Baseballhead:
A Tale of Two Prezzes

Michael Cox

It's that time again, and this week Baseballhead salutes the NBA -- thanks for being so crappy this year. That goes double for the Knicks.

The baseball world is all a-flutter about that little incident at Pro Player Park on Monday which ended in the first-ever use of instant replay in a Major League Baseball tilt (at least that anyone will own up to). In case you've been spending your time watching the Home and Gardening Channel or something silly like that, the scenario is this: Playing against the Cards, Marlins OF Cliff Floyd hits a ball off the scoreboard, which the umps rule a double. Floyd goes ballistic, and apparently threatens to hold his breath unless the umps call it a homer, which they inexplicably do.

The Cards, several of whom were closer to said scoreboard than any Marlin or umpire, take issue with the sudden reversal. After looking quizzically at each other for a moment, a lightbulb flickers above the head of plate ump Frank Pulli, and he and crew chief Greg Bonin commandeer a nearby monitor to see a replay. Thus enlightened, they reverse the call again, and Floyd is left stranded at second.

Fortunately, the NL is led by the coolest head in baseball, that connected to the shoulders of Len Coleman, who did what needed to be done on Tuesday: He condemned the use of replay in no uncertain terms, and forbade the umps to do it again.

Of course, the umpires would have never had to resort to replay if they had not let a whining player change their minds in the first place. The only thing that should affect an ump's call -- the only thing a player or coach should possibly be able to say that should result in reversal -- is to clarify a rule, including a ground rule, that the umpires did not remember. Nothing else. Nothing.

Yet we know that arguing does affect play. The desire to stay out of an argument keeps umpires from obeying the very rulebook they're paid to uphold. Heck, Paul O'Neill has made a hitting career out of loudly intimating that every called third strike was closer to first base than to the strike zone. But Pulli and Bonin let Floyd do the verbal equivalent of a basketball flop, and it caused the need for the even bigger error...

Even thinking about using replay. "Am I concerned about a precedent? I don't think it's going to happen," Pulli said, knowing that without a swift rebuke by Coleman, he most certainly did set a precedent. Not that umps care about setting precedents anyway, because that's why so many rules are treated as nonexistent by arbiters and players alike. Someone had to be the first to start calling the smaller strike zone. Someone had to be the first to allow a hitter to call time during a pitcher's windup. It was umpires, every time.

Hopefully, Coleman's statement will be the end of it, although I know that umps' union head Richie Phillips hasn't weighed in yet, but just remember while he's talking that he has no idea what he's saying and it'll be all right.

Item: Meanwhile, at almost the same time Coleman was making his wise statement, in the office downstairs, Gene "I'm Wacky" Budig was using his newest weapon in the fight against beanballs on Indians P Jaret Wright: the severe tongue-lashing. Just as Coleman consistently makes smart moves, Budig just as consistently makes the wrong ones, and this one was a doozy.

Budig, you see, is blinded by the utter beanball frenzy whirling all around him. He stays awake nights damning pitchers for starting brawls (although I've gotta say I've never seen a pitcher actually dash towards the hitter first. Ex-Yankee reliever Graeme Lloyd once came close but can be excused because he's Australian). In his mind, it's the damn pitchers who are to blame, and come hell or high water they won't get away with it on his watch.

So the past couple of years he assessed generous penalties to pitchers involved in anything resembling beanball wars, and was rightly criticized for doing so. He apparently was instructed by MLB brass prior to this season to assess suspensions only to pitchers ejected from games by the umps, because the umps were there and he wasn't. Budig alluded to this limitation this past week, when he called Wright into his office for a discussion regarding the pitcher's "deportment on the mound."

So what the hell is Budig going to do -- tell Wright not to pitch inside? Tell him baaaaad things will happen if he ever, ever hits another player? Tell meandering war stories, forgetting the endings? It seems that Commish Selig's office was asking the same questions, because the rumor is that they told Budig to watch himself, don't make the player or team angry, and never do this again.

Hey, that's almost what Budig was going to tell Wright!

about the author

Michael Cox was going to write about the Giants' criticisms of Phillies closer Wayne Gomes, but he understands that the Giants are quite easily offended, especially when they lose. So don't accuse him of relaying the Giants' signs via his writing at mc@strikethree.com.