Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an umpire podcast.
My name is Daryl, and I will be your host as
we take a look behind the mask, so to speak,
sharing stories, insights, and experiences from
the unique perspective of the baseball umpire.
In this episode, we're going to talk a little
bit about a couple of controversies that have
happened in Little League so far this season.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas
for future episodes, drop me a line at bluecrewdiaries
at gmail .com. So if you're ready, grab your
indicator and plate brush, and let's hit the
field. Alright everybody, welcome back to another
episode here of the Blue Crew Diaries, and I'll
buy your podcast. Interesting couple of weeks
it has been. Had a little bit of controversy
down in New Jersey and also had a little bit
up here in Maine. So we're going to get into
that in just a minute. But as always, some just
basic announcements. The first one is to all
of the umpires that are working the Little League
regional tournaments, state tournaments, which
are pretty much wrapping up. And the World Series
tournaments, best of luck to all of you. Having
just worked a couple of state games myself, I
know it is not exactly easy. So, best of luck
to all of you. Really looking forward to watching
the regionals in the World Series. And, yeah.
Watching the kids have some fun. Let's see, what
else we got here? Again, as always, Little League
Umpire Outreach Clinics are still going on. You
can sign up for those on littleleagueumpire .org,
the Little League Umpire Registry. Even if you
don't intend to sign up for one of these outreach
clinics or the ID camps, they're doing a bunch
of those this fall. Those are on there as well.
even if you don't plan on signing up for any
of this stuff, at least sign up for the umpire
registry. A lot of good stuff on there, and you
can make yourself and your information, as far
as contact info, visible to whatever leagues
you want in your area. So if they need an umpire,
they can contact you, and maybe you can help
them out. Also, there's the rules challenge on
the registry. There's training material, just
all kinds of stuff. Highly recommend it if you
have not done so already. And if you are interested
in really learning the rules, once again, California
District 4, check them out on YouTube. A lot
of good stuff there. As for me, I have... Pretty
much concluded my season. It's more or less done
and over with unless I randomly get a call, which
I don't think is going to happen because pretty
much Little League is done in this area. All
the state championships are done. There's really
nothing left to do. So I worked my last two games
this past week. which were 8 -9 -10, or some
people call them 10 -U, and then others will
complain, there's no 10 -U in Little League.
Okay, 8 -9 -10 were two state tournament games
for that. It was different. It really was. A
lot more pressure because it's a state championship
tournament. totally different venue than I'm
used to. This is the first state game I've worked,
and this is actually the first game that I've
worked that has not had a team from the league
that I normally umpire for in the tournament.
So I feel very fortunate to have been asked to
work a couple of the games. Let's just say the
games did not go as I had hoped, but that's another
topic for another episode. Maybe I'll get into
that next month. But, as far as this episode,
yes, I know it's going to be a few days early,
but we'll just consider this the... the August
2025 episode, but I wanted to do an episode on
some of the stuff that's been happening, one
of which, if you know, you know, if you pay attention
to Little League, I'm more than certain that
you've already heard about it, and that is the
Haddonfield, New Jersey bat flip. Call it that.
So, last week, on July 16th, a Little Leaguer
from Haddonfield, New Jersey, Haddonfield Little
League, cranked a two -run homer in the final
game of the sectional tournament. Great hit.
There's video all over of it. It's a home run
out over the fence. And then as he starts going
down the first baseline, he flips the bat in
the air. Now, how many times have you seen something
like that? You see it at the Little League World
Series. You see it in even just regular recreational
games. If somebody hits a home run or something,
they throw the bat in the air. It's a celebratory
thing. One of the umpires that was working that
game ejected the player for the bat flip. And
he pulled out the no horse play. card from the
rulebook. So obviously this got major attention
because with that ejection this player is also
suspended from the next played game which was
their first game in the state championship tournament
in New Jersey. So This player's parents decided
to file a temporary restraining order against
Little League to basically put that one game
suspension on hold so he could then play in the
state tournament. It went to court. And the judge
that heard the case basically said, you know
what, this is stupid. I am going to lift the
suspension and he will be allowed to play. Now
the judge made a very good point with this. A
good part of the reason that he... ruled the
way he did was due to the fact that little league
themselves have posted video on social media
and and all over the place of a player hitting
a home run as the world series flipping the bat
in the air as he's running down the or he or
she is running down the first baseline promoting,
celebrating. And that is essentially what the
judge said. Like, you promote, you know, you
want kids to be happy, you want kids to celebrate,
but then when they do celebrate, you just shut
it down. Because, oh, well, he flipped the bat
in the air. Now, yes, I understand their... is
a safety issue here but if you watch the video
real close when the player throws the bat first
thing he does is look up to make sure the bat's
not going to hit anything or anyone he he wants
to make sure that the bat is going where he thinks
it's going as far as what the umpire was thinking
and why he pulled out the horseplay card, if
you will. He also pulled out the unsportsmanlike
conduct card. But as far as what he was thinking
and why he ejected this player, I don't know.
