Remember how I’ve done a few ESPN pieces about the old 1960s files that once belonged to Denver Broncos GM Jim Burris and were later acquired by Uni Watch reader Tom Jacobsen? Those files yielded my story about the remarkable Buddy Young memo and the letters from Broncos fans requesting tickets to the first Super Bowl.
In the course of reporting those stories, I made contact with Jim Burris’s son, Bob Burris, who’s now in his 60s and lives in the Kansas City area. He told me that he had some additional files from his father’s time in the sports world — including some very interesting paperwork that we’re going to look at today.
Here’s the deal: Although Jim Burris was briefly the Broncos’ GM, he spent most of his career working in minor league baseball. In the early 1950s he was the vice president of the American Association, a Triple-A league that’s no longer in existence. His duties included handing out fines and suspensions for players and managers who abused the umpires. And he decided on those disciplinary actions by reviewing reports that the umpires sent him whenever they ejected someone.
Jim Burris kept all that paperwork after he retired, and Bob Burris still has it today. Bob (who was forbidden by his father to look at the umps’ reports when he was growing up, because of the profane language) was nice enough to share some of it with me, and we’ll be looking at a few of the reports today.
All of the games in question are from 1952. Obviously, it would be more fun to have paperwork from a more recent year, and/or from the big leagues. Still, there are some names in here that you’ll probably recognize, like Gene Mauch and Johnny Keane. In any case, the reports provide a fascinating window into the culture of abuse that’s heaped onto baseball umpires. Funny stuff, too, because all the profanities are reported in this businesslike deadpan presentation. All in a day’s work — literally.
Okay, enough preliminaries. Here are umps’ reports from seven games. In each case, I’m presenting the front of the report, the back of the report (except for the last one, which didn’t spill over to the back; all of the reports can be clicked to enlarge), followed by a transcription of the most pertinent text, so you don’t have to fight your way through the umps’ handwriting.
Indianapolis vs. Louisville, July 5, 1952
In the fifth inning of today’s game, I ejected Manager G. Desantels of the Indianapolis team. After I had called one of his players out on a play at 3rd base, he called me a stupid fuck, a blind bastard, and I immediately ejected him. Then he let loose a long line of dirty slang words at me, and banging his hat on the side of his body back and forth swinging it, called me then a no good son of a bitch, a no good cocksucker, and repeated a no good bastard a couple of times.
All of these words could be heard and were loud enough and audible to the people in the 3rd base stands. If I ever called a play right in my life, I know I called that one correct, from the bottom of my heart. — Robert Stewart, umpire
Kansas City vs. Milwaukee, Aug. 15, 1952
Gene Mauch was ejected in the last of the 9th inning for repeatedly calling me many names, such as Prick, Goddamn Meathead, Gutless, Bastard, and others I can’t recall. These remarks I at first ignored because in my mind, I know he just wanted to prolong the game by giving me an argument, but after hearing him call me all these names repeatedly it was impossible for me to tolerate it any longer, so I put him out of the game. — Roy Appelhans, umpire
Minneapolis vs. Louisville, June 1, 1952
Mr. Genevese, manager of the Minneapolis club, was put out of the game for using profane language during a dispute regarding a catch or no catch by his center fielder. … Genevese refused to listen and really gave me the works, calling me a blind cocksucker, son of a bitch, prick, and a no good bastard. After putting him out, he continued to get in front of me to prevent my going to my next position until I told him to keep his face out of mine and expectorating in my face while he was shouting. — Roy Appelhans, umpire
Milwaukee vs. Columbus, Aug. 10, 1952
I called a Columbus player out at 3rd base. Manager Keane charged me and started verbal abuse with You no good lousy son of a bitch. I started back to home plate after explaining to him why I called the man out. He followed me to the plate, using these phrases: lousy cocksucker, lousy bastard, they should run you out of the fucking country. He repeated these phrases over and over. I then told him he was through. … After Manager Keane had left, a few choice remarks were made from the dugout such as goddamn horseshit umpires. — Harry King, umpire
St. Paul vs. Charleston, Aug. 2, 1952
