College Ump called so badly he was suspended indefinitely

Somewhere Fred VanVleet smiles and curses happily after an underperforming official got his right. The University of New Orleans defeated Mississippi Valley State 7-3 in a college baseball game on Friday. As the college basketball season heats up, millions of people still found time to watch the finals on social media. The reason was that referee Reggie Drummer made one of the worst calls in the history of the sport.

Of that, Mims was poised to bat at the top of ninth place for Mississippi Valley State, and Drummer called a — at best — questionable batter two. Mims briefly protested the call, then lined up in the batter’s box. The subsequent pitch ended in the opponent’s batter’s box, but the umpire still called a third bat to end the game. Mims was rightfully furious at the call and had to be separated from the referee by the UNO players.

LeBron James may fret over the foul Jayson Tatum was not awarded at the end of January, Fred VanVleet may sense Ben Taylor wanting him, Kyle Schwarber may have no idea how big Angel Hernández’s striking zone is, and Sean likes Payton think all NFL umpires have a vendetta against him, but none of them have as much right to be as upset as Mims.

The Southland Conference has sided with Mims in this dispute. The conference was swift and punitive in its punishment of the drummer. It was announced on Saturday that Drummer had been suspended indefinitely.

A key difference between this officiating error and the missed pass interference call against the Los Angeles Rams in the 2019 NFC championship game is that the third strike call appeared malicious.

While the camera isn’t close enough to read the drummer’s facial expression, calling a strike on a square that’s in the opponent’s batter’s box after arguing with a player is a terrifying sight. The conference needed to make this suspension for the sake of the sport’s credibility.

Players may believe that certain officials have a vendetta against them. They may be right, too, but as long as the feud goes beyond a few questionable phone calls spanning several years, the officer will be fine. No civil servant enjoying his salary and position would make that call that Drummer made at that particular moment.

He destroyed the integrity of the game. The exact opposite of what a referee should do.