I really don't. But everybody in the grandmother
is now going after Little League about this.
well, you know, why are you suspending him and
this and that and the other thing? Well, it's
right in the rulebook. In the tournament rules,
if a player is ejected from a game, they are
suspended from the next played game by that team.
I mean, it's very simple. I think what a lot
of people are upset about is the fact that Little
League, upon finding this out, Did not. More
or less reverse. The umpire's decision. They
just. Went with the umpire's judgment. And okay.
You ejected him. So he suspended. Period. Done
and over with. I honestly. I mean. Those of you
that. That listen to this podcast. That know
me. that I've worked games with, or you've seen
me work games, you will know that I have a very
high tolerance for, let's just call it BS. A
very high tolerance. As I alluded to in a former
episode of this podcast, last year I literally
had two managers. manager from each team, standing
on each side of home plate, screaming at each
other in the middle of a game over a possible
obstruction call. And I did not eject either
one of them. I should have. I mean, hindsight
being 20 -20, they should have been gone. But
I didn't do it. So, something as simple as a
kid flipping a bat, I mean, come on. Now, again,
I can't speak for Little League. I can't speak
for that umpire. But I think an ejection was
a little extreme. You know, that should have
been when the batter comes back around, hey,
don't throw the bat again. Simple. Or you go
to the coach. Hey, coach, can you please tell
him next time don't do the bat flip because of
this reason? You know, whatever the umpire's
reasoning was. And have the coach talk to the
player. And that's it. There's no ejection. There's
no suspension. Now, if the kid does it again
in the same game after you've warned him not
to. then yeah, that's worthy of an ejection.
But the first time, I think a warning would have
been more than adequate there. So those are my
thoughts on that one. The next one that I want
to talk about is the... Issue that we had up
here in Maine with the state majors tournament.
Now, some of you may have heard about this. Others
may not have. So basically what happened was
a majors all -star team from Gorham, Maine. They
won their district championship and went to states.
The state tournament was held in Machias, Maine.
They were the host town or city, whatever you
want to call it. I think Machias is a city. Maybe
they're a town. I don't know. Anyway, the state
tournament was held in Machias, which is like
three and a half to four hours away from Gorham.
Essentially what happened, and this is just information
that I have from publicly available sources from
both Gorham Little League and Machias Little
League. This is all stuff that they have posted
on social media, so I'm not making any of this
up. all of their games in for at least some of
their players. Now, for those of you who are
unaware, Little League has a rule that in order
to be eligible for All -Stars, you have to play
a minimum of 12 regular season games. Now, I
can understand why Gorham didn't get all 12 games
in because we had a hell of a lot of rain up
here this spring. In fact, the league that I
normally umpire for, we actually lost one of
our two fields because it was a mud hole the
entire season. Pretty much the entire season.
The field was just absolutely unplayable due
to the amount of rain that we got this spring.
So we end up having to find other places. Luckily,
we had a couple of other fields around that we
were able to work games at. So Gorham apparently
did not have that option, which I fully understand.
I can see that. So at some point during the state
tournament, One of the Gorham coaches was talking
to a coach from Mendomic Valley Little League
out of Waldeboro, Maine. And somehow in the conversation,
the Waldeboro coach found out from the Gorham
coach that some of the players didn't get their
required number of games. as far as the actual
events that occurred in the timeline of them,
because it's basically he said, she said. According
to Gorham Little League, Machias, who also obviously
had a team in the tournament, and that team...
ended up winning the state tournament the other
night. According to Gorham, Machias found out
about this issue and went to East Region in Bristol,
Connecticut. Machias claims that they found out
that the Machias tournament found out from the
Waldeboro coach about Gorham's possible ineligibility.
And once they found out from Waldeboro, then
some other teams in the tournament came to the
tournament director and expressed their concerns
about Gorham's eligibility. And at that point,
they asked Walderboro to file the protest with
Little League International. Now, like I said
before, all this is a little fuzzy, because some
people are saying that everything I just said
is true, but when Machias... Asked Waldeboro
to file the protest. Waldeboro said no. So then
Machias. Filed the protest. But Machias says
Waldeboro filed it. So who knows. All I do know
is. A protest was filed with. With International.
At some. Point. I'm going to assume. That it
was on. Monday, when all of this started to take
place, Gorham filed for a waiver from International.
And basically what that waiver was asking was
for International to allow Gorham's city championship
tournament, allow those games to count. towards
the player's regular season game total. And that
waiver request was denied. More on that in a
minute. So the waiver request was denied by International.
