Greene and Ausmus, Kapler and Stein, have dealt with racist pinheads before. I'd be more concerned if Bruce Froemming had any institutional or volunteer contact with children and youth. Suspending Froemming from his MLB duties for ten games is an okay response, I guess, but if he's coaching Little League in your town, you might want to pursue a more comprehensive sanction.

Great post; where to start? Froemming should consider himself very fortunate to be @#%^*-slapped (that's wrist; what did you think I meant?) with just a 10-day suspension. His remark was not only anti-Semitic but sexist, and warrants a full year without pay, followed by early retirement.

Umpire arrogance, even among more thoughtful and sensitive types than Bruce, is an on-field issue for MLB, and I'd better not mention my least-favourite local amateur umps, who copy what they see on TV. One of the reasons (the other is the dearth of pitching talent) that I'm opposed to further expansion and would prefer fewer than 30 teams is the current diluted quality of umpiring.

Mike, I agree completely on the issue of accountability -- there isn't any. Remember Eric Gregg's strike zone -- as wide as his waistline -- in the 1997 World Series? No penalty, no reprimand. Part of managing, even at the competitive amateur level, is knowing what kind of game a guy calls and what kind of communication he permits. Shouldn't the men in blue be conforming to the rule book, instead of subjecting players and teams to their individual interpretations of it? And worse, as you've already wondered, what if an ump's integrity is clouded by prejudice?

At the risk of offending people of size, the vision-impaired and those whose elevators don't quite reach the top, three groups to which I belong myself, I have to say it: Bruce Froemming is a fat, blind, ignorant moron.

Here's the most recent post on this topic from Baseball Primer.

"I am still somewhat astounded by the level of stupidity displayed by Froemming, in leaving that kind of message on his supervisor's answering machine."

Turns out it was stupider than that. Froemming had just gotten off the cell phone with the commissioners office when he made the jew remark during a conversation in his home.... only his cell phone was still on and the conversation was picked up in the office.

Miguel Freakin' Estrada?

Sorry, I've been visiting the Petsco thread at Primer and my mind wandered. Love the June Rowlands reference, BTW --- the Ladies should name one of their albums after her; it was the best free publicity they could've asked for.

When I first saw the headline "Froemming suspended for use of epithet" (and isn't that a lovely word, "epithet"? It's one of those terms that was born to be euphemistic), my initial reaction was, here's another case of a traditional older guy, early 60s, who grew up with certain assumptions and terms built into him and who never adjusted to the new standards of speech and conduct, and he's been holding his tongue for years but he finally let slip some archaic and offensive term and he's getting burned for it. Then, of course, I read the story and quickly concluded that no, he's just an ignorant, mean-spirited jackass. Funny how you get used to making excuses for people in advance.

Ten days' suspension for what he said is a joke; we'll see whether a tougher sentence will be forthcoming when the dust clears. Kent's suggestion of a year without pay suits me just fine, and an immediate dismissal wouldn't bother me either. It's not just a matter of the hidden prejudice against Jewish players that he might be harbouring, though that's certainly top of mind. It's two separate things:

1. There's the body blow it delivers to the game's image and reputation. "Hey, there goes the misogynistic Jew-hating umpire," any one of baseball's millions of ticket-buying customers can say this year, and what does it say about MLB if Froemming continues to work games? If the supervisor at your local Home Depot or the assistant manager at Harvey's called someone a stupid Jew bitch within your earshot, would you ever frequent that place again unless that person was summarily dismissed and his statements condemned? If baseball allows Froemming to work another game under any circumstances, it's putting its own credibility in serious jeopardy. Froemming isn't just another employee, he's the senior umpire, and umpires are MLB's representatives on the field. They have to be so far beyond reproach that it's not funny, and Froemming has fallen far beneath reproach.

2. There's the utter lack of judgment it betrays. Umpires are supposed to be impartial arbiters of the game; many people don't realize the power that umpires wield between the lines, how much influence they have over the outcome of an at-bat, a game, the final standings. As my role model Peter would say, with great power comes great responsibility. How can I trust the judgment of a man who dismisses human beings based on gender and race? If he's unfit to be a socially operational citizen, how can he be fit to decide safe or out? I know this may seem like apples and oranges, but one's personal judgment is universal: your ability to judge people on their essential merits, rather than on their God-given characteristics, is huge and it encompasses everything else you do; failure to exercise it properly on a matter as fundamental as racial and gender prejudice casts doubt on whether you're fit to run anything, let alone a major-league baseball game, which is significant enough.

