11-03-2004, 09:55 PM
Just wondering how many others have had to face a perceived or actual physical confrontation(s) in their careers? I kinda guess I have been lucky as I have only been threatened with bodily harm once in mine. It was this year. Hopefully 5' 11 inches and 230 lbs has been enough to dissuade anything up till now! Was working the bases one day. Runner on first who was leaning pretty good.
Two pitches later he finally broke for second. Catcher took a pitchout and fired a bullet towards second base. I say towards because the throw was shallow and the second baseman took the throw completely on the grass in front the base. I turned with the throw knowing the runner would be out a mile. As I was turning I saw the runner coming inside on the grass, lowering his shoulder, baring teeth and clenching his fists. He crashed into the second baseman with a loud pop, like he was stopping a last second Super Bowl goal line stand. I was momentarily stunned by the viciousness of what had happened. It became totally silent on the field. When my brain finally accepted that what I thought had just happened, had indeed, I hammered the runner out and ejected him for a malicious contact.
While he ranted and raved on the ground, I moved to check on the second baseman who was down and dazed. He was breathing shallowly with the wind knocked out of him. I quickly looked towards both dugouts fully expecting them to empty. Suprisingly, they didn't! The coach of the offensive team made his "obligatory" presence known along with the first base coach,they had nothing to say, so they concentrated on pleading that the ejected runner was their #1 pitcher and could I give them a break. I almost laughed right there in front of them on that one!
The runner continued his tirade and I ordered the coach to get him to the dugout. He continued his show and after he kicked a stack of bats over, I then gave him a total ejection from the field. In North Carolina, that gets you a two game suspension also. My partner had to threaten to forfeit the game for non compliance for the coaches to succeed in finally getting him "out of sight, out of mind".
The inning continued with no problems. However, the next inning, as I was in position A, I was aware of a voice speaking in my direction. I ignored it, not even hearing what was being said. The four feet high fence behind the first base on this field is only about 10 feet from the foul line. I kept hearing a Hey Blue from someone, still choosing to ignore it. Suddenly I began to notice that the first baseman, the pitcher and the second baseman was being distracted by the noise. I then looked towards the voice and saw an obviously angry man yelling at me. I had to call time to stop distracting the players. Turns out, it was the player that I had ejected's father and he was red in the face demanding to know why I had thrown his son out. I calmly explained from the foul line position what had happened and why. It was no use as he was increasingly furious, spitting while screaming like some mad dog. I told him to can it, it was over and to please move along. He refused.
As luck would have it, approximately a week prior to this game, I had suffered an injury while tree trimming at my home and had suffered a doozy of a black eye from it. I lost one game because of it with the blurred vision (hey what woulda been new there? Might even helped my game who knows?). It was ok now but standing out big time. I asked the first base coach for help in having the man to can it and return to his seat. It was useless. I saw him straining against the fence and I quickly looked around to see if any form of security was present. Of course, it wasn't. In North Carolina, security is REQUIRED to be present and escort football, basketball and soccer officials to and from the field. Huh? SOCCER? Don't ask me.....But NOT baseball officials.
I informed the coach and the man that he could leave immediately or I would have (the non existent) security to remove him. That's when he looked at me, made a comment about my parental heritage, laughed, and told me just how good that I looked with one black eye and how good I was gonna look with the other one that he was going to give me. I looked and somehow the ejected player was now hanging over the fence again and began echoing how he was going to help his father administer it.
I told him I doubted that and ejected the father and told him to get his son off the field immediately. He refused and I informed the coach that he had better assist his fan with leaving. I told the coach that while I did not have the power to forfeit the game, that my partner did which he readily concurred to the coach. Both coaches escorted the still protesting fan and player to the parking lot and the game resumed with no further incident.
It was a DH and after the first game I had to go to the parking lot to change out. A sherriff's deputy had arrived by then and he escorted me. The father and son watched every move that we made through the parking lot. I told the deputy that my real concern was for my vehicle now. No Problem he said, I have 2 others with me and one of them will watch your car for you. Great gesture on his part and I thanked him.
After the second game both coaches of the offending team stopped me and thanked me for my professionalism in handling the situation. The head coach told me that he had had problems with both of them all year long and the deputy chimed in that the father had already been arrested once this season for fighting with fans. Turns out, the player received a 2 game suspension from BOTH the NCHSAA AND the school's head coach himself.
