Texas Rangers Catcher Hits Umpire During Winter League Game
- Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:24am by
Scott Baker
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Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba has always played the game of baseball with a lot of fire and a lot passion. Unfortunately, the 11 year big league veteran took that fire and passion too far while playing for Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan League on Friday.
After Torrealba took an ugly cut at a breaking ball and missed for strike three, he immediately began a heated discussion with home plate umpire Dario Rivero, Jr over a disputed strike call earlier in the at-bat. The two men jawed face-to-face for a good fifteen seconds before Torrealba struck the umpire in the face mask with the palm of his hand and pushed him away.
The ump had a mask on, so it’s hard to believe he was too affected by the hit, but by no means was this a benign incident.
Torrealba’s inability to control his rage is embarrassing, and swift action must be taken by the Venezuelan Winter League.
A lifetime ban is in order. There is no excuse for a player coming into contact with an official in a malicious manner, and this went far beyond going chest to chest with the ump.
This was a deliberate assault and the league needs to let it be known that they won’t stand for this intolerable act.
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Comments (128)
burnteye86
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:08amIt’s time for the powers that be in sports take some drastic action to nip violence in the bud. Remember Shoeless Joe Jackson? Banned for life? People don’t forget punishment like that too soon. (Although it wasn’t violence that got Joe banned, my bigger point is making an example of someone)
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:13amYes, like the ump who missed this batter getting hit by a pitch on the previous call. Had he nor missed that, this would’ve never happened, What the batter did was wrong and has no place in the game.
Report Post »djs45
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:09pmyeah, he should be banned for life. anybody remember Pete Rose?
Report Post »80mesh
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:07amsports … bread and circus’s
Report Post »Thomas Payne
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:12am^^ Truth
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:58amNope, Hispanic and this has nothing to do with race.
Don’t act like a typical Liberal and make it all about race.
The heat of sport gets to all races regardless of income. I’ve seen polo player take swings at other riders with that mallet they play with. French soccer players headbutt another player, yes the lovable French. Can anyone one remember Lyle Alzado (RIP) self dubbed the dirtiest player in the game. Lets not bring up Nascar, where they try to kill each other going 200 mph in 3000 lb cars. Wasn’t it just the other day a drive Kyle Busch did this http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7tVWHGTA2xY
Dale Earnhardt died from a much softer hit and yet this moron will be back behind the steering wheel in a 3000 lb 200 mph weapon…
I could go on but I believe I made my point.
Report Post »Rudi
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:47amNice try, HITOFLY. Instead of trying to pain Glenn Beck supporters as “racist”, why don’t you man up and debate us in the issues? Take your racist comment and go back into that Gollum hole you’re living in. The rest of us are trying to save a nation up here.
Report Post »notreally
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:42amWhy all this Black violence in sports today? I mean, they make as much money as any of the other players. And it’s in all sports, especially basketball, where too many Blacks just cannot control their tempers.
Oh, my bad! I’m not supposed to notice stuff like this.
Read about flash mobs, burning a woman alive in an elevator, fighting in a McDonalds, throwing food at the McDonalds worker, fighting during a sports game, having 14 children and demanding that everyone else pay for them, announcing hatred for whites and America, electing felons to political offices (Alcee Hastings, Marion Barry), having an illegimacy rate approaching 70%? Who does stuff like that more than anyone else? Blacks.
Oh, my bad! I did it again!
I’ve got a real problem with noticing behavioral tendencies among different groups: I just can’t stop doing it. I even notice that almost all terrorists are Muslim.
Oh, my bad! Dang, I did it again!
Hope my boss doesn’t hear about this. CAIR or the ACLU will get me fired.
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:00amWrong again, he’s not black and this has nothing to do with race so stop it!!!
Report Post »notreally
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:35am12/23/11 CBS News, Detroit: WATERFORD TWP. (WWJ) -Five people have been hospitalized after three gunmen open fire at a roller-skating rink in Waterford Township during a private holiday party.
I always thought that people who wanted to roller skate were kind of different. You know, laid back, well socialized, civil types?
Anyone want to guess who attended this “party”?
Choices: Jews, Blacks, Buddhists, Japanese or Muslims? Find out. It’s on video.
Darn, there I go again, associating criminal behavior with skin color or religion!
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:09amDo you really want to go there?
That’s gang violence and has been going on, well since time began regardless of race. Hell you can turn on MTV and watch Jersey shore or Jerry Springer.
Narco traffickers, Drug dealers, Gang bangers, Mobsters, Mafias, Yakuza even terrorist or whatever they call themselves, they’re fighting for power and are all criminals. Some are war criminals some are civil criminals but all have the same objective regardless of race. If you believe your race is above this you are delusional.
