{"id":544142,"date":"2026-03-25T10:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544142\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:11:10","slug":"abs-is-here-so-what-reason-do-mlb-managers-have-left-to-kick-dirt-on-umpires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544142\/","title":{"rendered":"ABS is here, so what reason do MLB managers have left to kick dirt on umpires?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If only to fend off the OK Boomer Brigade, let\u2019s get this right out of the way: I\u2019m all in on MLB\u2019s next big step to improve the manner in which games are officiated. As we\u2019ve learned from years of minor-league and spring training trial runs, the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System isn\u2019t going to lead to night after night of games being brought to a grinding halt, and that\u2019s as important as \u201cgetting the call right.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, sure, bring it on. Just as the late 20th century gave us the wave, we\u2019re about to enter an era of fans tapping themselves on their heads every time they disagree with a ball\/strike call.<\/p>\n

But we do lose a little of the human element whenever the next new gizmo is added to sports. We can all agree, then, that ABS is another sign that we\u2019re moving ever closer to the Big Adios for those epic manager-umpire brouhahas that have been a part of the game since the days of the Troy Trojans and Worcester Ruby Legs.<\/p>\n

Ever hear of Leo Durocher? Not for nothing was the Hall of Fame manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros called \u201cThe Lip.\u201d Durocher also did some acting in his day, and, playing himself in a 1963 episode of the sitcom \u201cMr. Ed,\u201d<\/a> said, \u201cLook, mister, I can\u2019t bother with you. I gotta go kill me an umpire.\u201d Earl Weaver, the ever-over-boiling teapot of a manager of the Baltimore Orioles, once directed a profanity-laden tirade at umpire Bill Haller that\u2019ll live forever on YouTube<\/a>. Lou Piniella, who managed the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Cubs, was the all-time best at dislodging bases and throwing them into the outfield.<\/p>\n

Managerial meltdowns won\u2019t completely go away, of course. But the ABS challenge system is another indicator we\u2019re not going to see as many of them. Thankfully, we still have Yankees manager Aaron Boone and his flair for the outrageous. As a third-generation big-leaguer, it\u2019s probably in his DNA.<\/p>\n

Former MLB umpire Dale Scott, who has signed on with MLB Network as an \u201cumpire analyst\u201d and will be working Wednesday night\u2019s Yankees-Giants 2026 season opener at San Francisco\u2019s Oracle Park for Netflix, is in the camp that believes managers and umpires will forever find ways to go at each other\u2019s throats. But maybe not as colorfully as in days of old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to say you won\u2019t see any, because you\u2019ll still see plenty of them,\u201d Scott said. \u201cBut with this challenge system, when a guy thinks on a big pitch he got screwed or something, the challenge is going to correct that if it was an incorrect call.\u201d<\/p>\n

During my own days as a beat writer, Scott was one of the umpires in the biggest \u2014 and, I guess, the best \u2014 managerial tirade I ever covered. And it was literally a dust-up, with Yankees manager Billy Martin kicking and throwing dirt at Scott after being ejected in the third inning of a May 30, 1988, game between the Yankees and Oakland A\u2019s at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The incident did not involve a ball\/strike call but a line drive by the A\u2019s Walt Weiss to second baseman Bobby Meacham that was ruled a trap by first base umpire Rick Reed. But Martin directed his venom at Scott, the second base umpire, who, the manager believed, had seen what \u201creally\u201d happened and should have stepped in.<\/p>\n

To add to the festivities, it was Memorial Day, and the game was televised nationally. Scott was just 28 at the time, in his third season as a big-league umpire, and it was the first time he was involved in one of these hardball carnival acts.<\/p>\n

Martin was suspended for three games and fined $1,000. About three weeks later, he was fired by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Martin never managed again. Scott, then, goes into the books as the last umpire to run Billy Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it was fun at the time, but I look back at it now, and it truly is amazing to me, it was almost 40 years ago,\u201d Scott said. \u201cTime heals those anxiety attacks from when they were happening. There\u2019s some fondness now, but at the time, it was a big deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t like to be the story any time you\u2019re caught up in something that is more than a night at the ballpark. But now I can look at it as just one of many situations I was in over 32 years as a big-league umpire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Lou Piniella, right, argues a call with Rick Reed in 2001. (Matthew Stockman \/ Allsport via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Had a review system been in place 38 years ago, Martin surely would have challenged Reed\u2019s call. Reed \u2014 and Scott \u2014 would have been able to stand idly by while crew chief Richie Garcia awaited the review from MLB. Whatever their decision, Martin would not have thrown or kicked dirt on Scott. Who knows: Absent the three-game suspension, Martin might have served out the season as manager of the Yankees.<\/p>\n

And so it will be with MLB\u2019s vaunted ABS challenge system. All it\u2019ll take is for the catcher, batter or pitcher to tap the top of his noggin to get a questionable ball\/strike placed under a microscope for review.<\/p>\n

And all will be right in the baseball world. But a little less fiery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If only to fend off the OK Boomer Brigade, let\u2019s get this right out of the way: I\u2019m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,1767,99],"class_list":["post-544142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-opinion","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}