The Little League World Series is the best sporting event you’re not watching. Take it from me, a connoisseur of the two-week delight, that it’s more compelling than the Olympics. There’s drama, tears, 12-year-old kids with braces throwing a baseball harder than you ever could. It’s a great watch, especially the championship game Sunday, when New York (aka America!) beat South Korea 2-1.
It was also a frustrating watch, as perhaps the worst umpire in championship history was behind the plate. In my opinion, his incredibly bad strike zone didn’t affect the outcome of the game, but it was so awful at times that I was able to passive-aggressively talk my editor into letting me post about it because let’s face it — it’s still August.
I didn’t Vine every bad call Sunday, but here is a collection of this umpire’s greatest hits.
It started with a curveball that broke right over the heart of the batter’s box chalk.
Hey, it happens. An umpire will see about 160 pitches over the course of a six-inning game, and he will miss one like this. No problem, right? Let’s continue to what I consider the best sports moment of 2016.
This was at least the second time the South Korea catcher pulled this. When he held the frame for a few seconds earlier in the game, the umpire said something like, “No.” I’m not sure if there was a language barrier or if the kid just didn’t care what this visually deficient man was saying, but on this pitch, he was holding it there until he came to his senses. Maybe he was looking to get ejected.
And that pitch gets all of the plate and is well above the knees. The pitcher is whipping the ball across his body so while it may look inside, it is not. The ball is a good 6 inches above the batter’s knee. It’s a strike. If there were ever a time to get ejected as a Little League manager, this was it.
Then, when you thought it couldn’t get any better…
GET OFF YOUR KNEES, UMP!
Look at how far outside that pitch is. The catcher frames the ball by pulling it over the batter’s box chalk… maybe. It’s a good 12-18 inches outside, which makes you wonder if the umpire thinks the batter’s box chalk is part of home plate. Check out the reaction of the pitcher. He’s mad at himself for missing that badly then jerks around when he gets the call.
Maybe you’re thinking that Little League umps need to call some balls as strikes to move the game along. Yeah, maybe in your town’s VFW vs. Knights of Columbus game, but not in the LLWS title game.
Even Eric Gregg’s 1997 NLCS Game 5 strike zone thinks the LLWS championship strike zone was bad.
This doesn’t include a crucial play in the sixth inning, when a South Korea player was hit by a pitch in the middle of a check swing. Instead of being awarded first base, Ol’ Blurry Eyes said he swung when he very clearly did not, ruling it a strike. The kid walked anyway but it may have been worse than any of the above calls you watched.
I already know what you’re saying. “These umpires are unpaid volunteers doing this. Cut them some slack.” No, I will not. That’s not an excuse. If you’re not good, stay home. I don’t think it mattered in this game, but maybe it did. And heck, if ESPN is paying your organization $60 million, maybe throw a few bucks at some better umpires to get the calls right.
