Jul 30, 2005

statistics on rage towards umpires

Times umpire was called "blind," "nearsighted," "poor of vision," or "sightless": 45,264

Times umpire was asked to purchase spectacles: 38,407

Times umpire's sexual adequacy was called into question: 8,216

Times dirt was kicked by player at umpire: 6,772

By manager: 17,183

Number of umpires struck by baseballs, bats, or helmets: 5,223

Average sick leave taken by umpires after such incidents: 8 days

Number of players ejected for threatening or harassing umpires: 45,862

Number of managers ejected: 349

Number of sunflower seeds surgically removed from one beleaguered ump, circa 1927: 78

All statistics found in The American Experience: Baseball as a Way of Life, 2003, and represent the years 1960-2002.

[twenty-ninth in a series]

1 comment:

TeacherRefPoet said...

Addenda:

Number of times I was sworn at by drunken beer-league softball players (in a two-year career): 5

Number of times a student at a basketball game has screamed at me that "You look like a horse!" 1

Sound aforementioned student made to taunt me: "Hee-haw!"

Apparent quality of Seattle Public Schools' Kindergarten Animal Sounds Unit: Zero

Number of times a teenage partner of mine was knocked to the ground by a parent at an eighth-grade girls' game: 1

Number of times I've needed a police escort to leave a game: 0 (so far...it's a matter of time)