Escalaro (Charleston) was declared safe on a close play at the plate in the last of the 5th inning. Catcher Baldwin jumped up, protesting and bumping and pushing me with his body several times, players from his team had to hold him. I then ordered him from the game. After resuming play, some heckling started in the dugout. I made certain who was doing the heckling (McGlothin). I turned and started to warn him and he yelled, “Yes, it’s me, I’m on you, what the hell are you going to do about it,” at the same time pointing to himself. I ordered him from the bench, but he did not make a move. In the meantime, Manager Bryant came up from the coaching box and asked me what the trouble was. I told him, and he turned to the bench and told McGlothin to leave. After I turned to go to the plate, my fellow umpires told me he (McGlothin) threw a towel on the field. — Harry King, umpire
St. Paul vs. Louisville, Aug. 14, 1952
Eddie Lyons of the Louisville club was put out of the game in the 7th inning. He had missed tagging a runner coming into 2nd base, and when he was called safe, Eddie Lyons jumped up and stuck his face close to mine and yelled “The man was tagged.” He face was so close to me, I could feel the spray of his breath on mine and I told him to get away from me. I walked out of his way but he continued to yell about the horseshit decision and called me a cocksucker. I then put him out. — Roy Appelhans, umpire
Milwaukee vs. St. Paul, Sept. 11, 1952
In the last half of the fourth inning, I have a close play at home plate. I call the runner safe. After play is finished, catcher Williams of Milwaukee jumps up in my face and calls me a bastard, son of a bitch, and cock sucker. His language is audible to the stands. I immediately eject him. — Hal Dixon, umpire
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I have more of these, but that’s enough for today. Fascinating stuff, right? Interesting to see that the most profane term hurled at the umps, in nearly all of the reports, was cocksucker. Seventeen years later, while writing about the 1969 season in his seminal book Ball Four, Jim Bouton wrote that the “magic word” guaranteed to get a player ejected was motherfucker, a term that doesn’t appear in any of the 1952 reports. Maybe that word wasn’t yet in wide circulation in 1952, or maybe it was used more in the majors than in the minors. (Fast-forwarding half a century to 2016, Mets manager Terry Collins used both terms in the instant-classic video that’s recently been circulating.)
I know some of you currently officiate various sports at various levels. What sorts of abuse have you taken? Do these reports trigger any anxiety or resentment in you, or can you laugh them off?
The Ticker
By Paul
’Skins Watch: A high school in Maine will continue to call its teams the Warriors but will drop its Native American imagery (from our own Anthony Emerson). … For some inexplicable reason, a kid in the crowd at yesterday’s Poland/Senegal World Cup match, which took place in Moscow, was wearing a Native American headdress and redface. I suppose you could argue that the face painting matched the Polish flag, but that still doesn’t explain the headdress (from Tyler Johnson). … Meanwhile, a fan at the Russia/Egypt match also had a Native headdress (from Tyler Johnson).
Baseball News: Negro League throwbacks upcoming for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. … Star Wars jerseys on June 29 for the Lakewood BlueClaws. … The Potomac Nationals re-created a famous scene from Bull Durham to mark the movie’s 30th anniversary. … The Tulsa Drillers became Los Petroleros yesterday. … When the Mariners held their original TATC game in 1998, there was an inconsistency in their helmet numbering. … During last night’s Mets/Rockies game, SNY roving reporter Steve Gelbs said Mets LF Dominic Smith was playing with a glove that isn’t yet fully broken in. … Pirates reliever Steven Brault sang the national anthem prior to last night’s game against the Brewers while in full uniform. … Austin Bibens-Dirkx is slated to pitch for the Rangers tonight, and the team also plans plans to have Isiah Kiner-Falefa behind the dish, creating a rare all-hyphenated-NOB battery (from Blake Parker and Evan Grant).
Football News: The Bears will wear their recently unveiled orange jerseys on Oct. 14 against the Dolphins and Nov. 18 against the Vikings (from Alex Mellon). … Here’s a great shot of Patriots DL Bob Dee wearing a unique facemask rig — a single-bar plus a two-bar — in 1960 (from Bill Kellick). … The Regina Riot — that’s a Canadian women’s team — have had their jerseys returned after they were stolen earlier this month. … I’ve written before about how Packers QBs tend to wear two-point chinstraps. But that may be changing this season (from @continuoustx). … New logo for the U19 world championships.
Hockey News: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Not sure who the L.A. Kings player is in this old photo, but check out the striping on his skates (from Jet). … Recent internet domain registrations suggest that the NHL could be expanding to Portland, Ore.
NBA News: The Hornets will mark their 30th anniversary with throwback uniforms and a throwback court, among other promotions. The designs will be unveiled later, although it’s already an open secret that the uniforms will be a white version of the teal throwbacks they wore last season. … Top prospect Deandre Ayton signed a Suns jersey even though has even been drafted yet.
