Southland Conference umpire suspended indefinitely for retaliating against player with outrageously

[melm00se]

bad call

Holy crap!

Link to tweet

In the ninth inning of a game between Mississippi Valley State and New Orleans, outfielder Davon Mims went to the plate as Mississippi Valley State's final out. After two pitches, things got weird.


With the count even at 1-1, New Orleans pitcher Trey Usey appeared to miss low with a breaking ball. And by "miss low," we mean the pitch looked closer to Mims' ankles than his knees. Home plate umpire Reggie Drummer saw it differently, though, calling the pitch a strike and triggering an irate reaction from Mims.

[paleotn]

1. That wasn't seeing it differently. That was intentional.

The ump needs to be fired. Strike two was bad, but the called 3rd strike was way outside and damn near in the dirt. Disgraceful.

[melm00se]

2. The opposing catcher jumped up and steered the hitter away

I have steered hitters away from my pitcher and my manager but an opposing hitter from the ump?

nope.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. In Addition, You Probably Noticed...

...the catcher was going to throw the ball back to the pitcher. If he thought there was any chance of that being called a strike, he would have held the ball because it was the final out. That catcher KNEW that was a ball.
Was pretty classy of him to redirect an opponent to keep him from getting into trouble.

[rsdsharp]

3. That was definitely retribution, and can't ever be tolerated.

There are rare times, however, when I can agree with calls that are deliberately wrong.

In his autobiography, Hall of Fame umpire Jocko Conlon talked about Braves catcher Del Crandall coming up as a rookie. Crandall was pulling pitches, trying to get strike calls. Probably not as egregiously as the catcher here pulled strike two, but that’s a different topic.

Conlon told him to stop, and Crandall not only denied doing it, he kept pulling pitches. Finally, Conlon told him he would call any pitch he pulled a ball, regardless of where it was. Crandall didn’t believe him, and pulled another pitch, which Conlon promptly, and inaccurately, called a ball. That stopped Crandall’s habit of pulling pitches.

I wish that lesson could be taught in today’s game. There’s a difference between framing, and pulling, pitches.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Saw That On Sportscenter This Morning

That second pitch was at least 6" below the knee & a foot off the plate.
The first call was bad, but the second one was brutal.
Guy is not competent to be a college ump, and now we know he doesn't have the temperament for the job.