Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba went berserk during a Venezuelan Winter League game and ended up giving an ump five across the eyes.
A spat of this nature isn’t anything new in baseball, but assaulting an ump in the middle of a game is completely uncalled for.
Bad call or not, smacking an ump upside the head to get his point across was a bad move by Torrealba.
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.
If the calls are so bad that a player thinks smacking around a ref is the only logical action to take, that player has to live with the consequences.
Perhaps the pent up frustration stems from losing the World Series. Perhaps he’s just got anger issues. Regardless of the origin of this hit, it’s safe to say that Torrealba won’t be seeing any VWL games any time soon, if ever.
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