Soccer News: Monday’s England/Tunisia World Cup match was invaded by tiny insects. … New kit for Derby County (from Ed Zelaski). … Also from Ed: Celtic’s hew away shirt, which had previously leaked, has now been officially unveiled. … New kits for MK Dons, Pumas, and Swindon Town (all from Josh Hinton). … Also from Josh: People don’t like Adidas’s World Cup number font. … One more from Josh: Here are all of the new Premier League kits that have been released so far. … Airport officials in Madeira, Portugal, have finally replaced the much-maligned bust of Cristiano Ronaldo with a new version (from Kary Klismet).
Grab Bag: The media conglomerate formerly known as Tribune Publishing, which changed its name to Tronc in 2016 (and has been ridiculed for the move ever since), is going back to its old name. … Lots of golfers at the U.S. Open wore old-school rope caps.
What Paul did last night: Thanks to everyone who offered support and kind thoughts, both in the comments and via email, regarding yesterday’s installment of WPDLN. Last night was better, as I went to see the new documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which is about Fred Rogers and his groundbreaking children’s TV show. If you grew up watching that show (as I did), you should definitely see this movie.
Among the many things I learned in this movie is that Rogers was an ordained minister. Maybe that helps explain the state of grace he always seemed to maintain. Unfailingly kind, endlessly creative, and fiercely devoted to his vision of connecting with children, he appears to have had a transformative effect on a huge number of people. Given that the national discussion at the moment involves children being separated from their parents, the film had some extra resonance last night, but there’s no bad time to see it. Bring some tissues — there are a few bits that are bound to make you a bit weepy.
I’m driving out to Long Island this morning to visit my mom, so I’ll be off the grid for a little bit while I’m on the road. Play nice while I’m away, yes? Yes. Thanks.
I umpired for several years, and the only ejection I ever had was on a take out slide at home in a U10 Little League tournament. Go figure.
Most of the verbal abuse would come not from players or coaches, but from parents (I umped from U10 to HS varsity/American Legion ball). In those cases, you’d have the coaches act as the intermediary to define the situation. Most players were just embarrassed by the adults’ behavior.
I generally enjoyed doing it, and as a summer gig paid well for something that never felt like work. I got some interesting experiences out of it (working games at minor league stadiums, including the one in Syracuse; calling games with teams from China), and a new appreciation for my favorite sport.
The Mr. Rogers documentary is getting stellar reviews around Pittsburgh from those who’ve seen it already. It’s definitely a must see for anyone who grew up watching his show.
I love the lead today. My parents own a camp up the road from a man who was a major league umpire for twenty years. He doesn’t speak often of his time behind the plate, but when he gets to telling stories he shares so many fascinating tidbits about baseball that even the most die hard fans might never know. Of course, his best stories are ones like those shared today, when players and managers got in his face and why he had to kick them out. In fact, I don’t recall the manager, but one time the manager of an AL team came out to him before the game and said, “I got tickets to a show tonight, so don’t take it personal when I come out in the first to argue.” Our umpire friend chuckled and kicked him out in the first for arguing balls and strikes. At the end of the next half inning the manager came back out to the field in a suit and said, “If you can find a way out, I got an extra ticket,” with a grin and a wink.
Love the umpire reports. They remind me of the scene in “Bull Durham” when Crash Davis gets egged into calling the umpire “a cocksucker” and then Millie correctly guessing what he said as if that was the magic word to get ejected. Most of the reports reference the umpire being called “a cocksucker.”
Reading all those reports all I could think of is “Crash Davis” would be proud”.
“New logo for the U19 world championships” belongs in the Football section, not Soccer.
Can’t help thinking that the trailer for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” should look something like this:
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Recall Bull Durham, when Crash was ejected following a titanic argument after a blown call. He was tossed for using the c-word. Millie, listening in the radio, knew immediately why he was ejected.
I owe Cork G a Coke.
Not sure is this has been referenced here before, but this page is great collection of football facemask oddities.
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After reading the first report, it was clear the Indianapolis Indians manager Eugene DeSautels was under a lot of stress in 1952. So I did a little [5 minute] mini-investigation and it turns out the last place Indy club in 1951 was struggling both on and off the field. In 1952 the Cleveland Indians bought the team, put DeSautels in at manager and they continued to struggle. He was manager only one season… or maybe the ump blew the call. Who knows?
