HP Umpire Mike Estabrook ejected Royals designated hitter Billy Butler for arguing a strike call in the top of the 10th inning of the Royals-Twins game. With one out and one on, Butler took a 2-1 slider from Twins pitcher Glen Perkins for a called second strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located midpoint high and over the heart of home plate (sz_top = 3.480, pz = 3.464), the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the contest was tied, 3-3. The Twins ultimately won the contest, 4-3, in 10 innings.
This is Mike Estabrook (83)'s third ejection of 2012.
Mike Estabrook now has 8 points in the UEFL (3 Previous + 3 AAA + 2 Correct Call = 8).
Crew Chief Jerry Layne now has 12 points in the UEFL's Crew Division (11 Previous + 1 Correct = 12).
UEFL Standings Update
This is the 166th ejection of 2012.
This is the 73rd player ejection of 2012. Prior to his ejection, Billy Butler was 2-5 in the contest.^
This is the Royals' 8th ejection of 2012, T-2nd in the AL Central (DET 11; CLE, CWS, KC 8; MIN 6).
This is Billy Butler's first career MLB ejection.
This is Mike Estabrook's first ejection since September 8 (Carlos Pena; QOC = Incorrect).
Wrap: Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 9/13/12
Video: Butler ejected arguing a strike two call, ^subsequent PH swing & miss results in strikeout
This is Mike Estabrook (83)'s third ejection of 2012.
Mike Estabrook now has 8 points in the UEFL (3 Previous + 3 AAA + 2 Correct Call = 8).
Crew Chief Jerry Layne now has 12 points in the UEFL's Crew Division (11 Previous + 1 Correct = 12).
UEFL Standings Update
This is the 166th ejection of 2012.
This is the 73rd player ejection of 2012. Prior to his ejection, Billy Butler was 2-5 in the contest.^
This is the Royals' 8th ejection of 2012, T-2nd in the AL Central (DET 11; CLE, CWS, KC 8; MIN 6).
This is Billy Butler's first career MLB ejection.
This is Mike Estabrook's first ejection since September 8 (Carlos Pena; QOC = Incorrect).
Wrap: Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 9/13/12
Video: Butler ejected arguing a strike two call, ^subsequent PH swing & miss results in strikeout
20 comments :
here is the video:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=24748557&c_id=mlb
please be prepared announcers are overly polite to umpire..... and very reasonable!!
Very curious about the words exchanged...Estabrook was apparently pissed that Butler was not getting in the box, but then makes the mistake of stepping out in front of the catcher.
Oh well...As the announcers said, there's no way Butler can get himself tossed here. And the pitch was a strike.
WOW!! Mad props to the KC announcers for not being ignorant blowhard a-holes!!
looks like Billy said "you're f-in terrible" right before the EJ
Why is Estabrook ripping off the mask and stepping into Butler's personal space? Hey, Butler might very well have said something that fully deserved such a reaction from Estabrook, but now Estabrook looks like the aggressor here. I'm actually shocked Ned Yost didn't rip him another one to go with the one he got for showing up Jsson Kendall last year. Jerry Layne's presence might have helped keep Yost at bay.
Correction, the Estabrook-Kendall incident was two years ago. How time flies. I also misspelled Kendall's first name. Sorry, Jason!
If that were Chad Fairchild, that is definitely a ball.
Agreed with the EJ and the call but Estabrook needs to stay behind the catcher.
Here's what I don't understand. And I think Estabrook is a good umpire when he's not involved in some sort of heated discussion. Why does he (and I know others do it occasionally as well) need to take his mask off and stand face-to-face with Butler? I don't think I have ever seen Butler do anything other than hit the crap out of the ball (he seems to focus on his game, and is a great young talent with a good attitude - the anti-Kinsler). But in that position at that time of the game I don't envision him retracting what he said and apologizing to Estrabrook! And that pitch is hard for us to judge. Looks damn close to me.
