For the Record...
In the interests of posterity and honesty, I am going to relate exactly what happened on Sunday, May 31, 2015 in a baseball game between the Gloucester Township Mariners and the Washington Township Senators. I will NOT mention any names, but will relate every other detail that I can for posterity. If anyone wishes to dispute the events described here, feel free. But this is the truth as I witnessed it.
In the fourth inning of the baseball game, our pitcher threw a pitch into the screen. It did NOT appear to be a fastball, but rather something off-speed. It was perhaps five feet behind the batter, and five feet above his head. Both umpires agree the pitch was NOT an attempt to hit the batter. At best, it was simply a splitter that got away. At worst, it was an act of childish frustration given the horrible way our defense was playing. Our pitcher was also frustrated with the umpire, who had not given him very many close pitches during the game. In any case, we do NOT excuse this action in any way; I am simply explaining it.
As our pitcher approached home plate to retrieve the throw from our catcher, the batter raised his bat, pointing it at him, and said something along the lines of "you better not be throwing at me." Unfortunately, most of us did not hear his exact words; there are those who say the threat was even worse ("I'm going to break this bat over your head"), but I cannot confirm this one way or the other, and the umpires certainly did not report this, though they did state that they could see how our pitcher might have taken this action as a threat to him. Our pitcher responded by threatening to throw the next pitch at the batter's head. At this point, both players were justifiably ejected from the game.
At this point, our pitcher went into a wild rage and charged at the umpires. Just as he reached the plate ump, our first baseman reached him and grabbed him into a solid hold. If there was physical contact between our pitcher and the umpire, it was very minor because he was restrained quickly by our player (the umpires confirmed this as well). Our pitcher continued to call the umpires names and several of our players heard him threaten the plate ump. It was something along the lines of "I'll kick your ass," but we cannot remember specifics. He also told the plate guy he had "little man's disease," and also "get off your knees, you're blowing the game." We are not denying any of this and never have. What our pitcher did was over-the-top and inexcusable, and no umpire should ever have to put up with such behavior.
Once our pitcher was hauled into our dugout, both players continued to threaten each other. At this time, the umpires made what we feel was their one major mistake in this event: they should have STOPPED the game and made each manager place their offending player in a car and then held the game up until each player had left the premises. Their failure to take this step would come into play very shortly.
The ruckus eventually died down. Our pitcher remained behind our dugout while the Mariner player involved disappeared. We were still focused on the game, but we certainly believed their guy had left the facility, as he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the Mariners did as well; we just don't know. My pitcher did confirm to me that he threw the pitch into the cage in frustration with both our play and with the performance of the umpires. At NO TIME did he say he intentionally threw at the batter. He did not. Of this I am absolutely certain because of a) the conversation we had in the dugout; b) the fact that his aim is not that bad; and c) because we didn't have ANY reason to throw at that particular hitter at that particular time. It simply made no sense to do so.
We brought in a new pitcher, and he got the final out of that inning. We batted in the top of the fifth and went down in order. When the bottom of the fifth resumed, there was suddenely a commotion, and I witnessed the entire Mariner dugout spill out and head toward the parking lot behind their bench. Our first baseman heard our pitcher yelling for help, he ran toward the melee as well, witnessing the two players squared off with fists raised and separately by about five feet. The entire Mariners team got there just ahead of our guy thanks to their more convenient position.
The rest of this account is courtesy of two of my players, both guys I trust implicitly to tell the truth. One was the aforementioned first baseman, and another is a Senator of 20 years. I saw NONE of this.
When the Mariner team reached the combatants, a Mariner player blind-sided our pitcher with great force, landing on top of him and breaking his left thumb. This despite the fact that the two combatants were literally almost five feet apart at the time. Clearly, protocol for such events is that you restrain YOUR player, not forcibly tackle the opposing team's player.