I laughed out loud when the local paper published its annual football preview section one Sunday. Right there on the cover of his respective conference's section was a photo of the aformentioned player. I immediately turned to his school's write up which featured am article devoted mainly to him as a star offensive and defensive back. When the reporter had asked him what he liked about football so much, the player was quoted as saying, " I love it because it's the only sport where I can hit somebody and not get thrown out for it!" Ya gotta love it! :wink:
Two pitches later he finally broke for second. Catcher took a pitchout and fired a bullet towards second base. I say towards because the throw was shallow and the second baseman took the throw completely on the grass in front the base. I turned with the throw knowing the runner would be out a mile. As I was turning I saw the runner coming inside on the grass, lowering his shoulder, baring teeth and clenching his fists. He crashed into the second baseman with a loud pop, like he was stopping a last second Super Bowl goal line stand. I was momentarily stunned by the viciousness of what had happened. It became totally silent on the field. When my brain finally accepted that what I thought had just happened, had indeed, I hammered the runner out and ejected him for a malicious contact.
While he ranted and raved on the ground, I moved to check on the second baseman who was down and dazed. He was breathing shallowly with the wind knocked out of him. I quickly looked towards both dugouts fully expecting them to empty. Suprisingly, they didn't! The coach of the offensive team made his "obligatory" presence known along with the first base coach,they had nothing to say, so they concentrated on pleading that the ejected runner was their #1 pitcher and could I give them a break. I almost laughed right there in front of them on that one!
The runner continued his tirade and I ordered the coach to get him to the dugout. He continued his show and after he kicked a stack of bats over, I then gave him a total ejection from the field. In North Carolina, that gets you a two game suspension also. My partner had to threaten to forfeit the game for non compliance for the coaches to succeed in finally getting him "out of sight, out of mind".
The inning continued with no problems. However, the next inning, as I was in position A, I was aware of a voice speaking in my direction. I ignored it, not even hearing what was being said. The four feet high fence behind the first base on this field is only about 10 feet from the foul line. I kept hearing a Hey Blue from someone, still choosing to ignore it. Suddenly I began to notice that the first baseman, the pitcher and the second baseman was being distracted by the noise. I then looked towards the voice and saw an obviously angry man yelling at me. I had to call time to stop distracting the players. Turns out, it was the player that I had ejected's father and he was red in the face demanding to know why I had thrown his son out. I calmly explained from the foul line position what had happened and why. It was no use as he was increasingly furious, spitting while screaming like some mad dog. I told him to can it, it was over and to please move along. He refused.
As luck would have it, approximately a week prior to this game, I had suffered an injury while tree trimming at my home and had suffered a doozy of a black eye from it. I lost one game because of it with the blurred vision (hey what woulda been new there? Might even helped my game who knows?). It was ok now but standing out big time. I asked the first base coach for help in having the man to can it and return to his seat. It was useless. I saw him straining against the fence and I quickly looked around to see if any form of security was present. Of course, it wasn't. In North Carolina, security is REQUIRED to be present and escort football, basketball and soccer officials to and from the field. Huh? SOCCER? Don't ask me.....But NOT baseball officials.
I informed the coach and the man that he could leave immediately or I would have (the non existent) security to remove him. That's when he looked at me, made a comment about my parental heritage, laughed, and told me just how good that I looked with one black eye and how good I was gonna look with the other one that he was going to give me. I looked and somehow the ejected player was now hanging over the fence again and began echoing how he was going to help his father administer it.
I told him I doubted that and ejected the father and told him to get his son off the field immediately. He refused and I informed the coach that he had better assist his fan with leaving. I told the coach that while I did not have the power to forfeit the game, that my partner did which he readily concurred to the coach. Both coaches escorted the still protesting fan and player to the parking lot and the game resumed with no further incident.
It was a DH and after the first game I had to go to the parking lot to change out. A sherriff's deputy had arrived by then and he escorted me. The father and son watched every move that we made through the parking lot. I told the deputy that my real concern was for my vehicle now. No Problem he said, I have 2 others with me and one of them will watch your car for you. Great gesture on his part and I thanked him.
After the second game both coaches of the offending team stopped me and thanked me for my professionalism in handling the situation. The head coach told me that he had had problems with both of them all year long and the deputy chimed in that the father had already been arrested once this season for fighting with fans. Turns out, the player received a 2 game suspension from BOTH the NCHSAA AND the school's head coach himself.
I laughed out loud when the local paper published its annual football preview section one Sunday. Right there on the cover of his respective conference's section was a photo of the aformentioned player. I immediately turned to his school's write up which featured am article devoted mainly to him as a star offensive and defensive back. When the reporter had asked him what he liked about football so much, the player was quoted as saying, " I love it because it's the only sport where I can hit somebody and not get thrown out for it!" Ya gotta love it! :wink: