MLB Umpire Suspended for Unprofessional Behavior

I was watching ESPN this afternoon and I saw that Mike Winters, the MLB umpire involved in the Milton Bradley incident Sunday, was suspended for the rest of the 2007 season. The MLB front office apparently found enough evidence and information that it warranted this type of punishment.

I am usually one of the staunchest supporters of umpires and officials in general, but the evidence and my own observation indicated that Winters was not an innocent victim in the confrontation.

This situation makes me think about unprofessional umpires at the high school level. Umpires are suppose to be the ones with the level heads on the field. Umpires are suppose to be the "cooler heads" especially in an important "big game".

I have been umpiring high school baseball for 2 years now and there is only one umpire I have personally witnessed acting unprofessionally on the field. I was just watching an American Legion Baseball game toward the end of this past July. The game was moving along smoothly until this umpire (who I have worked with in the past and will remain nameless on this blog) called a questionable balk. The manager for the team on defense came out and questioned the call. Things went down hill from this point and the manager was eventually ejected from the game. Before he was ejected, the manager came over to me in the stands and tries to get me to replace this umpire. I did not because I needed to watch out for my professional career, and the fact that I might work with this umpire in the future. That evening the other umpire called me to tell me the profane and inappropriate remarks this umpire made toward the manager.

This was a tragic mistake by this umpire. He was a young umpire with potential to umpire at the highest levels of high school baseball in a few years. He has been blackballed in this area because of this situation. It was one incident, but it will hang with him for a very long time and may very well cost him chances at working any tournament games.

We can all learn from this situation. Keep your cool! Even if you are challenged or provoked. It is not our job to escalate conflicts, only to defuse them.