Major League Baseball has suspended Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie for four games for an outburst Tuesday in which he threw his batting helmet, which bounced off the ground and struck umpire Bill Miller.
In the ninth inning of Tuesday's game in Toronto against the Tampa Bay Rays, Lawrie faced Rays closer Fernando Rodney. With a count of three balls and one strike Lawrie took back-to-back pitches from Rodney. Miller called both strikes, sending Lawrie back to the dugout.
Trouble was, when the third strike was called, Lawrie had already taken two steps toward first base, thinking he had drawn a walk. He spun around, took two steps back in the direction of the umpire and threw his batting helmet to the ground. It bounced up and struck Miller.
Besides the four games, Lawrie was also fined an undisclosed amount, according to a report on MLB.com.
He pledged to appeal the ruling and can remain in the Blue Jays lineup during the appeal process.
"I feel that I have the right to explain my side of the story about what happened last night. I just have to suck it up, appeal it and worry about baseball, worry about playing today and getting a win," he said before Wednesday's game against the New York Yankees, according to MLB.com.
Lawrie said it was not his intention to strike Miller with the helmet, but the helmet took "a bad hop," according to a report in the Toronto Star.
“A lot of people are saying I threw it on purpose, but I didn’t. It was a very frustrating moment in the heat of the game. . . . bad luck,” the Star quotes Lawrie as saying.
Lawrie went to see Miller before Wednesday night's game to apologize, according to the Star report.
He also said the incident would not change his approach to the game.
"You just play the game the way I’ve always played it. I don’t feel I have to change it and the only thing I’d change is throwing (the helmet) near him, because you can get a bad hop,” the Star quoted him as saying.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
A lot of umps seem to call that questionable strike when the player starts taking off toward first base before the call. I've seen it happen many times. It's like the umpire is saying "I call the pitches, not you."
Should have been a 50-game suspension and some anger management training.
Should have just been a summary execution. That would have shown him, yes sirree bob.
Umps are immune to everything. And if they don't like what someone says to them, they just kick them out of the game. There is no accountablity. Firstly, the ump made a bad call, and the batter got angry. He then slammed his helmet down in anger and it bounced to hit the ump. It wasn't as if he was trying to hit the ump. He shouldn't be suspended.
The Ump also took a beer off the chest from a fan. It looked like he made the calls deliberatley and that is why everyone was so upset. Nomally Brett Lawrie and Toronto fans keep their cool. But this guy clearly made the wrong calls twice and it affected the game.
If we didn't have so many cry baby,spoiled,millionaire players,this might have never happened.
Good or bad calls go with the sport,I mean business. Suck it up and go with it. The problem is that most
of these players are not playing a sport anymore,they are working at a business.
Yes he should. It's very poor sportsmanship and a bad example for kids watching. Four games is light. And what do you want anyway? ENDLESS replay on every play?
davusmc – Where did you get that 99% "fact" from?
It's pretty simple. You get angry and do something stupid; you take the consequences when something unintentional happens as the result of that anger.
Lawrie needs to man up and learn to deal with his anger!
@Meade21 that is the most ridiculous idiotic statement ever made and it makes me only assume that you a moron.
roid rager
All these people complaining about the calls being horrible makes no sense to me. So are you telling me that their is a point in a baseball game when hitting in umpire is justified in ANY Situation??? Umpires can be Ego-maniacs I agree but so can the players!!!! I used to call baseball games for little league and understand you need to take charge on the field otherwise the players and fans will walk all over you!!! Fans stating, "Yea but the calls were bad," never umpired a game in their lives and wouldn't last one week doing it. Its a thankless job
Lawrie is cut from the same mold as Dykstra, Rose, etc. And in case you're wondering, that's not a compliment. This guy is borderline psychopathic, and if he wasn't playing professional baseball he'd probably be in prison. If you watch the first couple of seconds when he approached the umpire–I've seen looks like that on road-ragers.
Well that short statement tells me quite a bit about your driving abilities. Bahahaha
That's over the line and completely unsportsmanlike. He should of been thrown out for the remainder of the season.
Tell me he is not on Roids!!!!!!! Someone please debate that lol...... then look him up, and see his size then, and now lol..... TEST THIS MAN LOL....... should be mandatory if you ask me.
If the NRA was in charge, they would have them "duel to the death". Its one call in a 9 inning game in a 162 game season. Lighten up Brett, you overreacted.
This is ridiculous !! He didn't throw his helmet at the ump, he threw it on the ground and it bounced up and hit the ref. His suspension should be for loosing his temper only, not hitting the ump. Besides that ump was egging him on by purposely calling strikes on pitches that were clearly balls.
That's the way the helmet bounces
Before anyone criticizes any official in any sport, you should try it yourself and be on the receiving end of all of the crap you have to deal with, then you can criticize an official's talent. Everyone's always going on and on about how bad umpires are when there is one or two bad calls to criticize. Well if you are so flawless at umpiring, why aren't you behind the plate calling balls and strikes?