Umpire Greg Gibson was injured after being spiked in the face during the Indians-Angels game. With none out and on in the bottom of the 5th inning, Angels batter Kendrys Morales doubled off Indians pitcher Ramon Hernandez, baserunner Torii Hunter attempting to score from first base on the hit to the right field wall. As the relay arrived from right fielder Shin-Soo Choo to shortstop Brent Lillibridge to catcher Carlos Santana, Gibson moved into position along the first base line extended. Replays indicate that as Hunter slid head-first through home plate, his left foot rebounded off the dirt and swung wildly towards the stationary Gibson, sending the umpire to the ground as Hunter himself rolled over. At the time of the injury, the Angels were leading, 7-0.
*UPDATE 10:00 P.M.* According to MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez, Greg Gibson received stiches above his left eye and was taken to an Anaheim-area hospital for precautionary X-rays.
Umpiring Alignment, 1st through 5th inning
HP: Greg Gibson.
1B: Manny Gonzalez. 2B: Gerry Davis. 3B: Phil Cuzzi.
Umpiring Alignment, 5th inning through end of game
HP: Manny Gonzalez. 1B: Gerry Davis. 3B: Phil Cuzzi.
Wrap:
Indians at Angels, 8/15/12
Video:
Greg Gibson spiked, exits game with bloodied face
As an aside, this is yet another instance in which we're seeing the minor league guy go put the gear on to replace the injured plate umpire, no matter what base he is at to start the day. Why isn't Gerry Davis, at second base, taking over behind the plate here?
ReplyDeleteI really liked to see that as Gibson went through the Angels dugout to the clubhouse, all the Angels players were wishing him well. And you never see BOTH the home & away trainers out so this must have been one really gnarly injury.
ReplyDelete@anon 9:16
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure of the reasoning, but it doesn't always work that way.
When Dale Scott left a game injured last week, the Triple-A Callup for injured Bill Miller was at 2nd base and CB Bucknor, who was at 3rd and just did the plate in his last game, took over behind the plate.
I couldn't get Audio, and I know it doesn't really matter in the big picture but what did they end up calling at home on Hunter, and how did they arrive at that conclusion? Would they use replay in this instance as an extenuating circumstance or is it up to the 3 guys on the field to call it?
ReplyDeleteThey called Hunter out, Davis made the call from first (Angels were winning by 7...).
ReplyDeleteAfter Gibson got up, he kept mouthing to Davis, "I'm fine, I'm okay." At one point he said, "Come on now, let's just play," but Davis just shook his head and said no. Very violent hit to the head, really spun him around and knocked him down but not out. And Torii was standing by the whole time, which I thought was a nice genuine gesture to make sure he was okay.
ReplyDeleteGibson is my favorite MLB umpire; I hope he makes a quick recovery. I imagine we will see him back on the field this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI remember Ron Luciano may moons ago saying the best position is to take the 'L', which you draw from the fielder making the throw, thereby positioning yourself on the first base side of the home plate circle.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, I bet he had a great look at the play. Got the call right, too.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, the large university hospital in Orange County (University of California, Irvine Medical Center) is literally just down the street from Anaheim Stadium.
ReplyDeleteNot that it matters, but it looked to me like the tag was missed, and Hunter was safe (combining information from multiple replay angles).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.freeimagehosting.net/37mro
But I'm glad they called that bum out on principle.... I mean who kicks umpires in the face? Really? ;)
I'm glad Greg is okay. You hear Torii in his interview after the game? He said he often wears metal spikes and just happened to be wearing the rubber bottoms on his cleats today! Here's Torii Hunter's quote:
ReplyDelete"I felt bad you know. It's a scary situation because when I kicked him, I wasn't thinking that I had my rubber-bottoms on. Because some days I wear my spikes and some days I don't, but I wasn't thinking about that until after the play was over. If I had my spikes, he could've been missing an eye. But he was cracking jokes. He wanted to stay in. Just too much blood. Tough guy."
Really anon 12:18? You cannot possibly believ Torii Hunter did this on purpose. Based on the fact that he stayed with Gibson as he was on the ground and that he sounded sincere in his interview tells me he feels horrible about it. This is nobody's fault, it was just a freak accident. Not that this had an outcome on the game at all and I can't get mad at Gerry Davis for making the call because from second base it probably looked like a routine out, but Hunter was absolutely safe on the play.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, umpires have been criticized for moving on these calls at the plate, but here you have an ump who is stationary, which ultimately made him a sitting duck for this freak accident.
ReplyDeleteWho ever said Gibson didn't make the call?? Hunter was out on the play anyway. If you pause at 1:21 right as his helmet starts to come off, you can see that it was the back of Santana's glove that caused it, after receiving the throw.
ReplyDeleteAm I missing something on the video but I did not see Gibson make any call what-so-ever (NOR did I expect him to after almost getting his eye taken out).
ReplyDeleteI've never seen this before and whether the runner was safe or out is really not important considering what happened on the play. With that said, does anyone know the following:
1. WHAT was the call at home?
2. WHEN was the call actually made
2. WHO made the call?
3. HOW did they arrive at the decision (if it wasn't Gibson who made the call)?
Someone mentioned Davis called him out from 1st base... I wonder how they arrived at that conclusion?
Russ:
ReplyDeleteThe other guy (not me, by the way), was being sarcastic. You could tell by the dopey smiley-face thing at the end of the sentence.
Jimmy-Joe:
ReplyDeleteActually when you see an umpire get hurt badly, you usually DO see both trainers out there. MLB trainers are like a separate little fraternity, and will also sometimes help out on a really nasty injury with a player.
Just wondering why he was not at 3rd base line extended. That is the mechanic for a typical play at home of this type, and probably would have prevented him from being in the line of injury. He looks awefully close to home plate from what I can see. Very unfortunate, but part of the game.
ReplyDeleteA GREAT example of why to NOT use this non-standard mechanic.
ReplyDeleteAs an athletic trainer, I consider the officials or umpires to be my responsibility absolutely when I am at a game. As the host, I believe that ultimately I am responsible for the healthcare of every single individual on that field (official/umpire, my team, coaches, and the other team if no AT with them).
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working in the Frontier League, we were responsible for the umpires when we hosted a game. Getting them water and treating injuries as needed. Now at the high school level, I keep water on hand for the officials (in football for example) because like I have told them before, I want to hydrate you before something rather than have to deal with you after something happens...
In MLB, it's typically the host team's medical staff that is responsible for the umpires. But when you have an umpire facedown in the dirt, you just react!
I've never umpired beyond high school, so I don't know all the advanced mechanics. That said, what is the rationale for an umpire being at the point of the plate extended for that play? Is that something that is taught at school? I can't remember ever being told to be anywhere but first or third base extended.
ReplyDelete