Umpires Union Tweet Targeting Manny Machado Is Wildly Unprofessional

The Major League Baseball Umpires Association posted a tweet on Tuesday targeting Manny Machado after the controversy over his ejection on Saturday. It was insanely unprofessional and also violated every Twitter rule about hashtags.

Check this out:

Here’s the text of the message:

"“Manny Machado received a one-game suspension for contact with an umpire over balls and strikes and VIOLENTLY throwing his bat against the backstop with absolutely no regard for anyone’s safety. Violence in the workplace is not tolerated, and offenders are dealt with severely and even made examples of for the good of it’s employees, as well as the company itself. Is this truly what MLB wants to teach our youth?”"

OK, first, you misused “it’s” and second, you really went with the “Think of the children!” angle?

On Tuesday, the Umpires Union doubled down on Facebook too:

Here’s video of the ejection after home plate umpire Bill Welke had been screwing up calls all night:

Machado said something to Welke, who immediately threw him out. There was no grace period here. Then he threw his bat against a brick wall where no one was standing. So, yeah claiming he had “no regard for anyone’s safety” is a bit ridiculous. Also, Machado claims he didn’t touch Welke and, honestly, it appears via the video that he may be right.

Welke and Machado have history and that’s what this is really about. Earlier in the year, he called Machado out for interference on an absolutely ridiculous call, then refused to ask for help from his fellow umpires. Machado argued, then Padres manager Andy Green was ejected for asking Welke to get help with the call:

Here’s the issue though, earlier in Saturday night’s game, Nolan Arenado slammed things down and threw them after being called out while arguing balls and strikes. He did not get ejected and there was no pearl-clutching tweet issued about him. A video comparison:

"So, anyway. This is Manny getting tossed, and then Nolan not getting tossed. ?‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/WAG8yA5onK"

- — kelly (#freemanny #mannyinnocent) (@ke

Here’s Bryce Harper getting ejected a few weeks ago. He did not get suspended:

How about earlier in the year when umpire Ron Kulpa basically tried to start a fight with the entire Houston Astros roster?

The Umpires Association was pretty quiet on that one.

Calling out Machado for what was essentially a routine ejection is ridiculous. If a player or manager calls out umpires by name, they get fined and/or suspended. I don’t understand how this is different. Whoever is running MLBUA’s Twitter and Facebook accounts should be fined and suspended.

This was absurd and needs to be addressed by Major League Baseball