Hi Guys (Amateur Baseball Assigners),

Last year in the state tournament, in an effort to curb unsportsmanlike conduct toward umpires, we successfully implemented a one game suspension for any ejections in the state tournament. 

Due to that success, we expanded and enhanced the rule starting with the 2022 Amateur Baseball Season. The goal of the rule is to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct directed at umpires which should make it a bit easier to recruit & retain amateur baseball umpires across the state. As an assigner, and in my conversations with other assigners, it’s never been harder to recruit & retain townball umpires. We believe that part of the reason why it’s difficult to recruit & retain is the unsportsmanlike conduct directed at umpires. 

Going forward, any player or player/manager ejected from any game for unsportsmanlike conduct at or toward an umpire will be suspended for the next two league, playoff, play-in, region, section, or state tournament games, including possible carry-overs into subsequent seasons. 

As umpires, there’s not a lot that changes for you. The teams are responsible for self-reporting their ejections & monitoring the suspensions via a form on mnbaseball.org Failure to comply results in the team being exempt from the postseason. Umpires are not involved in player eligibility issues around who is or isn’t serving a suspension. Umpires are permitted to submit ejection reports via mnbaseball.org Leagues & the MBA handle player eligibility questions.

Here’s a video you can send your umpires and if they have questions, they can reach out to me….I’m also considering hosting a Zoom call with townball umpires from across the state to discuss this update. If you think there would be value in that, please let me know and I can try to arrange a date/time. I’m also willing to host more than one meeting if necessary. 

So, please review the video, send the video to your umpires to watch, and send questions to me.

Thank you,
John Gerads
MBA Director