Kill the Ump! Did It Ever Really Happen?
For those who have never heard this phrase before
the word ump is shortened for umpire. As you know, umpires have the final say on being ‘safe’ or ‘out’ in baseball. There are masses of people who believe that the umpire does not make ‘good calls’ when they are watching a game.
Umpires are often the targets of rocks, cups, any garbage that can be thrown down into the field. In days gone by, they were also assaulted on and off the field by players and fans. In 1886 a rhyme was uttered that caught on:
“Breathes there a fan with soul so dead,
Who never to the ump hath said,
Yer blind, you bum!”
In 1911, the National League president, Thomas Lynch, who was also a former umpire had a committee of opticians test the vision of all umpires in the league. All umpires were found to have 20/20 vision or better.
Is it true that some umpires lost their lives due to crazed fans? Unfortunately, yes. Several minor league umpires lost their lives over close calls.
One last weird story: In 1911 Patrick Casey, a convicted murderer at Nevada State Penitentiary was granted the customary last request. He wanted to umpire a baseball game before he died and so a game was arranged on the prison grounds and he was named umpire. When the game ended, he was executed. Not to be crass, but in this case, they really did ‘kill the umpire’.
I really can’t say if this is a true story, but if so I imagine the penal system is much tighter about their last wishes that are given.
I’ve seen old time movies that have people calling out, “Kill the ump!” Have you heard anyone lately yelling this at a professional baseball game?? Leave your comments and give me dates. I’m wondering if they’re still yelling this out in light of ‘hate speech’. Do you think hate speech is an issue in this case?
taken from The Henry Holt Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson
Haha, I’ve never heard of this! My husband is a baseball fan, but I don’t follow it. You learn something new every day, I guess 😉
I haven’t heard ‘kil the ump’ but I HAVE heard several times at Toronto Blue Jay’s games:
“Get some glasses!”
“What game are you watching??!!”
“Get a job!”
Those yelled comments make me laugh! People get very tense about their teams!
LOL Had a good laugh about the prisoner turned umpire for a day. I think umpires and referees of other sports take a lot of the fans’ energy. And I mean A LOT! I regularly hear, “Are you blind?!!!” in different tones and levels of frustration.
This reminds me of Blockade Billy, a short story by Stephen King, as it turns out someone literally kills an umpire for a call after a game after thousands chant it, but as with real life (regardless how many umpires have in fact lost their lives) no one literally means it.
Still, people can get so much into ballgames in the scariest of ways, and yes that includes the parents. Mind you the infamous 2008 baseball Cubs Bartman incident – that was ten times scarier than this.
Thus, to answer this question, yes I can see how it has happened, but I am sure if umpires were actually killed by spectators or by random later. I am quite sure that they faced jail time and much despise for their actions. The same thing with referees.