The legendary arguments between Baseball Managers and Umpires; Brent Bowers vs Billy Van Raaphorst an example
Baseball has, over the years, witnessed the managers of a baseball team arguing with all their might with the umpires on the field. For some reason, these arguments, which lead to sometimes explosive displays of fury, are tolerated and have become a part of the game of baseball. There are many reasons why managers confront umpires, but whatever the reason, they are a highly entertaining part of the game. Fans of the sport have come to expect outbursts by managers and it seems that they just got wilder and crazier as the years went by. Sometimes, the arguments and confrontations between managers and umpires got very ugly with swearing and racist and discriminatory comments featuring in the outburst. While an outburst is fun once ever so often, they should not get out of hand as they sometimes do.
Baseball is a game that has complex rules and regulations that can lead to many different interpretations. This is one of the biggest reasons for umpire-manager confrontations that take place in the game: the fact that in all sports that have an umpire or a referee, the final call always rests with one single individual. As they can make mistakes and don’t always make the right call, managers feel they have a right to challenge the call. Managers are a passionate bunch, who have a lot of pressure riding on their shoulders. Every win is a team effort but after every loss, the manager gets blamed. Therefore, they will try and make their teams win by challenging every call they think is wrong. Sometimes, the pressure during a baseball game starts to mount when a number of calls go against a particular team. The manager of that team will start to get angrier and angrier after every call that does not go his team’s way. This will usually end up with a huge outburst that will probably see the manager getting ejected from the game.
There are many reasons why managers charge out onto the field and confront umpires during a baseball game. The first one is the fact that they genuinely feel that a call was clearly wrong and they go out to argue against it. Another reason is that managers sometimes try and bring the focus of attention onto themselves and away from the players when a team is playing very poorly. That way, the media will have something else to focus on instead of the poor game being played. Then there is the need sometimes to rouse up a bunch of unmotivated players with a good performance by the leader on the field. Arguments can also be used to stand up for a player who is arguing a call and also a manager can sometimes sacrifice themselves by getting thrown out of the game instead of a star player who might be in trouble of getting ejected. Who would have thought that so much planning and thought goes into a simple argument over a bad call with an umpire?
Sometimes, the arguments that take place between an umpire and a manager can get very ugly. Managers have been known to shout their heads off at umpires, swear at them, call them derogatory names and be discriminatory as well. This is when confrontations between these two fiery and colourful characters of the game can become unwatchable and turn very nasty. Recently, a story came to light from the baseball world of Canada. The manager of the Edmonton Capitals stormed the pitch and started abusing the umpire. Brent Bowers, the manager of the Capitals, was furious over a call and started to shout and scream profanities at the openly g*y umpire, Billy Van Raaphorst. Bowers started to make derogatory remarks about the fact that Van Raaphorst was g*y and was ejected from the game. He was later suspended as field manager for his comments, but this incident highlights just how nasty these types of confrontations can get.
Hopefully, we will not see these kinds of ugly incidents in the game of baseball in the future. Even though arguments and violent ejections of managers have become commonplace in the sport, it is not a very nice aspect of baseball. As managers are now not allowed to confront umpires over calls anymore, it seems the governing body of the sport has at last decided to put a stop to the practice. This once entertaining and sometimes nasty activity within the sport is now confined to the history books, and we will not be able to see the crazy antics of managers that were so popular years ago.
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