In Daytona’s 2-1 win over Fort Myers on August 1st, the home plate umpire ejected the Cubs “music guy” for playing a non-lyrical version of “Three Blind Mice,” and demanded no music and no PA announcements for the remainder of the game.
Does an umpire really have that much authority?
Yes, the umpire has the authority to manage the game, including the employees of the clubs involved. He can end the game at any time for cause.
In high school, I was the statistician for our baseball team. During a state championship, we had an umpire who was VERY biased against our team — the officials were from collegiate level so I am not sure why they were so against a high school team. I made a few choice comments from the dugout regarding bad calls and missed calls (umpire called strike three when it was strike two and argued the point) and in the third inning, I was ejected. Our head coach, who had also been questioning the calls, went out to argue that as a non-player, I wasn’t able to be ejected. Turned into quite a drama with our head coach being ejected as well.
From the stands, I continued to keep the books and in the bottom of the 9th, discovered the other team had skipped a batter. I had to get the attention of our first base coach, who then informed the officials. Once they discovered the skipped batter, automatic 2 outs, our team won and went on to the finals. First and only time I was ejected and won a game… all in the same day
I believe a few well placed rifle rounds would make ol’ umpy dance a nice Irish jig, and maybe even ask to go play the organ himself.