Two wrongs don’t make a right and now Major League Baseball is trying to turn down the heat on its umpires.
Last week, Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler was fined $10,000 for calling Angel Hernandez a bad ump who is “messing with baseball games, blatantly.”
Those are harsh words, and I think the penalty was actually too lenient.
If I was commissioner Rob Manfred, I would have suspended Kinsler for one game, which would have cost him nearly $68,000.
You can’t have players bad mouthing the umps to the degree that Kinsler did. To me, that was over the line.
But what some MLB umps did over the weekend was also in the wrong. On Saturday, some of them sported white wristbands to protest “abusive player behaviour,” and show solidarity after Kinsler was not suspended.
Umpires and referees should not be making statements during a game. They should have let their concerns be known in the boardroom, not on the baseball diamond.
Officials know what they’re getting into when they sign up for their gig. I know, I was one of them many years ago. You take the abuse, all the while trying to preserve the integrity and sanctity of the sport you are officiating.
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