It's been an issue for over a century. Baseball players, managers, and umpires have simply not gotten along very well. Childish player outbursts that are generally condemned in Little League have become commonplace in the Major Leagues. In the eyes of the players, arguments should be permitted on any call they disagree with. The problem is, players expect calls to be 100% correct. The umpires appear ignorant to fans watching the game at home or in the ballpark, and are not held in high regard by the players, either. The men in blue, well, they seem perfectly fine with tossing players and coaches who yell at them, and don't think twice about it.
In practically every major sport, the athletes have a problem with the men that make the game possible, the guys enforcing the rulebook. Fact is, fans and players take the umpires for granted. A perfect game for an umpire is one where they go unnoticed. The only attention they receive is negative. And sure, umpires make mistakes; they're human. But the good calls they make can seem wrong as well, to the 40,000 home fans that all think they can call the game better.
Part 2 tomorrow.
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