Umpire Blows a Call in Front of His Bosses, Immediately Gets Demoted

A sport enjoyed almost as passionately as the game, itself: calling for MLB umpires to be bounced when they screw up a call.

It is a very tough job, so I generally try to be extremely fair. But sometimes, a call is just so wrong that you can’t help but scream at your TV, or tweet something about wanting to see an ump sent down to the minors.

WELLLLLL, turns out, that can and does happen in other leagues. Look at what just happened in the KBO, where an umpire blew a seemingly really obvious call – while his bosses were in attendance at the game! – and immediately he was demoted:

Also in #KBO tonight: an umpire got demoted to the minor leagues after butchering a fair/foul call. This phantom 'fair' ball led to an inning-ending DP. The head of the umpiring committee and the league commissioner just happened to be in attendance 😬https://t.co/V9bPBt09Md

— Jeeho Yoo (@Jeeho_1) April 14, 2022

이게 어떻게 페어냐고 https://t.co/4aIFCujmcd pic.twitter.com/seM7Ce2BW0

— 컷 (@euileecut) April 14, 2022

It’s more or less impossible to imagine a similar situation playing out in Major League Baseball, where the umpire’s union would never agree to something like this in their CBA. I don’t even know that I’d want to see an ump getting demoted to Triple-A upon one really bad call, but I do wish there were a little more clear accountability for blown calls.