While this player/tackler held our guy on the ground, the Mariner combatant punched our guy in the head twice (this actually confirmed by the tackler in a conversation with one of our players, a friend of his, a day later), and the Mariner cobatant then, in a most cowardly fashion, kicked our player in the head. At this point, the Mariners were finally able to restrain their player (who whiffed on another kick attempt while being dragged away), and our guys reached the pile, with my first baseman physically pulling the tackler off our pitcher and then restraining our guy. At this point, the parking lot incident was basically finished and the umpires declared the game over. This was the only course of action to take, and we supported it then and now.
My pitcher states that he simply went to his car, opened his trunk, and was changing out of his spikes when the Mariner player he had screamed at emerged from his car, ran toward him, and stated he was going to kick his ass. My pitcher says he immediately called to our first baseman for help (this confirmed by the player) and tried to avoid contact with his attacker until help arrived.
The umpires remained on the field during the entire event, so they saw none of what transpired in the parking lot. Neither did I. Their account of the events on the field is virtually identical to what is written above. They stated they had "never witnessed an outburst like that," and that our pitcher was completely out of control. We agree with this.
After the game, the league officials received three accounts of these events. One from me, one from the umpires, and one from the Mariner manager. To my knowledge, NONE of these people saw what happened in the parking lot. I myself did not learn the specifics of the event until Tuesday, as I simply left the field after the game was called in a very dejected mood.
Two hours post game, the league made the ruling that our pitcher was suspended for the rest of the season, and that their combatant received just two games. This was all based upon what happened ON the field, with zero consideration given to what happened in the parking lot. That part, being out of the view of the umpires, was basically deemed as irrelevant.
Once I learned the basic details of what occurred in the parking lot, I asked the league to reconsider their position. Their responses indicated that the decision was "final and will stand."
On June 2, our team attorney (also a player and witness) sent a letter to the league president describing what he saw and asking for further action on the matter. He also talked to the other league "president" and had a verbal exchange during which he was again informed that the decision was final and would not be changed. This is now two days post incident.
Once our guy spoke to, and was stone-walled by both "executives," it was decided that we would send a letter to the President of the National MSBL to demand further action from them. This finally occurred on Monday, June 8. More than a full week had passed, and still no additional action was taken by, nor promised by, the local league.
At some point, our first baseman also sent an email to the league officials complaining about their inaction on this matter and demanding they call him. One of the pricipals did that, and they had a long discussion during which they promised that a meeting would be held. It is unclear whether this conversation changed their minds or if the letter to the National did the trick. But a meeting was scheduled between the two league officials, myself and the Mariner manager on Thursday, June 11. I requested that my first baseman be allowed to attend, as he had witnessed the event. This request was flat-out refused.
When I got to the meeting, it was clear that both league officials were extremely upset that we had sent a letter to the national and taken the incident out of their hands. This even though they had steadfastly refused to reverse their decision and had expressed this to everyone who spoke with them right up until the phone call with our first baseman, mentioned above. We had ZERO indication they were going to take action until AFTER the letter was sent to the National.
The first action at the meeting was to tell both managers that our scheduled doubleheader on June 14 would not be played and that the teams would get a "split". I did not react to this; I didn't care. The opposing manager was adamant that the games should not be canceled. He insisted that the entire thing was our fault and that the cancelation would never have happened if we had not "escalated" the matter.
The league officials then went on to read through a large number of notes that had taken while speaking with various players and people. Notably, not ONE Mariner player would own up to witnessing a single punch or kick thrown by their player. Not one. One player (a former Senator) did state that he witnessed the tackle, but that he only "heard" a punch landing. Nothing more. The incident of the tackler relating his view of the event to my player the next day was simply ignored, and my player was deemed a "drama queen" by one of the league officials.
One Mariner player stated that he encountered our pitcher behind their dugout as he was on his way to his car. He reports that our player was still "highly agitated" and angry at this point, and that he tried to calm him unsuccessfully. Another Mariner player states that he saw our pitcher running toward their player in the parking lot rather than the other way around. I have no way of confirming or refuting either of these things; I was not there to see it.