This is what liberal have empowered over families by their war on family structure, teaching children that they know more than their parents. Destroying our history and rewriting it, to fit their agenda. I just saw an “educator” on Pbs repeat the lie that the Founding Fathers were Deist with a “Priest” sitting at the table who said nothing.
You see Hollywood portray criminal life as a positive. Wherever you look you see movies and TV shows celebrating criminals as heroes. Nearly every movie has a poison pill in it, no matter how small they’re there.
I’m not saying to not watch but be aware
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:30amMaybe it’s not race related, but it is wage inequality. He’s a major league sports player, he makes a heck of a lot more than a minor league player. He’s one of the 1%, why isn’t the OWS crowd boycotting sports?
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:56amloriann12
Maybe but the fact is Yorvit Torrealba earned his way in a Capitalist nation while the players in Venezuela play socialist structure. At least its not Cuba where they first have to escape the slave nation but still work under the same ideology.
Report Post »notreally
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:25amWe all know about violence in our high screwals, but among high screwal teachers now?
12/23/11 wpix.com., Poughkeepsie NY:
By all accounts, the attack looked like it would be lethal.
In the moments after the school bell rang, a 40-year-old teacher brutally attacked a fellow teacher. With screwdriver blows from English teacher Ronette Ricketts raining on the victim, fellow English teacher 56 year-old Cynthia Glozier.
The student who stopped the attack said, “I saw Ms. Ricketts just hammering her in the side of head. I saw a lot of blood. It was shocking. I just jammed her really hard to get the screwdriver fly out of her hand. If I didn’t step in she would have killed her.”
There’s video of the attack. The attacker is Black, the victim is white. Darn, I did it again! Why can’t I stop noticing how often Blacks are involved in violence?
(The first liberal to answer “Because you’re a racist” gets ten points)
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 10:05amI agree with you crime is out of control and highly underreported for political reasons, I believe all these stats that say crime has dropped is a sight through rose colored glasses. We just had a “white man?” beat an Asian store owner with a hammer. People of all races are on the ragged edge, you can pick as many as you like and I could answer in kind but that’s not the point. It’s not limited to any one race.
Report Post »FormerLib
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:11pmThankfully, I live in the inland northwest US, 98% white, where we have no violent crime, no illegitimate children, no drugs or murders or rapes, no poor, everyone is above average, everyone own a home with a nice green lawn and white picket fence, everyone had a high paying job, the kids are clean, all get straight As in school, never sass their parents, and life is a Norman Rockwell painting, all because of our skin color.
*turns off sarcasm button*
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:02amThis is absolutely wrong and is completely unacceptable but haven’t you all wanted to hit an Ump across the head…?
What got me was the ump’s reaction, he looked like a soccer player about to go rolling in pain. You see these guys take baseball going 80 to 90 mph all the time with little effect yet a slap on his mask sends him reeling…? Please….
Once again absolutely wrong and has NO place in the game, none!
Report Post »nt
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 5:56amHey Bomustgo,
Report Post »This is not funny. Having umpired high school, adult levels of baseball and below, players need to show repect for the umpires. There’s no way this action can be justified(I had an adult player hit me with a bat because he was unhappy with a call)
BOMUSTGO
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:41amIf you read the thread..It’s his honor that kept him from using the bat.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:45amNow we know why umps wear protctive gear.I thought it was because of a baseball moving at a high rate of speed…Who knew??????
Report Post »peaches1
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:47amDoes anyone have any honor anymore?
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 5:03amThat‘s why he didn’t use a bat!
Report Post »Ari Ben TZion
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 5:26amYorvit Torrealba was born in Caracas, Venezuela so the ‘Banana Republic’ syndrome has been encoded into his genes.
This fact would explain his behavior.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 5:50amQUICK ! Blame steroids! Hold Congressional hearings on Venezuelan baseball! Call them before Congress! Drop all the debt / deficit / spending stuff ! Let’s put male hormones on trial ! QUICK !
LOL
What has happened to the world?
RESTORING LOVE , July 26 27 28 , Dallas, TX – BE THERE !
Report Post »http://www.meetup.com/MercuryOneHQ
Do you GBTV?
decendentof56
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:30amARI BEN……(spoken softly, as a hypnotist)….close your eyes, Ari
Report Post »Ari… Yorvit, you OWS folks, me.. we are all god’s children…we are all the exact same.Yorvit is exactly like you and I,…. god is great..we are all the same, there is no difference’s..we all need everything the same..we are all the same…we will produce exact same results for everyone.. no one will quarrel, there will be no theft, there will be no murder..life will be great…god is great, Yorvit is only misunderstood…Mexicans, Venezuelans, Americans, Russians, Iranians, we are all the same.. you are getting sleepy, veer-ree sleepy. blah….blah-blah….blah-blah-blah.
