MLB: Inexcusable act by fan who threw baseball at Joe West
By Anthony Sosa
Being a professional umpire is no easy task. Fans constantly criticize and chirp at umpires based on “bad calls” during games. An occurrence that happened with umpire Joe West on Friday showed that some fans don’t respect umps at all.
During the bottom of the fourth inning of Friday night’s Miami Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers game, a fan threw a baseball onto the field and hit first base umpire Joe West in the back of the head. The action caused a delay on the field as West recovered from the hard contact. Security looked in the stands for the fan who threw the ball, but the Brewers didn’t announce whether they found the fan.
Tonight's @Marlins-Brewers game is on hold for a bit after umpire Joe West was hit in the head by something thrown from the stands. pic.twitter.com/PBc2zqHzJy
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) July 1, 2017
West, a well-known umpire, recently umpired his 5000th career MLB game, a feat that only three other umpires have achieved. Many fans dislike West (as they do most umpires).
No matter what your take is on West, throwing a baseball intentionally at anyone on the field is inexcusable, especially when that person isn’t looking. MLB needs to take further action into preventing incidents like this from occurring.
Players, fans and media members backed West on Twitter after the incident occurred.
I hope they file assault charges for whoever just hit Joe West with the baseball. Absolutely ridiculous.
— Brad Ziegler (@BradZiegler) July 1, 2017
Instead of jail time for hitting Joe West in the head, that individual should be summoned into the box and hit by Chapman 10 times.
— Kyle Sielaff (@Kyle_Sielaff) July 1, 2017
On behalf of the other 99.999999999% of Brewers fans, we too hate the jive turkey who threw that ball at Joe West.
— MIKE KRAMER (@BlexClex) July 1, 2017
Umpires are people too, despite the lack of respect they get. Everyone makes mistakes, including players and fans themselves. No one recognizes the correct calls that umps make, only the bad calls.
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Recently, a lot of talk has brought up the idea of robot umpires to get rid of the bad calls that umpires make. Not only do “Robo Umps” remove the human element from the game, but the discussion also shows a lot of disrespect toward umpires. Mistakes happen and that’s part of the game. Why change the game that hasn’t changed in over 100-plus years?
Other Recent Disrespectful Fan Incidents:
In April, a fan at Fenway Park threw a bag of peanuts at Baltimore Orioles’ outfielder Adam Jones. The fan also repeatedly shouted racist remarks at Jones.
Jones came out and told the media about the occurrence and said that he’d dealt with racist remarks at Fenway before.
Another incident occurred during the 2016 AL Wild Card game at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. A fan identified as Ken Pagan threw his beer at Orioles’ outfielder Hyun Soo Kim while Kim caught a ball during the seventh inning. The beer didn’t impede the play but easily could have, if it hit the ball or Kim.
Pagan received multiple criminal punishments and also received a one-year ban from the Rogers Centre and other MLB stadiums.
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MLB needs to crack down on fans committing these disrespectful acts and ban people for life from MLB games. It’s a few fans that cause all fans to get a bad rep. Severe punishments are the right approach to get all fans to respect other fans, players, coaches, umpires and the game.