I'll close with some hypothetical thoughts. What if Froemming had been caught on tape "merely" calling Cathy Davis a bitch? It might have gotten him a warning phone call or a slap on the wrist over drinks by Sandy Alderson, but that would be it. And what if, instead of the "J" word, Froemming had referred to someone with the "N" word? Do you suppose ten days' suspension is all he would have received?

Most of us remember from our summers as teenagers that there exists no arrogance on earth like that of low-level store managers and amateur baseball umps.

I worked in a day-care center. Those kids probably remember there being no arrogance on earth like me. :)

As to Froemming, I think there is no doubt that baseball would frankly be better off without him (along with 20-30 other umpires), and beyond that it's all a very tiresome question of labour politics.

Froemming appears in The Best Seat In The House, But You Have to Stand!, a book about umpires written in 1975 (and reprinted four years ago, which is when I bought it). In this book, he was quoted as follows:

Some writer told me he's been taking a poll on umpires in the press box. He said every [deleted] sportscaster and reporter I talked to thought I was a son of a [also deleted]. Now to me, that's a compliment... We're umpires, we're not supposed to be nice guys. We're supposed to be honest and fair and totally impartial, and there's no way in the world we can be nice guys and do that.

Ironically, the book also describes Froemming and Harry Wendelstedt talking about one of their fellow umpires, a black umpire named Art Williams, whom they think isn't good enough to do the job (because Williams isn't "man enough" to stand up to the players). From the context, it's not clear whether Froemming is a racist or not (Williams did appear to allow himself to be pushed around, but Froemming talks about the many umpires in the minors, presumably white, who weren't getting what he thought was a fair chance). The book is an interesting read.

This was discussed at my dinner table tonight, where two 16-year-old girls, one Jewish, agreed that each of the three words can be innocuous enough in a variety of contexts. Using any two together, we thought, showed malicious intent, but could still be excusable. The trifecta can only be considered offensive. Jordan's observation about overhearing such a slur in public answers a question the "Stupid ump tricks" post suggests -- it certainly wasn't too bright, but is it any less reprehensible if he didn't intend it to be recorded?

Repoz' "Froemming at the mouth" line in his Primer intro is a classic.

We're supposed to be honest and fair and totally impartial, and there's no way in the world we can be nice guys and do that.

And to think that three of the nicest, most courtly men I know are current or former judges. Huh.

I'd use this opportunity to make a crack about Coach having dinner with two 16-year-old girls, but I'd feel bad since they are probably daughter and friend-of-daughter, or some such.

Thanks Coach....It reads better than it sounds.

Craig, we were chaperoned, and you're a good guesser. In the follow-up story on ESPN.com, there's a sidebar by Tom Candiotti, in which he relates the following:

I remember an incident with Froemming when I was with the Dodgers in 1996. Froemming came into our clubhouse about a half hour before a game I was pitching. He had some baseballs and asked Mike Piazza to autograph them. Piazza was on the table and the trainers were helping him stretch.

I'm getting ready to pitch -- I was about to go out and warm up -- and my catcher is trying to prepare for the game. And Froemming is telling Piazza this story about how one time Johnny Bench wouldn't sign baseballs for him, and Bench went 0-for-4 that day with three called strikeouts (or something like that). So Piazza stopped stretching and signed the baseballs.

Two comments: if Candiotti's this candid on the air, we're in for a treat as he takes over from Cerutti, and that is one arrogant jerk making decisions on the field. He's joined Joe Brinkman in my personal umpire's hall of shame.

Holy Cow.

If I was a minority, I would start downplaying the outrage against comments like these. Though this forum doesn't express it, I know people are getting very frustrated with the attention that is being paid to such inconsequential events. The masses are getting so turned off by this stuff, that playing the race card will become worthless before too long.

I think you can say the B-word on television now. The when did the J-word become a slur? You can call someone an M-F-er and that's OK, but you call someone a Jew, you should lose your job and be labeled anti-semetic? What if she was Polish and he said "you dumb Polock", would that have made the press? What if she was a WASP and he called her "White trash", would that get him a suspension?

Whatever happened to freedom of speech? I understand that he said it after he thought he had hung up the phone. Not publicly, not to reporters, and not to a group of any size. I don't know anything about Froemming, and maybe he deserves a lambasting. But not for this and not in the press. I understand he made his own travel arrangements to Japan for a pre-season game and the league office nixed it. They demanded that they make the arrangements for him. He probably got some travel points making the arangements himself and was upset that the office was taking them away from him. He got angry like so many of us would get angry when we "feel" that we're being cheated out of something. He vented, and though I don't agree with the angle he took, I defend his right to do it.

Let's stop the oversensitivity and focus on more important problems.

I'm looking forward for when Froemming works his first game in New York. He's likely to hear from a lot of us Jew bitches that day.