball would suck if the umpire was the most important player on the field. I argued, from first-hand experience, that the umpire is the most important “player” on the field… and even though the analogy is poor between the Supreme Court and an umpire [Court doesn’t just settle disputes between the two branches after all], I decided to play his little game and explain why a good umpire must be a “loose constructionist” when it comes to calling a game… and here is a perfect example of that.

According to the reporters at ESPN’s Sportscenter, the head of umpires for MLB has said that there is no rule requiring that the umpire say “no catch”; or say anything at all for that matter! Furthermore, his hand motions were consistent; he always motioned 3rd strike-out, even when the ball hit the dirt. Strictly speaking, he is well within the rulebook. That doesn’t mean he ruled correctly, however. I am not criticizing the call; he thought the ball hit the dirt, the replay is inconclusive; therefore, we refer to the two rules of umpiring: 1. The Umpire is always right; 2. When the Umpire is wrong, refer to Rule 1. The ball hit the dirt. However, I am allowed, as a fellow umpire, to critique Mr. Eddings handling of the call.

Mr. Eddings, you did the biggest no-no in umpiring: you were unclear. An umpire must always make his calls clear and understandable. It’s not that you made the wrong call; it’s that you applied it poorly. Using the same rules [more or less] that your colleagues use, that college umpires use, that I and thousands of little league umpires use, you made the same call that all of us, in your position, would have made; but you did it differently than I, and likely many of our colleagues, would have.

So you see, Ralph Boyd: the umpire is the most important “player” on the field. And yes: Santorum is dumb on baseball.

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