May 09, 2006
Throwing the Book At Him
Delmon Young received a 50 game suspension today for throwing his bat at an umpire:
"The Tampa Bay Devil Rays fully support the decision," the team said in a statement. "As stated before, we do not tolerate this type of conduct from anyone in the Devil Rays' organization."
The suspension is retroactive to April 27, the day after Young tossed his bat in a Triple-A game while playing for Durham. The 20-year-old outfielder has agreed to perform at least 50 hours of community service, and can play again June 19.
Good. I don't care how badly the umpires call a game, there is no place for violence against them.
I personally would have supported a suspension for the rest of the season. He got off lightly in my book.
If only he'd spit on the umpire too, then he would have gotten 55 games.
Maybe he can wear an "A" instead of his regular 35. At least he can hit the juice on his break.
I believe that, violence against opponents being abhorrent notwithstanding, violence against a referee or umpire is deserving of a lifetime ban for any and all. There can be no place and there can be no slap on this wrist for this precedent setting behavior by a player. What's next...punching out the ref because you don't like a call?
