Bring on the robots… I’ve had it with the “Ump Show.”
In case you’ve never heard of the term “Ump Show,” it simply refers to the act of a major league baseball umpire taking over a game by making themselves the center of attention. Unfortunately, it happens a lot more than it should, though the retirement of Angel Hernández did help the fight against bad umping.
But it looks like home plate umpire Emil Jimenez is making up for the loss of Hernández. Earlier today, the second year ump successfully took the attention away from the “old ballgame” and shined the spotlight right on himself. A questionable call on a pitch garnered a look from the batter, Washington Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas, and that eye contact apparently warranted an ejection in the eyes of the umpire.
You can go ahead and watch the video below – though I’ll warn you, it doesn’t make the whole situation make any more sense:
Audio and video of Lane Thomas' ejection. He literally doesn't say a word before he's tossed by home plate umpire Emil Jimenez, who is a second-year ump. pic.twitter.com/sahRKUz32f
— Bobby Blanco (@Bobby_Blanco) June 13, 2024
As you can see (and as you can hear in the collective despondence of the announcers), Thomas merely looked back at the home plate umpire. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t gesture anything. He didn’t even blink a curse word in morse code.
EJECTED.
If you look up “Ump Show” in the dictionary, this should be in the “see example” portion. This is a textbook case of an umpire needing to make a game about himself, thus taking out his anger and ineptitude on an undeserving MLB player. Needless to say, social media was pretty fired up about the unnecessary ejection:
Is there anything softer than an MLB umpire?
— Charlie Fox (@CapsFan0) June 13, 2024
Power trip. Ejections need to be reserved for actual issues, not just because an ump has his feelings hurt. ESPECIALLY not in an (at the time) tied game.
— RealNatsNews (@Real_NatsNews) June 13, 2024
Should be able to review ejections and if they get overturned the ump has to apologize to the entire stadium for slowing the game down
— Bennett (@BennettDubrow_) June 13, 2024
Glad the ump was there today. I’m sure everyone was happy to watch his performance.
— Tom Natali (@Tom_Natali) June 13, 2024
I love that umpires are far and away the thing hurting baseball the most while adding no value.
— NRLBLGhost supports Palestine (@UnreliableGhost) June 13, 2024
