On Friday night, a college baseball umpire went viral for all the wrong reasons when he ended the game with two absolutely terrible strike calls. Turns out, the calls were so bad that the umpire is now facing real consequences.
At the end of Friday night’s showdown between New Orleans and Mississippi Valley State, the home plate umpire ended the game with two strike calls on pitches that were nowhere near the strike zone. Following the game, the Southland Conference conducted “a thorough review” and suspended the umpire indefinitely.
“After a thorough review of the New Orleans and Mississippi Valley State baseball contest on March 10, 2023, the Southland Conference confirmed the home plate umpire’s conduct and actions were deemed detrimental to the Conference and in violation of Section 3 Character and Conduct of the CCA Mechanics Manual for Baseball,” the conference said in a statement. “As a result, the umpire has been removed from the series and has been suspended indefinitely from Southland Conference baseball games.”
Umpire Reggie Drummer has been suspended indefinitely by the Southland Conference. https://t.co/hr5dTw29zD pic.twitter.com/h1M3xTz40d
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) March 11, 2023
As seen in the video, the first bad strike call was clearly low, but it was at least somewhat debatable. The second call, however, was indefensible as the ball was both way outside and in the dirt.
Based on the call, it’s clear that the umpire was either intentionally making a bad call to prove a point to the batter after he expressed his displeasure at the previous strike call, or he sincerely missed a call that badly. In either case, he should be disqualified from umpiring a game again.
[11Point7]
