DETROIT _ Ian Kinsler had his say. Now, the umpires will have theirs.
Saturday, the World Umpires Association issued a statement about Major League Baseball's discipline of second baseman Ian Kinsler following his critical remarks of umpire Angel Hernandez earlier in the week.
Along with the statement, umpires around baseball began wearing white wristbands in protest of what the association calls, "Escalating verbal attacks on MLB umpires."
"This week, a player publicly and harshly impugned the character and integrity of Angel Hernandez _ a veteran umpire who has dedicated his career to baseball and the community," the statement reads. "The verbal attack on Angel denigrated the entire MLB umpiring staff and is unacceptable.
"The Office of the Commissioner has failed to address this and other escalating attacks on umpires. The player who denigrated Hernandez publicly said he thought he would be suspended. Instead got far more lenient treatment _ a fine. He shrugged that off and told reporters he has 'no regrets' about his offensive statements calling for an end to Hernandez's career.
"The Office of the Commissioner's lenient treatment to abusive player behavior sends the wrong message to players and managers. It's 'open season' on umpires, and that's bad for the game.
"Major League umpires hold themselves to high standards. We are held accountable for our performance at every game. Our most important duty is to protect the integrity of the game, and we will continue to do that job every day. But the Office of the Commissioner must protect our integrity when we are unfairly attacked simply for doing our jobs.
"Enough is enough. Umpires will wear the wristbands until our concerns are taken seriously by The Office of the Commissioner."
Kinsler was critical on Tuesday after getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the top of the fifth inning in Monday's game. He said Hernandez was "blatantly" affecting baseball games and said, "He needs to re-evaluate his career choice, he really does."
Kinsler said on Friday he was fined by MLB but declined to disclose the amount.
Two of the four umpires working today's Tigers-Dodgers game wore white wristbands: Second base umpire Bill Miller and third base umpire Todd Tichenor. Home plate umpire Adam Hamari and first base umpire Chris Segal did not.
Joe West, the longest-tenured umpire in MLB, is the president of the World Umpires Association.
