Baseball sues to discipline umpires

NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball sued its umpires on Thursday, asking a federal judge for a court order allowing it to discipline John Hirschbeck for telling a member of his crew not to warn a pitcher for intentionally throwing at a batter.

In an eight-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the commissioner's office asked for a declaratory judgment that its attempt to discipline umpires' union head Hirschbeck, was not subject to arbitration.

The commissioner's office also asked for a permanent injunction preventing the World Umpires Association from taking the dispute to arbitration. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Allen G. Schwartz.

Baseball officials sent Hirschbeck a "warning letter" on May 10, accusing him of misconduct during a game on April 28. Ralph Nelson, a vice president in the commissioner's office, said Hirschbeck told the plate umpire of his game that day not to issue a warning to a pitcher in a situation where a warning was required by baseball's rules.

Nelson also accused Hirschbeck of generally telling his crew not to issue warnings without his consent.

In addition, the complaint said baseball's computerized umpire evaluation system showed "a high percentage of missed calls of balls and strikes" during a May 4 game, a performance "clearly not commensurate with abilities," according to Nelson.

The umpires' union attempted to file a grievance over the matter on May 29, and on June 7 baseball told the union the dispute wasn't subject to arbitration and asked for dates Hirschbeck could attend a hearing before Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office. On July 2, the union told the commissioner's office it was contacting the American Arbitration Association.

Alderson did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Union lawyer Larry Gibson said he had just received the complaint and would have to read it before commenting.

 

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