The league informed us that the National wanted "additional suspensions, including more to the Senators team." I was stunned to silence by that one, as I tried to imagine exactly what more of MY players might be suspended for. It made no sense.
The entire situation was additionally polluted by an email sent by my pitcher describing the events. The account was a farce and my guy portrayed himself as purely a victim of both their player and the umpires, a choir boy who had done virtually nothing wrong other than yelling at the umpires a little bit. This is a complete falsehood, and I maintain that our guy needed to take full responsibility for his actions on the field, at least, though they were not nearly as bad as what occurred OFF the field -- there was no PHYSICAL violence between the lines. But when you shirk that responsibility and bend the facts to match your narrative, anything else you say is unfortunately tainted. It's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" at its finest.
Anyway, since the National's solution involved more suspensions to MY players, I did not feel I could accept that, and knew that I would have to live with a compromise of sorts. The Mariner manager would not accept ANY punishment to the tackler, who happens to be his #1 pitcher. He maintained that player was "only trying to break up a fight," and that he could not be punished based upon the word of our first baseman, who "obviously has it in for my pitcher." That is a COMPLETE falsehood, by the way, as my first baseman held NO grudge against the tackler prior to this debacle. Further, our attorney also witnessed the tackle and subsequent punches and kicks. That was also pretty much ignored by the Mariner manager.
The bottom line was that I had to promise that this situation was "finished," and that neither myself or any of my players would continue to pursue this nor contact the league about it. This confirms my original assumption: the league wanted nothing to do with this situation in the first place, and simply wanted it to go away without having to make any hard decisions. The Mariner combatant had his suspension upped to five games, while the tackler, their #1 pitcher, got nothing. On my suggestion, the games were saved by moving them to July 12. The league hopes that everything will have died down by then.
My players have promised to take all of this out on the baseball field against the Mariners, and not via any other means. There will be no incidents started by us, period. But be assured that this has NOT been forgotten and that there will be NO niceties exchanged during these games. It will be all business and our mission in this business will be to beat the Mariners. It's the very least we can do.
In the fourth inning of the baseball game, our pitcher threw a pitch into the screen. It did NOT appear to be a fastball, but rather something off-speed. It was perhaps five feet behind the batter, and five feet above his head. Both umpires agree the pitch was NOT an attempt to hit the batter. At best, it was simply a splitter that got away. At worst, it was an act of childish frustration given the horrible way our defense was playing. Our pitcher was also frustrated with the umpire, who had not given him very many close pitches during the game. In any case, we do NOT excuse this action in any way; I am simply explaining it.
As our pitcher approached home plate to retrieve the throw from our catcher, the batter raised his bat, pointing it at him, and said something along the lines of "you better not be throwing at me." Unfortunately, most of us did not hear his exact words; there are those who say the threat was even worse ("I'm going to break this bat over your head"), but I cannot confirm this one way or the other, and the umpires certainly did not report this, though they did state that they could see how our pitcher might have taken this action as a threat to him. Our pitcher responded by threatening to throw the next pitch at the batter's head. At this point, both players were justifiably ejected from the game.
At this point, our pitcher went into a wild rage and charged at the umpires. Just as he reached the plate ump, our first baseman reached him and grabbed him into a solid hold. If there was physical contact between our pitcher and the umpire, it was very minor because he was restrained quickly by our player (the umpires confirmed this as well). Our pitcher continued to call the umpires names and several of our players heard him threaten the plate ump. It was something along the lines of "I'll kick your ass," but we cannot remember specifics. He also told the plate guy he had "little man's disease," and also "get off your knees, you're blowing the game." We are not denying any of this and never have. What our pitcher did was over-the-top and inexcusable, and no umpire should ever have to put up with such behavior.
