Baseball season is finally here, with the Yankees and Red Sox opening up the year up at Fenway last Sunday. Games between the two rivals are notoriously long, and umpire Joe West wasn’t shy in letting the press know how he felt about the slow pace of the game. West called the sluggish tempo “pathetic and embarrassing and a disgrace to baseball.” Bill Madden of The New York Daily News says West shouldn’t be talking, and I agree.
Slowness of the game is not pathetic and embarrassing. Annoying? Yes. Unnecessary? Sure. But West didn’t say anything nearly that tepid. He went to the extreme, calling it a disgrace. There is nothing disgraceful about batters taking their time in between pitches, or pitchers and catchers meeting at the mound multiple times. It does not affect the integrity of the game like steroids or greedy owners that pocket revenues instead of fielding a competitive team – both things that are a disgrace to our nation’s pastime. The slow pace might even make for better baseball, with pitchers and hitters being even more selective and strategic in their efforts. You can make the argument that the game should be sped up, and that’s fine. But in no way is it disgraceful. When you have a player like Mariano Rivera – who tends to shy away from making a splash in the media – calling out the umps, you know something’s up.
If West is so adamant about speeding up the game, he has the power to do that. Grant fewer time-outs to batters, break up those mound meetings quicker. Start calling balls and strikes as penalties if they are taking too long; they have the authority to do so. If the game is slow, the umpires are equally at fault as the players.
The fact that Joe West even said something to the press is the real disgrace. It was not his place to say something, even if his quote had been less extreme. But what bothers me more than anything is the bigger issue: The overall demeanor of umpires.
More than any other officiator in sports, the umpire gets more involved in the game verbally. It is obviously their job to call the game in terms of balls, strikes, outs, fair balls, foul balls, etc. Because balls and strikes are judgement calls and every umpire has a different strike zone, testy moments can ensue between player and umpire.
Other sports are not devoid of these instance. Fouls and penalties in football, hockey, and basketball all can create hostility. But when Kevin Garnett barks at an official about foul calls, he gets a technical foul and that the end of it. Ray Lewis screams at refs about getting no respect, and the zebras say nothing unless they throw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.
If a baseball player even whispers something in disbelief of a call made, the ump starts instigating in most situations. They jaw back at the players, vying for more attention and face time. Don’t even get me started in terms of umpire-manager showdowns. Yes, it is entertaining. But there’s a reason that you don’t see that in other sports. When it happens in football or basketball, the refs know their role and simply officiate – calling technical fouls or throwing flags.
Players love to see their skipper get fired up arguing with an umpire, but in reality it should never happen. If a manager does run out of the dugout in Lou Pinella-eque fashion, the umpire should simply explain the call and maintain transparency. Take the abuse ump, and if you want to, toss the manager. I’m sick and tired of seeing umpires jawing back at managers, egging on players and doing things outside of their job description. An umpire’s lexicon should consist of not much more than “ball,” “strike,” “safe,” “out,” “fair,” “foul,” and the occasional clarification. The most outside the box an ump should get is “you’re out of here.”
West has been a culprit of instigating in the past. From the Daily News:
How many times over the years has he created needless delays by instigating brouhahas? A prime example of that was 1995 at Shea Stadium in between games of a doubleheader when West, who was the home plate umpire, started in on Mets’ third-base coach Bobby Wine for being a couple of minutes late bringing out the lineup card. At first Wine thought he was kidding but then things got heated and suddenly West ejected him. That brought Mets manager Dallas Green out of the dugout whereupon West ejected him as well. What had originally been a two-minute delay became a 22-minute delay.
Please, Joe West, explain to me how slow baseball is more detrimental to the game than umpires instigating and creating arguments – which in effect, slow down the game thus making you hypocritical. Umpires stepping outside of their role, spouting off and attention whoring to the press?Tthat’s really what’s pathetic.
If Cowboy Joe West has a problem tell him to call more strikes!