In the comments on the tweet about the Mariners’ TATC helmet number inconsistency, someone claiming to be the batboy for the game takes responsibility.
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A quick google search shows a couple of those umps (Bob Stewart, Hal Dixon) later made the majors.
BTW – Stewart is spelled “Stuart” in the transcription.
Thanks – now fixed.
Mister Rogers was the best!
Man, is the lede today amazing. Great idea. I’d want to know what the coaches yell at referees in other sports as well….
Also, Celtic.
It looks like the only other times they’ve worn an actual Celtic cross as a crest were in their first season, 1888-89, and for a 125th anniversary version of that kit worn in 2012-13. This kit is reminiscent of those, but it’s not exactly the same.
Not sure how useful white is as a change color. As long as the potential third kit isn’t also white, I guess.
Interesting umpire reports. I ref high school basketball and we are required to complete reports each time a technical foul is assessed or player/coach ejected. Reading the reports ‘after the fact’ and without the context of the play/setting can be comical.
Proofreading in Football News: ‘Pakers’ QBs
Proofreading: Bob Dee, not Bod.
your speculation about when “motherfucker” came into wide circulation reminded me of a quote I heard recently. It feels appropriate to share while the World Cup is going on.
On the eve of independence for the colony of South Yemen, the last British governor is reported to have said: “You know, Minister, I believe that in the long view of history, the British Empire will be remembered only for two things. The game of soccer. And the expression ‘fuck off.’ “
The Kings player is Terry Harper, who wore #2 for Los Angeles and was their captain for the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons. I’ve narrowed the pic down to the 1974-75 season by identifying the Grizzly Adams-bearded Maple Leaf as the late Bill “Cowboy” Flett, who took over #19 after Paul Henderson went to the WHA and the Toros.
You have to scroll down, but here’s another pic of him wearing those same skates with the Kings’ all-gold set:
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Terry Harper is wearing Penta hockey skates.
From Detroit Free Press, Nov 1/75, page 7:
(taken from the OCR from newspapers.com)
“Those skates for instance. Harper uses a brand by the name of Penta. He helped developed them, helped engineer them, helped manufacture them, and now, even helps sell them. Obviously he has to do a selling job on the Wings. Nobody else on the team uses Pentas.”
link to article (can read the OCR)
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Thanks for identifying the players. Only one I recognized was Rogie Vachon in goal.
Looks like the Kings suffered from the same mis-matched purple phenomena as the Lakers and Vikings.
Bill Flett really was channeling his inner Teen-Wolf, wasn’t he?
There’s no link to the Mets player/glove story.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that “motherfucker” was originally an African American slang term and only came into general/white use because of the Vietnam War. (Which was the first war fought with an integrated military. (Yes, Truman ordered integration of the armed forces in 1948, before Korea, but it wasn’t fully effected till later. (Eg, the last all black unit was eliminated in 1954.)))
What you read is probably someone’s parochial memory. I remember my white boy self being well aware of and, on occasion, using that term as a youngster well before we were aware of the Vietnam war. So let’s not claim one race is responsible for it.
been around as long as Oedipus Rex I would say
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I umpired for about 5 or 6 years at the high school level. I never received any real verbal abuse from coaches or players. I suppose some of it has to do with making a good call. On close calls that could have gone either way you’d always get a coach complain, but never anything heated. Surprisingly players never really complained, which to me was a great thing, good parenting and/or coaching. Parents get loud and obnoxious at times.
As far as the reports go, I have to say I always dreaded that. You have to fill out the report and then deal with follow up from the umpires association and state high school sports board. Way more trouble than it would be worth. I never even came close to ejecting someone, but I always kept in my mind to give a lot to avoid it. I think the line they would have to cross would be profanity loud enough that the benches can hear it. Even then, that would be a warning, relegating the coach to the bench or asking the coach to take the player out of the game. You really don’t want to eject anyone at the high school level.
great umpire story. last night we had a tense one in SF- Mattingly said to Posey “you’re next” and then the next at bat, Posey was hit. Someone’s a** will be in the jackpot for that one.
I don’t see how Mattingly doesn’t get a suspension over that. It was so clear and obvious what he said, and then exactly that happened.
Pretty egregious.
Lee
I’m trying to figure out which of these would get me ejected from the Uni Watch comment section. But then Paul said we had to play nice today. *sigh*
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Surely “purplelover” would be the instant-ban utterance hereabouts!
Steven Brault did a fine job with the national anthem in last night’s game, but he sang it in a key that was too high for many spectators to join in.