Either toss him immediately, without prolonging things, or let it go if it is under his breath and not obvious. It's the 10th inning in a tie game, and I understand players getting heated. Umpires, however, need to be above that. (And I know based on officiating two sports that is often difficult - especially when you do an all-day tournament, for example!)
not sure why estabrook felt the need to approach him,
looked like he was muttering to himself, but again, we don't know what was said,
second time this season that butler has been unhappy with the strike zone in minesota- probably should have been tossed by meals earlier this year after muttering in the batters box arguing a pitch six inches inside- but thats typical of blown call prone meals
If he kept his mask on, nobody would know who he is....now we all do - good job Mike
Not taking the mask off is considered weak and meek...If I am about to enter a "discussion", the mask is coming off in short order.
My issue with Estabrook here and in other instances is that he always looks like the agressor, not by taking the mask off, but by going out towards the player. Make the player look like the agressor, and the EJ explains itself.
Butler had his say, walked away and came back for more, the topic was balls and strikes, NON ARGUEABLE. Estabrook let him have his say once, the mark of a tolerant umpire, but by coming back for a second round, no umpire should allow this to happen given the subject. Bill, I agree, not taking off the mask is not acceptable. Anytime you are doing anything other than calling a pitch, we were always taught the mask should be off. Tim Tschida wears his out to the mound to break up a conversation. Personally I can't get the mask removed quick enough. How you remove the mask also adds to the situation, take it off calmly and tuck under left arm slowly, complacency. Rip it off and wave it around in your left hand ala Ken Kaiser and a few others, rage. As far as Estabrook coming out from behind the catcher, looked to me like he just moved aside, to keep the catcher from being involved, a professional move. Ejection in my opinion handled well and deserved. Jerry Layne got there in good time, and directed traffic once the traffic jam ensued.
Davey Johnson ejected by 1st base umpire marvin hudson.
"As far as Estabrook coming out from behind the catcher, looked to me like he just moved aside, to keep the catcher from being involved, a professional move."
Dude, seriously. If that's what you see, then either you have a different video than the one I'm watching, or you are viewing it through the eyes of an apologist. Estabrook went after Butler and got in his face because Butler challenged his authoritah. It had absolutely nothing to do with the catcher "getting involved." Estabrook got pissed, became the aggressor and threw Butler out. End of story.
Off the mark once again Curt. Thanks for showing us all again. Even the announcers had it right on this one. It should have been over when Butler came back, but he had to continue... boom, mask off, another warning (whether you think it looked aggressive or not, that's what it was), Billy still not finished aaaaaaaaaannnddd... you're done.
-return of the anon you don't like
Anon, I see your reading comprehension and deductive reasoning skills haven't improved.
An umpire should never jump in a player's face. Ever. If you don't get that, then you are unfit to officiate any sport at any level.
If an umpire leaves his position and goes after a player, thereby keeping the argument going, and then ejects the player when he says "get the f--k out of my face motherf---er" (or something similar), the umpire is wrong. He is a bully who is abusing his authority.
This isn't Little League or High School Curt. I would agree with you if this was the case, but you need to find another site if you want to be correct in your reasoning. You simply have no business commenting on professional sports. No clue what actually happens on the field, nor do you have a clue as to what MLB is looking for.
Curt Crowley: "If an umpire leaves his position and goes after a player, thereby keeping the argument going..."
As I said in my previous post, it should have been over, but BUTLER kept the argument going, and to the point where Mike had to make a warning that was more obvious to everyone, whether it resulted in an EJ or not. If he made another warning with his mask on, you would be the type of person on here saying he ejected Butler too fast and you would have a problem with that too because you didn't see the two or three warnings that were actually given. Guess what, mask off, step forward since obviously Butler didn't hear the first two warnings, now everyone knows that he means business. Just leave it to the professionals from now on.
I don't know what curt's background is but he sounds like somebody who is an old school supervisor, evaluator or other position who's job was to keep umpires' a$$e$ out of trouble. I don't always agree with him but on this kind of stuff what he says is right. Don't lose your cool, go after players etc. and you will stay off big daddy's s&!t list. Act like a jerk and make the league look bad and the league will eventually make you look bad. Baseball doesn't want hotheads.
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