It’s not that serious…
With the arrival of spring, Little League season is getting ready to kick off around the country – which of course means the ridiculous antics from parents that come with it.
If you grew up playing baseball at some point, there’s a very good chance that you witnessed a parent treating a meaningless youth league game like it’s game seven of the World Series, and going absolutely ballistic on their kid, the coaches, the umpires, or all of the above.
Like this guy from last season who took it way too far and got physical with the signal-caller.
According to the New York Post, the incident took place in Florida during a high school playoff game, where viral video footage showed Jorge Ignacio Aponte-Gonzalez sucker punching an unsuspecting umpire, all because his son was bad mouthing the ump, who in turn was telling him to tone it down.
Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez told the outlet:
“The umpire is obviously going to maintain control of the game, because that is what they are there to do. To make sure kids learn all about unsportsmanlike conduct.”
The 63-years old umpire, Reinaldo Mora, was telling the player to control himself:
“The kid was being disruptive, so the umpire’s like, ‘Hey, tone it down,’ maintaining control. They went back and forth a little bit. I don’t know exactly what was exchanged, but… that is what upset the father.”
After the discussion, the umpire walked over to a gate to wait for a another to sub in for a few innings.
That’s when Aponte-Gonzalez walked over to Mora and socked him from behind, knocking him to the ground. You can then see players and parents run over to help the umpire out as he laid there unconscious on the field.
Lopez continued:
“This umpire is a 63-year-old man. He’s a veteran. A United States military veteran. He does this because he has a passion for baseball and he likes to give back to his community. He loves to dedicate his time to baseball and kids.”
Aponte-Gonzalez told arresting officers that he was just defending his kid after his arrest, and showed no remorse for his move.
Defending him from what? Looks to me like the umpire was just standing there…
Mora spoke to the local news after the incident, saying that he didn’t recognize the father and didn’t even see him walking up to him:
“All of a sudden I felt something here in my temple knock me down…
I don’t even know him. I don’t know his face.”
Lopez said he talked to the umpire, who said he wanted the father prosecuted so that other referees and umpires don’t get into a similar situation.
“There should be no parent acting like this public.”
Aponte-Gonzalez was charged with battery on a sports official and disruption of a school function. He would later plead no contest to battery on a sports official, and was sentenced to a year of probation and banned from future events at Liberty High School. He was also ordered to write a letter of apology to the victim.
Certified scumbag.