It’s fun to put on an outfit and pretend you’re someone you’re not; I’m thinking about places where you would get to put on a costume and have a photo portrait taken. This might be one instance where “cultural appropriation” complaints are not valid. Another instance is wearing a costume as part of an educational presentation where dramatization would enhance the experience.
But wearing a costume to a sporting event or music festival runs the risk of devaluing the culture portrayed. Native American culture does not resonate with the non-American fans wearing Native headdress at the World Cup, so either they wear the headdress without giving it a second thought, or they are intentionally insensitive.
For a few years, as a teenager, I umpired little league baseball (10-11 year olds). One of the managers of the team was my dad’s best friend. I umpired a game for my dad’s friend’s team. He very early started arguing balls and strikes. I got tired of it and threw him out.
He was shocked. So was Dad.
Player/coach-official interaction really varies amongst sports. Just different cultures, I suppose. Baseball and hockey seem to allow the most profanity.
I’ve officiated at the highest level of college football and have never had a player or coach verbally abuse me in a personal manner. The only thing remotely close was a QB who had gotten legally flattened just after throwing a pass got up and started yelling right toward me “what the fuck, that’s fucking bullshit!” Cost him 15 yards. For the most part college football players don’t say boo to the officials. I’m sure it’s different in the NFL.
Rugby is generally quite respectful. The best clip I’ve seen is of the ref saying to a player who was moaning about a call “If you back chat me again it’ll be a penalty, this is not soccer”.
Only time I’ve been ejected in sports was as a 10 or 11 year old in a intra-squad practice game for my school’s soccer team (I made one appearance ever in an actual game lol) for shouting something like “Pass the damn ball!” at one of my own team mates.
I umpire youth baseball (8-12 year olds) and after 8 seasons I tossed someone for the first time 2 weeks ago. It was a parent sitting behind the backstop arguing balls and strikes. No profanity, but we really don’t have a lot of leeway for that kind of disrespect. Afterwards, other parents came up to me saying they were waiting all season for him to get tossed for his behavior.
Occasionally I’ll hear a kid whining on the bench, I let the coaches deal with that (and they do). Every once in a while I’ll get a coach disagreeing with me in a very humorous way (one third base coach liked to make a golfing swing when I called a really low strike).
Never eject a fan. You can ask the administrator to remove them, but that would only be for threatening you or cussing you. Only time.
Paul, I have been a Little League umpire for several years. Since we are starting the District all-star season this week, your post about umpire ejection reports is most timely.
Most Little League umpires are volunteers. Although some leagues pay for regular season umpires, all of the umpires in the International Tournament (think ESPN coverage of regionals and the World Series in Williamsport) are exclusively volunteer. Generally, I would agree with John’s comment that the parents dish out far more verbal abuse than everyone else combined. When the parents go off the deep end, sometimes I will remind them that I am a volunteer, and at the end of the day you get what you pay for. My son has seen this, and he now refuses to umpire Little League. He does not want to miss a call and have parents screaming at him.
I have been taught that in Little League, at least one of three “Ps” are part of an ejection – Profane, Personal or Prolonged. Profane is the most obvious, since Little League is a youth organization. Personal is also fairly straightforward – if a coach criticizes an umpire personally, that will probably earn him a one-way trip to the parking lot. Prolonged is a bit more subtle – everyone has the right to dispute whether or not the rules were applied properly to a situation. Once the coach has made his case, if the umpires do not agree, the coach either needs to let it go, or make a formal protest.
Last season I ejected a coach from a state tournament game. It was a hot July afternoon, and he was upset that things weren’t going well for his team. During a pitching change, he told me that the reason why he was mad was that the plate umpire (I had the first base position in a three-man crew) was making calls against his team. Since he was questioning the integrity of the plate umpire, I ejected him. To be honest, the guy behind the plate was not having that great of a day, so I felt bad about the ejection for the rest of the game.
When we came off the field at the end of the game, the tournament Umpire in Chief asked me for details in our debrief. I explained what happened, and he told me that I did the right thing by supporting my crew member. As the UIC put it, once the coach openly said a member of the umpiring crew was not being fair to his team, he could not remain in the game.
One of the things we stress in our plate meeting is that judgment calls – ball/strike, fair/foul, safe/out – are not arguable or subject to protest. That defuses a lot of the potential arguments before they start.
