Upper Register
In the 1965 season, no teams had a more intense rivalry than The Giants and The Dodgers. On August 22, pitcher Juan Marichal was hitting against Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax. Marichal had been head hunting earlier in the game, and Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro wanted Koufax to retaliate. Koufax wasn't on board, so Roseboro clipped Marichal's ear on a return throw. Marichal took offense and the two had a heated exchange. Roseboro took his mask and helmet off, something he likely regretted a few moments later when Marichal cracked his bat over Roseboro's head. Repeatedly. As blood gushed down Roseboro's face, the benches cleared and the two teams brawled for 14 minutes before order was restored. Marichal got a nine game suspension (!) and later the two men ended up on better terms and even used to sign pictures of the event.
It was ugly and horrifying, and yet people got over it. Last night's incident pales in comparison. It pales in comparison to George Brett's pine tar incident. To Frank Francisco tossing a chair into the crowd. To Milton Bradley's "I have anger management issues" breakdowns.
It wasn't Brett Lawrie's shining moment. He wasn't mature. It was very, very dumb and he should be suspended for 5 games. The player shouldn't throw their helmet, but he was at least five feet away* (I re-watched it again, I amend it to three feet), it kind of skipped and hit Miller in the ball bag on his hip. By that I mean that bag the ump holds extra baseballs in. I nearly wrote "ball sack", but that would be really, really wrong.
There wasn't that much intent on Lawrie's part to actually harm the umpire. He had considerably more potent weapons (bat, fists, round house kicks, that swarm of bees that seems to chase him when he plays) if he wanted to inflict serious damage. That would concern me more than this does. Farrell will likely have a talk with Lawrie, which is expected and should happen. He might want to bring up some sort of objection to being thrown around like a rag doll by his third baseman. For those keeping score at home, Lawrie required less man power than Jon Rauch, who required Arencibia, Wakamatsu and Farrell to hold him back.
Please stop pretending like this moment is some sort of indication of what Lawrie is going to do his whole career. The fact is, we don't know what he is going to do. Maybe he'll settle down, and then everyone can hate him for not caring enough or something.
I just don't really understand why there has never been any sort of accountability for umpires. They insert themselves into the game, and create animosity for no reason other than they seem to want some kind of attention. The pitch called strike two was no where near the plate. There was an extended pause, Lawrie starts to go to first and then Miller indicates it's a strike. There was absolutely no reason to wait, just indicate what you think it is and keep the tempo up. And yes, I know they do have internal audits but considering the amount of blatantly bad calls both in regular and post-season, I'm not sure how tough these audits are.
This is a quote from the Deadspin piece about Bill Miller:
"They try to keep us from working with the same teams over and over in case there's animosity between a team and a particular umpire. ... When the player is under stress or the team is struggling, and something doesn't go their way, they're going to lash out. ... It's our job to make sure the players stay in the game. If we allow one team to start screaming and yelling, it's contagious."
Interesting.
People are looking for there to be drama because Miller is umpiring the third base tonight in the game against the Yankees. Maybe Lawrie and Miller will talk like adults. People I know who have had several conversations with the kid tell me that he is more personable and well-spoken than some people gather from this persona he has developed. I know someone who spent a rain out hanging with his parents, who were really decent people. It was a really dumb thing Lawrie did, but I consider it minor enough to not define him as a player or be considered some huge, unforgivable flaw. Don't throw your gear in the direction of anyone any more, Brett, and it'll be fine.
Or maybe Miller and Lawrie will bond over talk about what a freak A-Rod is, which is always a fruitful discussion.
One last thing, just something I noticed. On my Twitter feed last night, reactions overwhelmingly split by gender lines. Dudes said "Oh my god. What the hell was that?" This is reflected in the male dominated mainstream sports media and Jays blogging community. Women, on the other hand, mostly said, "Eh, baseball. Crazy, isn't it?" The other interesting thing was that Toronto based media overwhelmingly focused on Lawrie's actions, where outside sports media discussed Lawrie but also threw in bits about the incredibly shit calls that sparked the whole thing. I agreed with some points in a NESN article. Crazy.
Also, can we get a cease and desist on the errors? Thank you.