Once our pitcher was hauled into our dugout, both players continued to threaten each other. At this time, the umpires made what we feel was their one major mistake in this event: they should have STOPPED the game and made each manager place their offending player in a car and then held the game up until each player had left the premises. Their failure to take this step would come into play very shortly.
The ruckus eventually died down. Our pitcher remained behind our dugout while the Mariner player involved disappeared. We were still focused on the game, but we certainly believed their guy had left the facility, as he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the Mariners did as well; we just don't know. My pitcher did confirm to me that he threw the pitch into the cage in frustration with both our play and with the performance of the umpires. At NO TIME did he say he intentionally threw at the batter. He did not. Of this I am absolutely certain because of a) the conversation we had in the dugout; b) the fact that his aim is not that bad; and c) because we didn't have ANY reason to throw at that particular hitter at that particular time. It simply made no sense to do so.
We brought in a new pitcher, and he got the final out of that inning. We batted in the top of the fifth and went down in order. When the bottom of the fifth resumed, there was suddenely a commotion, and I witnessed the entire Mariner dugout spill out and head toward the parking lot behind their bench. Our first baseman heard our pitcher yelling for help, he ran toward the melee as well, witnessing the two players squared off with fists raised and separately by about five feet. The entire Mariners team got there just ahead of our guy thanks to their more convenient position.
The rest of this account is courtesy of two of my players, both guys I trust implicitly to tell the truth. One was the aforementioned first baseman, and another is a Senator of 20 years. I saw NONE of this.
When the Mariner team reached the combatants, a Mariner player blind-sided our pitcher with great force, landing on top of him and breaking his left thumb. This despite the fact that the two combatants were literally almost five feet apart at the time. Clearly, protocol for such events is that you restrain YOUR player, not forcibly tackle the opposing team's player.
While this player/tackler held our guy on the ground, the Mariner combatant punched our guy in the head twice (this actually confirmed by the tackler in a conversation with one of our players, a friend of his, a day later), and the Mariner cobatant then, in a most cowardly fashion, kicked our player in the head. At this point, the Mariners were finally able to restrain their player (who whiffed on another kick attempt while being dragged away), and our guys reached the pile, with my first baseman physically pulling the tackler off our pitcher and then restraining our guy. At this point, the parking lot incident was basically finished and the umpires declared the game over. This was the only course of action to take, and we supported it then and now.
My pitcher states that he simply went to his car, opened his trunk, and was changing out of his spikes when the Mariner player he had screamed at emerged from his car, ran toward him, and stated he was going to kick his ass. My pitcher says he immediately called to our first baseman for help (this confirmed by the player) and tried to avoid contact with his attacker until help arrived.
The umpires remained on the field during the entire event, so they saw none of what transpired in the parking lot. Neither did I. Their account of the events on the field is virtually identical to what is written above. They stated they had "never witnessed an outburst like that," and that our pitcher was completely out of control. We agree with this.
After the game, the league officials received three accounts of these events. One from me, one from the umpires, and one from the Mariner manager. To my knowledge, NONE of these people saw what happened in the parking lot. I myself did not learn the specifics of the event until Tuesday, as I simply left the field after the game was called in a very dejected mood.
Two hours post game, the league made the ruling that our pitcher was suspended for the rest of the season, and that their combatant received just two games. This was all based upon what happened ON the field, with zero consideration given to what happened in the parking lot. That part, being out of the view of the umpires, was basically deemed as irrelevant.
Once I learned the basic details of what occurred in the parking lot, I asked the league to reconsider their position. Their responses indicated that the decision was "final and will stand."
On June 2, our team attorney (also a player and witness) sent a letter to the league president describing what he saw and asking for further action on the matter. He also talked to the other league "president" and had a verbal exchange during which he was again informed that the decision was final and would not be changed. This is now two days post incident.
Once our guy spoke to, and was stone-walled by both "executives," it was decided that we would send a letter to the President of the National MSBL to demand further action from them. This finally occurred on Monday, June 8. More than a full week had passed, and still no additional action was taken by, nor promised by, the local league.