My son worked as an umpire in the local youth baseball league that he came up in. He’s fairly tall (6’3″), and since he was working with younger kids, they and the coaches wouldn’t normally recognize him. He recognized some of them, however (the coaches, at least), and even had occasion to throw a couple of them out of the game for verbal abuse.
Those umpire’s reports are gold. Paul, many thanks for the laughs which were much needed this morning.
My favorite experience as a ump was behind the plate for 10 year olds. I called an inside pitch a ball and the kid said very loudly, “Nope, I swung.”
and uni-related, whatever came of those supposed tweaks to the NY Jets? Anything to those rumors?
I Umpire youth baseball. Recently I ejected a kid for running over a catcher when there wasn’t a play. The coach didn’t see it and was quite upset. He was from a league with a reputation for being bad to umpires. It was clear he had no idea what happened and didn’t know the actual rule that a runner can’t hit the catcher. I didn’t eject the coach but I had to restrict him to the dugout.
he appears to have had a transformative effect on a huge number of people.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor should be required viewing for all professional baseball managers.
Interesting things from the reports posted.
1. Players were “put out” of the game. Not thrown out.
2. All games (with one exception) were under 3 hours. A good number under 2 1/2 hours. I wonder if Rob Manfred’s ancestors had anything to do with it :-P
All games (with one exception) were under 3 hours.
I think it’s safe to say that no minor league games in 1952 were televised (and neither were most big league games, for that matter), so the breaks in between half-innings were shorter. That had a lot to do with it.
Interesting stuff! A quick note on the transcription: “Desantels” should be “Desautels” (as someone mentioned above):
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and “Genevese” should be “Genovese”:
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That Polish kid is probably trying to emulate the Winged Hussars, more than offend any Native Americans while he’s in Russian watching a Eastern European team play a African team.
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Nobody ever said he was trying to “offend any Native Americans.”
Inappropriate behavior isn’t always intentional. But that doesn’t make it any less inappropriate.
As a highschool girls softball umpire we get more heat than most people think. Surprising to some but not to others, we take more flak at the junior levels. More times than not we run a single official at the plate and we get quite the amount of close calls at second base, these tend to get the coaches and parents as well fired up. I find it interesting almost humorous that when I have a close play at second and I’m 90 feet plus away from the call a coach or a parent always has something to say ESPECIALLY when they are further away from the call as I was and just happen to see the dust cloud from the play as they pull their ice cold tasty drink away from their “expert” faces….lol. I loved seeing these, it’s funny how my ejection paperwork looks amazingly close to my ejection reports of today. Thank you for posting this!!
You’re very welcome, Chris — thanks for sharing your experiences with us!
Paul, I referee youth soccer at a pretty high level. Our guidelines on coach discipline is very different than parent discipline. Very little is tolerated from parents; if they get mouthy, they are usually sent away (the rule is they have to be out of sight and sound from the field). Additionally, the coach is required to eject them; we can’t do it ourselves. If the coach refuses to do so, they are immediately dismissed. If the parent refuses to leave, we terminate the match. We are required to submit an online report to the state governing body for any incident and penalties can include fines and park bans; in fact, we have had to permanently ban one parent (as in if he sets foot on property, he will be arrested for trespassing) and tell his child he could no longer play for the club due to his parent’s behavior.
The coaches are disciplined with a three pronged approach- ask, tell, dismiss. First, we ask them to stop, then we tell them, and then they are dismissed. My general criteria is if it gets personal; they can say; “That’s an awful call, ref” and I let them vent. If they say, “You’re terrible.”, that gets addressed immediately. The other thing that gets addressed is constant complaining; that isn’t tolerated for long. Nonstop whining isn’t acceptable.
I will also note that, like some of the baseball umpires above, I have FAR more parent problems than coach problems.
Great info. Thanks!
The Wells Warriors isn’t the first school to keep the Warriors but change their logo. Henry Sibley Hugh School in Mendota Heights MN changed their logo form a Native to a knight over 10 years ago,
As the keeper of the American Association “flame” I am very pleased to see this article featuring American Association umpires from back in the day. I’m currently researching the league playoffs of the 1940s and came across the name “Applehans” which I wanted to check the spelling of. A google search brought he here and I’ve already shared the article with another AA aficionado. Where did you find these umpire reports? This is a fabulous report which i will finish reading later on today. If you’d like more info about my publication, the American Association Almanac (self-published and ad-free since 2001, please see my blogsite at link. Commending you on a super job with this!
Just what the NHL needs, more BFTSOB unis.