Earl Weaver of the Baltimore Orioles was ejected from more than 100 ballgames in his managerial career. Billy Martin (Tigers, Rangers, A’s, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees…) certainly had to rival that number. While these two (geniuses, clowns: pick one) were known for their hot heads and argumentative nature, I have witnessed far more docile managers ejected for far less sever infractions.
What, if any, are the guidelines for being ejected from a baseball game? Are the rules different for managers and players? Or, aside from the “cocksucker” moniker, are the umpires allowed to act upon their own discretion?
An umpire can eject a player, manager, coach, trainer, or pretty much anybody on the field (including photographers and groundskeepers) for just about any offense. The most common offense is profanity, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The rules only stipulate a few situations where someone has to be ejected. These include: a manager arguing ball-strike calls, a pitcher found with a foreign substance, a pitcher (and his manager) who is judged to have intentionally hit a batter with a pitch after being explicitly warned not to do so.
On the field, the umpire has almost dictatorial powers. Woe be the man who dares to cross one.
Uniformed personnel are not supposed to smoke in public places, however former manager Jim Leyland was often shown smoking in the dugout. I suppose he received a nominal fine for that.
Drinking alcoholic beverages (except as part of a postgame celebration) would get you in big trouble.
According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode entitled “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”, physically touching the umpire’s body in any way is cause for immediate ejection.
Is this true in the modern Major Leagues? Or did Odo just make that up?
Quick-N-Dirty Aviation: Trading altitude for airspeed since 1992.
Ahh…Weaver stomping out of the dugout, that really got the crowd going at old Memorial Stadium. I once saw Cal Ripken ejected in the first inning arguing strikes. There was an explanation in the paper as to why it didn’t break “The Streak”, but I can’t recall it now. Any help?