And at that point, International essentially
kicked Gorham out of the state tournament. They
already had one loss. So they were in the elimination
half of the bracket. They then, on Sunday, the
day before all of this started to unravel, they
ended up beating Old Town, or essentially pounding
Old Town. I think the score was 16 -4. So that
was Old Town's second loss, so they were eliminated
from the tournament by Gorham. So on Tuesday,
July 22nd, word came down from Little League
International, only a half hour prior to Gorham
taking the field to play the team from York,
word came down that Gorham's win against Old
Town Was now a Gorham forfeit. And with that
forfeit. That brings Old Town back into the tournament.
Because they didn't lose that game technically.
And Gorham. Now has their second loss. So they're
out. And that's it. That's pretty much what happened.
Now, facts aside, here's where I stand on this.
Now, I just need to throw this out there. All
of the thoughts and opinions on this podcast
are my own. I do not speak nor represent Little
League International, any of its leagues, members,
or players. So, my thoughts on this deal are,
obviously, Gorham screwed up. And it's not like
they can say, oh, well, we didn't know. It's
not like they were fact -checked. And then, oh,
well, we didn't know that we didn't have enough
games. One of your coaches was talking to another
coach about it. So, yes, you knew you didn't
have enough games in. Or at least some of your
players didn't. And honestly, that's a problem.
You should have filed for the waiver then. Because
if you think about it, you have your city championship
tournament. And then you start your district
all -star tournament, which took at least a week.
And now you're on the States. I mean, at the
end of the regular season to now, you've had
at least a month to file for this waiver. And
trying to put myself in, you know, how Little
League thinks, and obviously I don't know how
the tournament committee in Williamsport, you
know. came up with this solution but you know
if it was me i would look at this this waiver
request that they submitted when they realized
that you know they had a problem at states i
i probably would have looked at that and said
well you know what you've had at least a month
You're in danger of being thrown out of the state
tournament. Is that the only reason why you sent
this waiver in? Yeah. Maybe if you had sent the
waiver in at the end of your regular season,
we would have approved it. But now, no. You're
just trying to cover your own rear end. That's
how I see that going with the waiver. I don't
know for certain. I don't know how Little League
thinks. But that's kind of my thought on it.
So obviously there are a lot of people upset
with Machias. And I think there are a lot of
people who think that Machias saw Gorham as a
threat. And that's why they filed this protest.
I don't know. I'm not sure how I feel about that
thought process. Is it possible? Yeah. I mean,
I wouldn't put it outside the realm of possibility.
That's for certain. I mean, we are talking about
Little League Baseball here, so anything can
happen at any time. But I don't really necessarily
think that Machias saw Gorham as a threat to
winning the state championship. What I do find
interesting is, and I could be completely off
on my rocker here, but what I find interesting
is, That Machias was the host city. And Machias
went. Undefeated. In the state tournament. And
won it. Hmm. Interesting. Is it not? I don't
know. I don't know. Just. Just a bad situation
all the way around. One of the things that the
Gorham coach said when talking to the local media
about this was that Little League should not
be punishing the kids. If they want to punish
the manager and the coaches because they screwed
up, go ahead. Basically, he said punish the adults,
don't punish the kids. I would like to know how
he plans on or how he would do that. Okay, if
you're Little League International, how are you
going to punish the coaches without punishing
the kids? Because if you suspend the coaches,
if you just... Take the coaches completely out
of the equation. You are no longer the coach
for this team. That is still indirectly going
to mess with the kids because now they're in
the middle of a state tournament. They've got
to get used to a new manager or, on the extreme
end, a whole new coaching staff. In the middle
of a tournament. I mean. How. How does that not
mess with them? So. It's pretty much all over
and done now. You know. Gorham. Gorham had the
long ride home. Wondering. What could have been.
Old Town. Got brought back into the tournament.
They ended up playing York. Obviously the Tuesday
game between Gorham and York was canceled. So
Old Town played York on Wednesday. And got re
-eliminated. And Machias ended up winning the
state title. And they're on to originals. So,
let me know what you guys think on both of these
little topics. If you are watching this on YouTube,
leave a comment down in the comment section below.
If you're listening to the podcast on your phone
or wherever you listen to your podcast, send
me an email, bluecrewdiaries at gmail .com. Let
me know what you think. Give me your opinions.
Yeah. Should be... Should be interesting to see
where things go from here. With the New Jersey
deal, I have seen some comments from umpires
stating, now I'm kind of worried about umpiring
a game. Because if I call a runner out when everybody
else in... in the ballpark thought he was safe
am i now going to get sued you know what what
is what is going to happen here with this how
far is this going to go and it does it does have
some people on edge and that brings us to our
question of the month Seeing it is tournament
time, we'll go into the tournament rules and
see what you know. So this month's question is
as follows. At a tournament game, how is it decided
which team is the home team and which team is
the away team? And which team is away? Yeah,
send me an email, drop a comment, let me know
what you think. And we will go from there. So
that is going to wrap up this episode of Lucre
Diaries. As always, thank you all very much for
listening. And I will see you on the diamond.