KingCanon
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:34amWow! That would be STRIKE FOUR, wouldn’t it?
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 5:03amLol
Report Post »decendentof56
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:38amGood one!
Report Post »Anyway, MLB will let him play. He probably will not do this again, right?
taxx
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:21amI remember when I first started umpiring and an old salty veteran umpire told me that the players/coaches are allowed to argue any call, but they aren’t allowed to gloat or show you up. Obviously, this guy was complaining about a previous call, but ultimately struck out after going after a nasty breaking ball. As soon as he turned and made a spectacle of the ump he was appropriately thrown out of the game. He argued this…..fine, but putting a hand on an ump that way deserves a ban. I empathise with the players who have a wage earning career wrapped up in stats, but one at-bat out of four hundred in a [winter] season won’t break the bank….unless his whole season is in the crapper….and that is hardly the ump’s fault.
Report Post »PJL
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:37amHe’s out of there.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:54amThis “IS” exactly why I don‘t patronize ANY ’professional’ sports at all. If I want to see poor sportsmanship and childish behavior over a game, I can go to the local park and watch the neighborhood kids. And lately, even college sports are testing my patience with their immature behavior.
Report Post »M 4 Colt
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:35amI hope he‘s got jam in his pockets because he’s toast. This is what happen’s when your on roids for to many years. Who says drugs don’t fry your brains.
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:09amThat’s a great line…LMAO
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:33amI call him a poor sport!!
Report Post »Ivan in Phoenix
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:15amHe’s on a steroid cycle during the MLB off season. What’s new?
Report Post »dadsrootbeer
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:50amBud Selig needs to talk to him about cutting his steroids back a lilttle.
Report Post »donaldchar
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:33amC’mon, Yorvit, it’s a GAME…
Report Post »ChiroRef
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:23amLifetime ban in order. If they don’t, if they even get umps to work his games, his strike zone will double in size, close calls will always go against him, and if he even looks twice at another umpire, he will be gone, quickly followed by his manager if he raises a fuss. He‘s lucky he wasn’t in the states or he would be in jail the rest of the weekend.
Report Post »Tear Em Up
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:30amAgreed!! Respect the officials or, be banned…simple…
http://traffic.libsyn.com/mikeleeandterrymartin/Number_95_Dec._23rd._2011.mp3
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:32amIf one wants respect one must give it first and some umpires have little respect for the game settlings grudges with bad calls all the time. If you’ve never seen bad calls, you’ve never watched a game.
With today‘s technology there’s no place for a man calling balls and strikes. If you’ve ever watch a game on Fox, you’ve seen the strike box where balls a foot outside get called a strike and ones down the heart get called a ball.
Yes, what this guy did was wrong and has no place in the game but what most of you missed was the commentators talking about the call he had just made. The batter was hit by a pitch and for some reason the ump missed it…
Once again he was totally wrong and should never touch an ump.
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:17amYou can go to Mc Donalds and see worse than this………………..oh lets not forget Waffle House all kinds of fun there too.
Report Post »sillyfreshness
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:14amWhat was this dope mad about? He swung at the ball and was a blatant strike.
Report Post »Miami
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:15amIt was not about that call but an earlier one the commentators were even talking about it. He had been hit on a previous pitch and the ump missed it. He’s wrong and should never touch an ump regardless of the bad call. Yet Alomar got away with spitting at an ump, which to me is worse…
Report Post »chips1
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:05pmYou have to look outside the box. I think the umpire was giving the batter another chance to hit a home run and when he missed the ball, he just didn’t take advantage of the umpires gift. Boo Hoo!!!! Maybe he can join a bowling team!!!
Report Post »Luke611
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:51amI have strong feelings Nolan Ryan wll release Torrealba. This is an issue of honor between the players and those who govern the rules of play. Alomar should have been excused from the game for the the remainder of the year fro spitting on the umpire all those years ago. If Torrealba is allowed to fill an uniform anywhere for this act it will be consistant to saying the umpires are without authority.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:56amBecause Nolan Ryan is so against throwing a punch? He threw some of the most famous punches in baseball! LOL I agree with you though, no official in any sport should be subject to this.
Report Post »KusoJiJi
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:50amthe man has no place in professional baseball. anything less than a year long suspension from MLB would be the same as condoning this type of thuggish behavior.
Report Post »Drakkhanlord
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:39amwave goodbye, over paid children
Report Post »lodgerat
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:33amIt was a just call. Must make an example of bad behavior. Your out of here..see ya
Report Post »TulsaYeeHaw
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:32amHe‘ll be lucky if the Ranger’s don’t kick him to curb.
Report Post »MEANS2RESIST
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:09amI hope he saved his $$ for the last 11 years, he’s done in MLB…..
Report Post »AMERICA4EVER
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 12:31amNot surprised.
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