When I saw Mick or Yogi called out on close plays in the fifties I (from a Jr High Schooler’s perspective) was convinced that we were being jobbed, but after umping little league games in the eighties and nineties (because few other parents knew the rules) I took a more balanced view of the whole question, and thought that the Boss’s reactions to bad calls was not very evenhanded, with screwups being more or less even in terms of impacting us and the opposition. Recently, however, I am feeling more and more put upon by the umpiring, with this years being the most unprofessional and the worst in memory. I am not sure that my sample size is large enough for this to be a valid conclusion because I have missed blacked-out games, but I still feel jobbed again (after 50 years).

Do any others feel the same???

Aren’t you blaming the whole umpiring system? And if the whole umpiring system is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our baseball institutions in general? I put it to you, Horace – isn’t this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want, but I’m not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

/Animal House

Would he at least publicly acknowledge the extent of his insubordination, voluntarily suspend himself, and vow never to do it again?

Always have been, always will be…

To describe what Foster did as stupid is to rob the word of its commonly understood definition, which according to dictionary.com is “lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.”

That isn’t what Foster did. To the contrary, Foster arrogated to himself the ability to make up his own rules because he lacked the integrity to follow those prescribed by MLB.

If he had merely misinterpreted or misapplied the MLB rule, that could reasonably be called stupid. Ignoring the rule, however, is to defy established authority, which is insubordination.

It’s as if a lower court judge ruled that the Equal Protection Clause or the First Amendment didn’t exist, which would be an impeachable offense.

Foster has lost the standing to be an umpire. It’s time to go.

The question with Foster, though, is was this an honest mistake. Which leads to…

[29] I think that a lot of people are misunderstanding what Foster (presumably) meant by what he (presumably) said. I don’t think that he was “flouting the rules” or even a misunderstanding of the rules. Rather, it had long been one of those “unwritten rules’ (see [14]), an unfortunate but all too common “courtesy” that when a throw beats the runner by a mile, he will be called out. It is exactly equivalent to the “neighborhood call” at second base (see [26]).

Rance Mulliniks, the former player and now Jays announcer, basically said the same thing: (paraphrasing) “When the throw beats you [the runner], you’re usually not going to get that call.”

Hirschbeck said the same thing: “…Nowadays, with the cameras, ESPN and the reporters, I say the media, I actually mean television — it used to be if the ball beat you, you were out, but it isn’t that way anymore. It’s not a reason to call someone out. You have to make a good tag.”

Now, this does not make what Foster did acceptable–it’s not. And indeed Hirschbeck’s statement indicates that umps have moved away from this type of call (not because it was wrong. mind you, only because more cameras put them under greater scrutiny). But the reality is that Foster’s bigger mistake made was in being too explicit in admitting that he called Jeter out because the throw beat him. If he just went through the motions and said “from my view he tagged you,” everyone would have accepted it–even though most would have known deep down that the call was made because the throw arrived well before the runner, not because of the tag.

All umps DO do that. To do the show it-pull it away or any other slick move to beat a waiting tag, you need to have the ump actually see it clearly, and sometimes positioning doesn’t allow that. Foster’s point (if we care to give him any benefit of any doubt as a veteran ump) is that since he didn’t see Jeter dodge the glove, he had to go with the ball arriving first, and Jeter knows that’s what umps will do.

I am aware that this isn’t how he SEEMS to have put it (he doesn’t have to tag you) but since that is so entirely outside the rulebook, it really only makes sense to put this kind of spin on it. So he missed a call, just as Teixeira’s slide to home earlier in the series was missed by an ump in the wrong position (too far up third base line … hey, was it Foster?) and the ball arriving first ruled the day.

Every player knows he’s taking a chance on his nifty evasion being missed.

The one at 2nd base was just flat-out bad.

[28] Bud, EVERYONE cares. We also mostly know it evens out, and calls will be blown. Sometimes (playoff games, any sport)m it is more painful than others. We all know examples. Jeter got a homer on one.

That’s where I disagree. I don’t think it was stupid, I think Foster’s blatant attempt to flout the rules demonstrated such a lack of integrity that he no longer possesses the requisite authority to be a credible umpire. To make matters worse, he didn’t have the guts to face the press after the game.