Managers Cry Foul, Umpires Yell ‘You’re Out’

A balk was called and Minnesota Twins coach Tony Oliva disagreed. He stepped out of the dugout with his arms in the air, and home plate umpire Steve Palermo was ready.

“I never said nothing,” Oliva said. “He walked straight toward me and I asked if he was talking to me. He said, ‘You’re a (expletive) hitting coach. You don’t know nothing about balks.’ ”

Palermo ejected Oliva and Twins Manager Tom Kelly tried to intervene. Oliva retreated to a dugout runway and Palermo pushed past Kelly in pursuit. Finally, Oliva disappeared and the episode ended.

But the problems have not gone away since that April incident.

The days when umpires would fold their arms, clench their jaw and walk away from arguments are over. Now, players and managers say, umpires heat up disputes and do little to cool them down.

“You might see a third-base umpire call someone out on a checked-swing to end the inning. Then, instead of walking into left field, he’ll walk toward the plate so the player has to cross him,” St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog said.

“Or you’ll see an umpire squeeze the strike zone on a rookie pitcher, trying to get him to say something,” he said. “You see it more with the younger guys, not the veteran umpires.”

The Official Baseball Rules offer these general instructions to umpires: “Do not forget that the first essential in working out of a bad situation is to keep your own temper and self-control.”

Yet the scene in the current beer commercial -- where the umpire turns away from a manager after a close call -- is no longer the norm. They used to say the best umpire was the one never seen, but now umpires seem to do more pointing and provoking and less listening.

Don Fehr, executive director of the Major League Players’ Association, has heard the complaints.

“We’ve been getting complaints from players about umpires in increasing numbers the last 18 months to two years,” Fehr said. “The players think the umpires are more concerned with asserting their authority than with calling the game.”

Union Counsel Gene Orza said, “The umpires no longer walk away from confrontations. They look for them.”

Said Cincinnati General Manager Murray Cook: “There’s a tendency in the last half-dozen years for some umpires to put themselves into confrontational postures.”

To which the umpires shout, “Out!”

“It’s no different than it ever was,” said Ed Vargo, supervisor of National League umpires. “Anytime you have players and managers and umpires, you’re going to have arguments. But there are no more than before, although they sometimes come in bunches.”

Pete Rose’s run-in with Dave Pallone got the debate going. Rose admitted his mistake, but blamed Pallone for escalating the altercation.

“I lost my cool in that situation. I was wrong,” Rose said. “But if he doesn’t touch me, I don’t touch him.”

Former Yankee Manager Billy Martin’s feud with the American League umpires was at the crux of the issue. After being suspended for his dirt-kicking argument with umpire Dale Scott on June 2, Martin became embroiled in a dispute with the league’s umpires, who threatened to eject him every time he stepped out of the dugout.

“I think they (umpires) have too much power. There’s no doubt in my mind,” Chicago Cubs Manager Don Zimmer. “When Billy Martin can’t come out of the dugout because a lawyer said so, then there’s something wrong.”

The “lawyer” is Richie Phillips, chief of the umpires’ union. During the Martin fiasco, Phillips declared, “Billy just doesn’t have the same rights and privileges that other American League managers have.”

After Commissioner Peter Ueberroth stepped into the squabble and told both sides to make amends, Martin apologized to the umpires. The umpires, however, did not issue any apologies and some saw that as another parade of their power.

Pitcher John Candelaria of the New York Yankees felt it earlier this season. While walking from the mound to the dugout at the end of an inning, he said something to umpire Durwood Merrill and was ejected.

“I asked what do I have to do to get a strike call and he tossed me for it,” Candelaria said.

Merrill presented another version, saying Candelaria’s language was not appropriate. There’s the old rule for arguing with umpires -- cursing the call is OK, swearing at the person who made it is not.

Umpires, while disputing that there is more trouble, are aware of the increased attention. Ron Luciano’s books detailing his experiences as an umpire may have made umpires less anonymous. Officials in all sports are getting noticed more, especially when there are conflicts.

“Every time I pick up a newspaper, I read about an umpire,” said Dutch Rennert, who joined the NL staff in 1974. “There’s more publicity than ever. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, or whether that makes the job tougher.”

Marty Springstead, supervisor of AL umpires, has a view held by many in the profession.

“With cable television, just about every game is televised and the equipment they have is more sophisticated,” Springstead said.

Meaning: More television means more scrutiny of umpires from viewers, and from those on the field.

“For years, the umpires were told they had to take charge,” said St. Louis’ Herzog. “Maybe we just didn’t notice it as much.”