At some point, our first baseman also sent an email to the league officials complaining about their inaction on this matter and demanding they call him. One of the pricipals did that, and they had a long discussion during which they promised that a meeting would be held. It is unclear whether this conversation changed their minds or if the letter to the National did the trick. But a meeting was scheduled between the two league officials, myself and the Mariner manager on Thursday, June 11. I requested that my first baseman be allowed to attend, as he had witnessed the event. This request was flat-out refused.
When I got to the meeting, it was clear that both league officials were extremely upset that we had sent a letter to the national and taken the incident out of their hands. This even though they had steadfastly refused to reverse their decision and had expressed this to everyone who spoke with them right up until the phone call with our first baseman, mentioned above. We had ZERO indication they were going to take action until AFTER the letter was sent to the National.
The first action at the meeting was to tell both managers that our scheduled doubleheader on June 14 would not be played and that the teams would get a "split". I did not react to this; I didn't care. The opposing manager was adamant that the games should not be canceled. He insisted that the entire thing was our fault and that the cancelation would never have happened if we had not "escalated" the matter.
The league officials then went on to read through a large number of notes that had taken while speaking with various players and people. Notably, not ONE Mariner player would own up to witnessing a single punch or kick thrown by their player. Not one. One player (a former Senator) did state that he witnessed the tackle, but that he only "heard" a punch landing. Nothing more. The incident of the tackler relating his view of the event to my player the next day was simply ignored, and my player was deemed a "drama queen" by one of the league officials.
One Mariner player stated that he encountered our pitcher behind their dugout as he was on his way to his car. He reports that our player was still "highly agitated" and angry at this point, and that he tried to calm him unsuccessfully. Another Mariner player states that he saw our pitcher running toward their player in the parking lot rather than the other way around. I have no way of confirming or refuting either of these things; I was not there to see it.
The league informed us that the National wanted "additional suspensions, including more to the Senators team." I was stunned to silence by that one, as I tried to imagine exactly what more of MY players might be suspended for. It made no sense.
The entire situation was additionally polluted by an email sent by my pitcher describing the events. The account was a farce and my guy portrayed himself as purely a victim of both their player and the umpires, a choir boy who had done virtually nothing wrong other than yelling at the umpires a little bit. This is a complete falsehood, and I maintain that our guy needed to take full responsibility for his actions on the field, at least, though they were not nearly as bad as what occurred OFF the field -- there was no PHYSICAL violence between the lines. But when you shirk that responsibility and bend the facts to match your narrative, anything else you say is unfortunately tainted. It's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" at its finest.
Anyway, since the National's solution involved more suspensions to MY players, I did not feel I could accept that, and knew that I would have to live with a compromise of sorts. The Mariner manager would not accept ANY punishment to the tackler, who happens to be his #1 pitcher. He maintained that player was "only trying to break up a fight," and that he could not be punished based upon the word of our first baseman, who "obviously has it in for my pitcher." That is a COMPLETE falsehood, by the way, as my first baseman held NO grudge against the tackler prior to this debacle. Further, our attorney also witnessed the tackle and subsequent punches and kicks. That was also pretty much ignored by the Mariner manager.
The bottom line was that I had to promise that this situation was "finished," and that neither myself or any of my players would continue to pursue this nor contact the league about it. This confirms my original assumption: the league wanted nothing to do with this situation in the first place, and simply wanted it to go away without having to make any hard decisions. The Mariner combatant had his suspension upped to five games, while the tackler, their #1 pitcher, got nothing. On my suggestion, the games were saved by moving them to July 12. The league hopes that everything will have died down by then.
My players have promised to take all of this out on the baseball field against the Mariners, and not via any other means. There will be no incidents started by us, period. But be assured that this has NOT been forgotten and that there will be NO niceties exchanged during these games. It will be all business and our mission in this business will be to beat the Mariners. It's the very least we can do.
posted by Nick Frese at 5:04 PM
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